Page 39: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2022)

On the Book Shelf 2022 SHIPPING & PORT ANNUAL

Who Developed Containerization?

“An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn’t take his education too seriously.” – Charles Kettering

By Angus Kress Gillespie ust for fun, try asking a friend a few questions. Who a metal platform of the tanker, above ve developed the telephone? Chances are that your friend the pumping machinery. s will reply, Alexander Graham Bell. Who developed The average loading time was

J e the lightbulb? That would be Thomas Edison. Who seven minutes per container. The developed the telegraph? That would be Samuel F.B. Morse. whole ship was loaded in less than

Now ask, who developed containerization? Unless your friend eight hours. Under normal circum- has a background in maritime history, he is likely to draw a stances, the freight on the ship complete blank. The answer is a man named Malcom McLean. would have gone to Houston on

But who exactly was he? Was he a shipping executive? Maybe over-the-road trucks—a trip of he was a professor of packaging engineering? No, he was sim- about six days. It would take ply a truck driver. What? How is that possible? Sometimes, the ship same amount of time, the best solution to a problem escapes the over-educated. It but there would be a savings of makes for an interesting story. about thirty percent. It was a

It is a story that I have tried my best to tell in my book, breakthrough—the brainchild of

Port Newark and the Origins of Container Shipping, which one man, Malcom McLean. I go on to tell the story of will be released next month. As readers of this journal well how Port Newark grew rapidly as McLean’s idea was backed know, container shipping is a vital part of the global econ- by both New York banks and the US military, who used con- omy. Goods from all around the world, from vegetables to tainerization to ship supplies to troops in Vietnam. I take the automobiles, are placed in large metal containers which are reader behind the scenes of today’s active container shipping transported across the ocean in ships, then loaded onto trac- operations in Port Newark, talking to the pilots who guide the tor-trailers and railroad ? atbeds. But when and where did this ships into port, the Coast Guard personnel who help manage world-changing invention get started? the massive shipping traf? c, the crews who unload the con-

My book traces the birth of containerization to Port Newark, tainers, and even the chaplains who counsel and support the

New Jersey, when trucker Malcom McLean thought of a bril- mariners. Port Newark shines a spotlight on the unsung men liant new way to transport cargo. As a truck driver years earlier, and women who help this complex global shipping operation

McLean had often been frustrated by waiting in line for hours run smoothly.

to have his truck unloaded by stevedores, box by box and bar- Since McLean’s innovation, Port Newark has expanded rel by barrel, onto the ship at the dock. He hated waiting. He with the addition of the nearby Elizabeth Marine Terminal. just wanted to get back home. His original idea was just to put This New Jersey complex now makes up the busiest seaport the whole truck on the ship. Of course, that was not possible. on the East Coast of the United States. Some have even called

Over time, he re? ned the idea, and he came up with the capital it “America’s Front Door.” My book tells the story of the to implement his plan. He consulted with knowledgeable en- rapid growth of worldwide containerization, and how Port gineers who ? gured out how to make it work. It all got started Newark has adapted to bigger ships with deeper channels and at Port Newark on April 26, 1956, nearly seventy years ago. It a raised bridge. In the end, there is speculation of the future was a chilly day, with a high temperature of 48 degrees, with of this port with ever-increasing automation, arti? cial intel- intermittent showers. On a dock outside shed 154, some ? fty- ligence, and automation.

eight 33-foot-long containers were swung aboard the SS Ideal

The Author

X, a converted World War II oil tanker, a 524-foot-long ship,

Gillespie with the previous name of Potero Hills. Previously, oil tankers

A Fulbright professor and a New York Times would carry a pro? table load of oil from Houston to Newark, best-selling author, Angus Kress Gillespie but they would make the return tip with only ballast. Now teaches American Studies at Rutgers tons of cargo could be carried on the southbound trip, making

University in New Brunswick, NJ, where he both legs of the voyage pay. A huge crane placed the contain- has taught courses in maritime history. ers (they were understandably called “trailers” at the time) on www.marinelink.com 39

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