9 min listen
Shipping Container
ratings:
Length:
9 minutes
Released:
Nov 19, 2016
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
The boom in global trade was caused by a simple steel box. Shipping goods around the world was – for many centuries – expensive, risky and time-consuming. But, as Tim Harford explains, 60 years ago the trucking entrepreneur Malcolm McLean changed all that by selling the idea of container shipping to the US military. Against huge odds he managed to turn 'containerisation' from a seemingly impractical idea into a massive industry – one that slashed the cost of transporting goods internationally and provoked a boom in global trade.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Photo: Container ship travelling along the Suez Canal, Credit: Science Photo Library)
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Photo: Container ship travelling along the Suez Canal, Credit: Science Photo Library)
Released:
Nov 19, 2016
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Diesel Engine: Rudolf Diesel died in strange circumstances after changing the world with his engine by 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy