How did shipping become such an expansive industry?
In 1956, American truck driver Malcom McLean decided to stack 58 metal containers onto a ship going from New Jersey to Texas. The efficiency of transporting goods this way “completely revolutionized the industry,” according to a video from The Wall Street Journal. These containers both protected the cargo and made it drastically easier to unload the shipments. Standard containers allowed the cargo to move from ships onto trucks or trains without being repackaged — a system called “intermodalism,” which saves both time and money.
With the use of intermodalism and other advances such as industry globalization, container shipping continues to dominate the industry. Today, there are billions of tons of cargo being shipped around the world by container ships every year.
Without shipping, we would have far less food and produce in our grocery stores, cars to get us where we need to go, and access to the latest iPhone accessories. For such an wide-ranging industry, it’s surprising how little most people know about it. For example, did you know that over 10,000 shipping containers are lost at sea every year? Or that only 2% of seafarers are women?
Shipping is an expansive industry – and evolving every day – so we understand it might be difficult to always keep up with the latest news. That’s why we decided to share some of the most fascinating shipping facts and statistics we could find. Check out our collection in the infographic below. And if you’ve heard of other surprising facts, be sure to share them in the comments!
