the advent of containerisation

The introduction of containers in shipping in the late 1960’s.
With containerisation port activity became much more concentrated in fewer locations, it required deep-water ports and integrated road and rail networks.
While several people had toyed with the idea of putting cargo in big boxes, trucking company owner Malcolm McLean is generally credited with inventing the shipping container. He bought an old oil tanker in the mid-1950s and began experimenting with it as a vehicle to carry trucks. When that idea didn’t work out, he switched his focus to boxes, enlisting the help of engineer Keith Tantlinger, and the ‘intermodal container’ was born. His big breakthrough came in 1968.