Container Improvements That Have Impacted Intermodal Transportation

Container Improvements That Have Impacted Intermodal Transportation

In 1956, Malcom McLean created a new concept to standardize the many types of containers that are used in intermodal shipping. By standardizing shipping containers, the transportation industry became much more efficient and helped save companies a lot of money. The creation of these standardized shipping containers also helped create better safety, less gridlock in the transportation system, less theft, and less damage to goods. The used of these containers also lessened labor costs. Once Mr. McLean’s idea took off, others tried to capitalize on it. All that created was more container sizes and more confusion in the system. A set of standard sizes needed to be created for all modes of transportation. It was then that the US and European governments stepped in with the assistance of truckers, ship owners, railroads, and port authorities to standardize the system across the board.

Many times moving freight or exporting/importing requires the use of more than one form of transportation. By standardizing the entire system from the containers themselves, the freight terminals, the manpower involved, and the container moving equipment, it made the process much more universal worldwide, speeding up the entire transportation industry and saving everyone time and money including you and I as consumers. Yes, this process has made the industry much more efficient but it has also made the process, in some areas, more complex especially regarding its organization. In the last few years, the focus has been on improving organization so that all modes of transportation integrate better. Transportation companies need to invest in changing their systems, including their access to newer technology, to all, in a sense, unify.

According to the World Economic Forum, “The development of containers and cellular ships, together with specialized ports with container cranes and other supporting...