How a Steel Box Changed the World: A Brief History of Shipping

[@TheBHAitken]

It's nice to finally see this curious corner of our infrastructure finally in film. I was introduced to this when I was assigned to Vancouver's ports, and I was impressed on how this simple change will continue with us even into space. Thank you.

[@tiae.475]

I live in Vancouver, very curious to hear about anyone's experience at the ports there! I'd like to apply to Neptune eventually.

[@swissyodeler6970]

so basically some genius invented the box.

[@dhivyanawesome5939]

he was an ordinary truck worker who was tired of how ineffective the existing system was. Yet he was really smart to bring about a simple yet effective panacea to reduce time wasted within the shipping industry

[@TEACH_OW]

Malcolm McLean, the most important man to the modern day economy that no one ever talks about.

[@fletchrfc2063]

The future doesn’t hold crewless behemoths, you always need marine engineers to keep the engines and systems running and deck officers to navigate the ship. There will always be a human element to running these ships.

[@peggyt1243]

Fresh fruit was transported by ships before 1850 from Spain and Portugal to England. There was a small shipyard in Salcombe England that specialized in building small fast sailing ships. In the Victorian era, the well to do were very willing to pay the price for fresh fruit. The ships were called "fruit racers". From wikipedia In the 19th century, Salcombe was a centre for shipping in the fruit trade. Salcombe vessels sailed to Iberia, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean as well as to the Azores, the fruit cargoes were oranges and lemons from the Azores, and pineapples from the Bahamas and West Indies. Other cargoes brought back included ...

[@Seamus322]

One byproduct of containerization was the reduction of cargo "shrinkage" by longshoremen and other port workers-when all cargo was breakbulk, the odds of all of it making it off the pier to its intended destination was very slim...

[@manatee2500]

Except that in the early days most goods were shipped to port by truck or rail and the containers were stuffed at port or alongside the quay.

[@charliemcgee9803]

They show this in the movie on the waterfront. Shipping back in the day had to account for this mathematically for price.

[@burdizdawurd1516Official]

To the animator who did the SD-40 at 1:12, nice job. It's not too often people can get their trains right.

[@christopherderrah3294]

Part of the reason importing is cheap is the huge amount of government subsidies in the form of infrastructure (ports, roads, rail lines etc., fuel subsidies and the ships themselves. and of course the military protection of the shipping routes.

[@steve1978ger]

It is most certain that automation in marine jobs will increase, and crew sizes will be further reduced. But the crewless cargo ship will not be commercially viable in the next decade or two, even if we might see demonstrators. Having a bridge and deck crew to deal with emergencies is cheaper than the increased risk of losing a billion dollar ship and cargo to a computer malfunction. It's like in aviation, modern airliners could fly themselves, but with current technology, it would not be responsible.

[@1503nemanja]

Heh, Tesla of the seas. I love that actual Tesla, the scientist, is finally getting more recognition through the car company of the same name which could leave a huge imprint on history. I mean he still deserves more but it's something.

[@loumalzone6336]

He deserves a one-way autonomous ride to Mars.

[@MobyTheMerpup1852]

I hate Elon Musk for screwing Twitter up.

[@bernalfiesaysip5191]

There are regulations that increase the efficiency of shipping for the safer environment. If the shipping industry is going to halt, the world would be in a greater chaos.

[@berndiomebinot6376]

Permission to use this video admin for school project, Thank you in advance ❤️

[@Brucee_97]

Very good and educational video in learning the history and life of ocean shipping

[@rhyskuzdas9864]

Leathem D. Smith & C. Ray Christianson invented and built the first shipping container system, trademarked under "Safeway Containers", in Sturgeon Bay, WI in 1945.

[@jeyanthiprabhu1338]

Wendower productions did it first

[@runarandersen878]

It might be true, but I think they did it better here.

[@jeyanthiprabhu1338]

Runar Andersen Maby.he makes better wids now.even vox made a similar wid.this channel is good to.

[@runarandersen878]

jeyanthi prabhu : In general he makes better videos yes. But this one was better. However his video had a slightly different focus as well.

[@manatee2500]

Wendover is factually incorrect in many videos. Look up the maritime law video, it's a mess.

[@P134-i3p]

Jeyanthi , So?

[@suburbansean]

0:54 “From New Jersey to Houston.” Yet it’s from Maryland to Corpus Christi if we go by the pin locations...

[@Guizambaldi]

A fun side of being an economist is to be able to grasp (and pay attention to) this type of "unsexy" technological innovation. People pay attention to high tech stuff. Some do add a lot to the economy, but some are "sexy" stuff with useless applications. The fact that we can ship cell phones for 5 cents because of a box is incredible and goes mostly unoticeable.

[@hubris_ssb]

What's crazy is how it changed the rail industry

[@emzee1148]

Shipping happened at least during the bronze age, significantly longer than claimed in this video.

[@andremilanimartin3338]

yeah, 300 BCE is far to late. Shipping will have started since any trade between port cities happened. If you consider shipping of stones for building of tombs and pyramids than its 3000 BCE or earlier.

[@SitandLearn]

Maritime shipping always wins as it's the most efficient way to transport goods. For me, I've also focused more on trade across seas and oceans. I see it's the most effective network above railways and airlines.

[@CardPhantom]

Very interesting video. When I go to visit family in Charleston, SC it's cool to see the giant cargo 🚢 on the horizon.

[@Jariid]

My grandparents own a place on the beach between the north and south island of New Zealand and there are constantly container ships crossing the strait. Silent shadows on the horizon. Wouldn't have happened a thousand years ago.

[@SevenseasB]

Great break down video of containers

[@mega.evolution]

$2 to ship a TV from China to USA? That's how the black Friday deals are so low.

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

"Black Friday" deals aren't necessarily the best.

[@1503nemanja]

The thing about logistics is that they are toughest near the end. It may take 2$ to get that TV from a Chinese factory, which is conveniently located near a major port, over to a US port. But to get it from there to a depot near you and then to your house it will take much more effort and cost many times more.

[@apudharald2435]

1503nemanja well, it used to be the exact other way around. The Portuguese discovered that the margin on pepper was made for like, 90% on the !ittle hop from Indonesia to Malaya rather than at the long stretch.

[@LucasPereiradaSilva]

Battery-powered cargo ships? It's like the Hendo hover houses and its 2-megawatt power supply required for a 40-ton regular building.

[@corymcgrath5652]

Uh, instances of" bottle breakage" drastically reduced in shipments of liquor thanks to these steel cans.

[@MatafiedGaming]

This is what happens when I stare at a train too long and wonder where all those metal crates came from.

[@manatee2500]

Correct enough for a general interest newspaper.

[@davedawn1794]

You should have mentioned the true inventor of the shipping container, Keith Tantlinger. His ideas revolutionized modern trade

[@delacroixp]

Concise.

[@dolphin3181]

2:54 natural *gath*

[@violenceisfun991]

Hahaha what a spackydiffwad

[@anubis520]

hold up, my tv only costs $2 to ship from china?!? I want my money back!

[@piratecheese13]

3:27 i know she meant refrigerated boxes, but i'm going to believe she meant the other thing

[@hans7743]

Many of the experts on the area think that battery driven ships will never be a reality for intercontinental shipping because of the weight to energy ratio ending up taking up to much of the ships' load

[@crassirus]

@1:37 Woohoo deckhouse ride! Up and down she goes!

[@Nicklan1961]

You missed the white pass who started the container business first Port Coquitlam BC to Skagway Alaska during the Gold Rush

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

Autonomous ships that include green propulsion like sails, kites and solar powered electric motors with backup nuclear or old fashion diesel motors. Delivery time may be uncertain so reserve these just for nonperishable and not-time-sensitive cargo.

[@jonathantan2469]

The problem is the wind doesn't always blow in the direction where you want to go. Also, solar panels don't work well when the sky is overcast or during a storm/fog.

[@culterwaleddy]

And what if it were to sail through pirate territory. With no crew there's no one from stopping people from bording and stealing its contents. A new age of piracy may be birthed from this.

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

Jonathan Tan Yes, winds and sun are not dependable. Hence a diesl backup. Current shipping is done 100% with bunker oil. Sails/kites + solar-electric motors would suppliment bunker oil.

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

collin ohlinger Piracy is a problem with or without a crew. BTW pirates are generally not interested in stealing the cargo, rather they hold it for ransom. Autonomous ships would reduce human error, reduce labour cost and reduce risk to crew life. Pirates could switch to demanding "protection money" by threatening to sink ships but for them to have credibility they'd need to demonstrate they have the ability to sink ships.

[@culterwaleddy]

I don't know. If they can't get their money through bribary they'll probably just get it through stealing cargo. I don't know about you, but I know what's in those containers, and if had 15 minutes and a bolt cutter I'd be a very rich man.

[@overbank56]

Very interesting

[@fancyasandwich]

Your animation of where Houston is is like 200 miles off...

[@1pCarlos]

Where’s our HOUSTON PEOPLE!!

[@chernobaev]

Кажется я нашел вдохновение ТОПЛЕС :) Но это нормально. Все вдохновляются чем-то

[@ilhamsyamsuddin]

So many Mehtal Bawkses, Lord Carron would get epylepsy

[@kenb7051]

Why is blockchain needed? So you can have a record of every container transaction ever? What is the point?

[@vancevaughan869]

B U Z Z W O R D S U Z Z W O R D S

[@AndrewMellor-darkphoton]

cheap

[@jasperasis5209]

More like indefinitely in history... Water transport has always been more efficent than land... No hills, no infrastructure required... Boats have been around since the beginning of time...

[@jonathantan2469]

It depends. For shipping a large tonnage of goods across continents, then it's economically advantageous to use water transport. Over 100 years ago, goods were still shipped from the main port through canals & rivers, as long range motorised transport was still new. Hence the canals of Amsterdam, England, Bangkok, etc. There was the train, but you couldn't lay a railroad track everywhere, unlike a road.

[@runarandersen878]

Great video. I know most of this before, but this is on of the best videos I've seen about it. I also didn't know how low the shipping cost per item could be. Especially compared to what I pay to send a single item a short distance...

[@drewmqn]

:24 "...started in 3rd century BC" gonna have to stop you there. Oversea shipping on the Mediterranean was already the cheapest before the bronze age collapse appx 12th century BC according to Eric Cline.

[@aashaytambi3268]

"Blockchain"

[@Soopadawg]

lol

[@hsillams]

woah

[@ezraduncan8245]

woah

[@jeffdege4786]

Loaded in sacks, barrels, and wooden crates? Didnt you forget amphora?

[@525Lines]

Pretty light ancient history, there. Weren't amphora designed for transporting goods?

[@manatee2500]

Yes, but that is the same as unitized cargo. The US military was experimenting with cargo containers in WWII.

[@ΑΡΗΣΚΟΡΝΑΡΑΚΗΣ]

525Lines liquids only

[@scottfranco1962]

1:49 Why is the ships bridge bouncing up and down? I must have missed this feature on ships.

[@hawkinsstern5356]

give wendover productions their story back

[@drivesthecar3247]

I've loaded and unloaded those containers with merchandise. Truly a miserable miserable freaking job!!

[@bakersbread104]

how does a top 20 shrink to 11 unless there is only 11 companies total

[@mayankjha5375]

What they meant was that the top 20 firms before a certain period of consolidation became 11 after that period of consolidation. Also, yes, there might be many more firms but they would have been much smaller than the initial top 20. When people say top 20, they generally mean that the first and last among the top 20 aren't that far apart in financial and operational metrics whereas the rest are a tail of small firms.

[@zoeygonnago_e]

I thought this video was going to be about locks in canals. Different box that revolutionized shipping. Ha

[@liamaustin8123]

They could fix the problem with pollution with nuclear power

[@neilturner6865]

The dreaded Box has ruined the British Merchant Navy decimating all our old famous Cargo boats that once plied their trade all over the 7 seas 😡😡

[@NateandNoahTryLife]

0:24 HUZAAAAHHH

[@NewerSing]

Just read an article about that

[@shingshongshamalama]

A naturally restrictive infrastructure service makes for an anti-competitive industry? Who could POSSIBLY have guessed that except like literally everyone with a brain but come on.

[@Benjamin_Gilbert-Lif]

This video deserves more views

[@sdmcelroy]

this CHANNEL deserves more views!

[@NashTheGreat]

Stephen McElroy this media (wsj) is a dumbshit content stealer.

[@julianhobrough1290]

10,000 containers are lost at sea each year.

[@RmnGnzlz]

julian hobrough Most of them end up in somebody else's hand and reported as lost tho. It's worth the risk to steal cargo like that.

[@valeriesaubin8745]

Wrong. as per various maritime consultancy, average may be max 1500 unit per year. Of this , this is based on known casualties ie those recorded by insurance companies and P&I clubs, and when a full vessel sinks, average may be impacted (see MOL Comfort casulaty = 5000+ containers)

[@manatee2500]

The seas are rough, and on the back of every ocean b/l is clause about deck cargo. The payment of freight is the shipowner's reward for embarking upon a voyage to an agreed destination.

[@setvideo5408]

Nice

[@bozo28able]

A big incentive was theft of products by the dock workers.

[@Beavereaver]

Environmentalists care about the planet but don’t care about the people who would starve if those ships ever stopped shipping.

[@nikiol123321]

The fun bit is that shipping is the most environmental friendly way of mass transport of goods. Maersks biggest ship would require 11.000 trucks, or a 150 km freight train to transport the cargo, if the ship didn't sail. Now THAT is bad for the environment!

[@Beavereaver]

Nicolaj Møller yep exactly.

[@thedave7760]

What ever idiot scripted seems to think that these massive ships will soon be powered by batteries. Or was it unicorn farts, I'll have to watch again.

[@Mario-sy4nw]

True but it would still be great to convert to natural gas if they can make it feasible. Its cheap, clean and plentiful.

[@richardemms3050]

Freight trains would be better for the environment if electrically powered, like in Russia. You need to be able to actually take it by train though.

[@igloo54]

And why is containerization also required? Because it makes theft harder.

[@AdamSmith-gs2dv]

A battery powered ship? Get outta here, there is not enough Lithium and Cobalt in the world to make these giant ship batteries along with car batteries! In the future these ships will still be running on oil or natural gas however they will become even larger and more complex

[@Mnibb606]

WHO IS HERE FROM IMU NAVI MUMBAI GSK

[@chokedup53]

innovation changed the world. sadly our "modern" education monopoly is still obsolete, broken and insanely expensive.

[@TheSeppentoni]

Just slap the «Blockchain» label on everything on this planet and you're with the cool kids!

[@yunzelee2731]

The idea of containerisation was actually rejected and thought as absurd

[@TommyTomTompkins]

3:45 Morpheus network

[@Dbm_-oe7zv]

At the end when it said “it will replace thousands of truck jobs”, I don’t see how that’s a good thing. It’s literally only taking jobs away

[@JaegerMatthias]

This should be pretty obvious, but trucker jobs are not the kind of jobs we want to keep for lots of reasons. Anytime we can replace trucking with something cleaner, more efficient, safer, and more economical, then we should do it.

[@mattabesta]

Are you kidding me WSJ, 3rd century? There is reliable evidence of seaborne trade more than a millenium earlier, this isn't some niche academic fact either, I have no idea how you managed to come up with the 3rd century, a thousand years after mediterranian trade became common.

[@some_randomninja]

Soooo America invented it but none of the three biggest shipping lines are American

[@harrytomato5874]

0:53 Why is New Jersey in the Chesapeake bay?

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

Abolish the Jones Act and the Mann Act.

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

Next up... removing the need for long distance shipping altogether. Decentralize manufacturing and food production through automation. Why locate all the shoe factories to one city in China? To start it was cheap labour, relaxed environmental regulation, cheap shipping, economies of scale. What would happen if we distributed shoe-making robots? Even better, we distribute the plans and software for shoe-making robots? Labour costs: robot technicians... with reliable robot design even that can be minimized. Environmental regs: we shouldn't be exporting our pollution anyway. Shipping: factory to store within a hundred miles instead of thousands, raw materials sourced as local as possible. New fashions and better construction should be distributed by robotic software updates. Replace materials movement with information transmission.

[@Kni0002]

and thats why the f 35 is so expensive, maximizing jobs and putting factories all over the place meaning parts need to be shipped.

[@edyoung646]

LL Bean, Bass, et al, have been working on a moccasin-lacing machine for a long, long time~

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

"raw materials sourced as local as possible" They are probably not going to get much more local. Where is the nearest bauxite deposit?

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

Kni Agreed, F35, Space Shuttle, pork projects are all about creating jobs. SpaceX is demonstrating how concentrating production to a single large factory achieves efficiency. The same would probably work with the F35 if they also stuck to design->test->manufacture rather than their wildly expensive test&manufacture parallel process. Both the Shuttle & F35 are examples of specialty products with a very small customer base. Shoes, clothes, food are examples of things that everyone needs, the ultimate mass market. Transmitting manufacturing methods to distributed factories would greatly reduce material shipments.

[@joshbobst1629]

Of course the narration leaves out the fact that the US military used the first container ships to haul war materiel to Vietnam, giving the operator's model the boost it needed to get a foothold. Like most supposed free market phenomena, this too succeeded mostly because of massive government intervention.

[@TheSECRETeam]

containers can only hold 10k iPads?! sounds way off

[@jmano1]

Wait till Elon Musk enters this industry

[@lukeritchie8080]

This sounds like Nia, Billy Burrs wife

[@blu7512]

"Box".

[@karinelanglois4]

Very good video, would have been nice to hear about the regulator: The International Maritime Organization.

[@torreyance2468]

Then why do we get charge a lot for shipping most of it its $8 and up.

[@AdamSmith-gs2dv]

1. Because it's not just the ship involved, it's also trains and trucks and they are more expensive 2. Companies have to make a profit

[@RedEvee]

thay should make all container ships nuclear powerd !

[@nonameno2006]

Frank Herbert invented containerized shipping in his 1956 book The Dragon of the Sea

[@GibsonArtola]

I think we just resolved the drug trade issue ... or at least where all the weed comes from 03:25

[@ernestkj]

what about using nuclear power like aircraft carriers?

[@belligerenttheo2359]

Too expensive, a study by the US navy showed that nuclear powered ships make economical sense once oil reaches $150/barrel.

[@0MVR_0]

Also not green with the current technology. Spent nuclear rods are dumped in caves after use.

[@belligerenttheo2359]

Nuclear in general, has the potential to be cheap and clean if we manage it properly and use the right kind of reactor designs. Also, as automation makes it more financially fesible to produce items in smaller quantities, most of the production of stuff we use might happen at a more local level, so we wouldn't need that much shipping in the first place. So in that case, LNG powered ships could be a thing for the next 60 years until we run out of natural gas. after that, when technology and safety catches up, we could do the switch to nuclear.

[@0MVR_0]

Like I said its not green. There is a lot of pollution when you consider the spent nuclear rods.

[@NashTheGreat]

Omar Omokhodion yea and you doesn't seems like a nuclear expert either.

[@BlueGlowingLight4]

Eww, I accidentally clicked on the WSJ... Meh I'll shower afterwards.

[@Pos3id0n.]

Wtf...0:52 Um, pretty sure that's not houston, more like corpus christi.

[@daveharrison84]

and it's not New Jersey either

[@sean1100]

ughhhh block chain tech, im sure...use more buzz words

[@forefatherofmankind3305]

Ask environmentalists to stop using iPhones,iPads , cars etc etc

[@TommyTomTompkins]

U said that already

[@camzy01]

*did somebody say blockchain?*

[@jpeg398]

Vox did it first

[@christianbro2]

Wendover Productions did it first

[@Mario-sy4nw]

Financial Times and GeoBeats did it 4 years ago. VOX was 3 years ago and Wendover was 2 years ago. (I think)

[@JeffDM]

What's that background clicking - for the lack of a better name for that sound? It's very distracting and I quit watching at 50 seconds.

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

i think that background sound effect was only at the start and slowly faded away throughout the video

[@trygveevensen171]

I'm Norwegian...

[@runarandersen878]

Trygve Evensen : Good for you.

[@tiberiu_nicolae]

Congratulations!

[@Vehrec]

I was with you guys until you said 'blockchain'.

[@TheYoo2b]

dont worry guys, just throw all the containers on the blockchain

[@RATsnak3]

Blockchain technology -🤓

[@phishENchimps]

AMERICA!!!!!!

[@jackthines7903]

It's BCE now, get with the times