Transport and distribution

On 26 April 1956, 58 truck bodies were hoisted onto an old tanker moored at Newark, New Jersey. The container revolution had arrived and five days later the tanker, Ideal-X, docked in Houston with its cargo, this time packed into the quasi containers. On land, rail rather than road had been preferred for shifting large volumes of goods. With the termini of rail networks located in cities and ports, manual handling was necessary as products were loaded into box cars. Meanwhile, on the roads, large vehicles were developed but they still involved manual handling.

Historically, as early as 1885, rail in the USA had offered the opportunity to transport produce wagons to ferry landings opposite New York City. In the 1950s, flat-top rail wagons were used to ‘piggy back’ trailers as a means of transportation for long distances. However, all of these systems involved multiple handling and there was no standardisation to facilitate the various systems.

Unit load concepts had been around for centuries with unitising items on a base and using a windlass to raise them, but in WW2 the pallet (and forklift truck) came to the fore. However, it was another war which saw this principle taken to the next step. The Vietnam War saw the introduction of a logistical approach with the setting up of the First Logistical Command and the introduction of ‘unitised packaging’. Previously the movement of materials and supplies had created bottlenecks and the port facilities were inadequate for the volume of traffic. Pallets were dumped at random on the docks, creating chaos. Containerisation was one answer; however, the military bureaucracy was divided over the concept.

Finally, in 1966, following a visit by the Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara, the nexus was broken and in 1967, the shipping company Sea Land provided seven ships and the project got underway. This then was the genesis of containerisation and air transport absorbed the concept, thus unifying the distribution system.

The container and the associated handling systems have not only revolutionised distribution, they have impacted on design, packaging material and reduced inventories. They have facilitated the rapid distribution of products from the producer to the retail shelf with minimal handling and savings in materials.