

Containers have been more important for globalisation than freer trade - patrickk
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21578041-containers-have-been-more-important-globalisation-freer-trade-humble

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raymondduke
Hi. Longshoreman here. I work around at the busiest port(s) in the USA and the
5th busiest port(s) in the world. Driving through and working around the
100,000's containers at the harbor never gets old even after working there for
7 years.

There are some interesting things I can say about containers after working
with them up close:

• Half of the containers we export are empties. The way the process works is
we get a majority of full containers from the East (China, Japan, etc.),
unload them, and send them empty boxes. Quartz covered this recently:
<http://qz.com/64779/america-exports-a-lot-of-air/>

• A refrigerated container is called a "reefer". We call the mechanics that
work on these reefer mechanics. A 40 foot chasis is called a 40. So yeah,
chatter on the radio channels talks about reefers, 40's, and (work) gangs.

• Here is a pic I took one night of the cranes before they started to "pump"
(work). <http://imgur.com/oxGNz9b>

• I have a draft of a post almost done about what it is that Longshoremen do
now a days. It's obviously changed a lot from unloading shit by hand. I met an
old timer that would use a hook to stab a giant ice block to pick out the
fish. This was before reefers. (I actually just published the post. It's not
complete, but it has more general info about longshoremen and containers:
[http://raymondduke.com/who-are-longshoremen-what-do-they-
do-...](http://raymondduke.com/who-are-longshoremen-what-do-they-do-your-
questions-answered/))

• I can't find the link, but the process that bananas go through as they get
shipped here is very interesting. There is a special and very intricate
cooling and ripening process with an exact temperature change at the right
moment in order to make sure the bananas are the right ripeness when they
arrive here.

• The worst thing I've encountered is cowhides. Cowhides are a common export
from the USA to China (I imagine there is not a lot of room for cattle there).
The reason why they are bad is because of the smell. They are coated with some
sort of chemical so they don't get dry, but instead of keeping them in a bag,
they just toss them in a container and drench them with this foul liquid that
drips out of the box as it gets moved around the yard. Luckily, I've only
encountered this a few times.

I'll be happy to answer any questions. I might not like a lot of things about
my job (the politics and the schedule), but I am in love with the culture of
the port.

~~~
mc-lovin
What do you think are the main potential areas for improvement in the field?
Is there potential for more automation?

It sounds like a fascinating job, those cranes look really cool.

~~~
raymondduke
Automation is coming, without a doubt. The problem right now is
implementation. A lot of the terminals have had computer screens with GPS that
either don't work or are way too faulty. The terminal I worked at today
ordered several new automated cranes this year (video:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdMMDjPPILE>) but they didn't have the power
to support them; so now they are digging up the pavement in order to supply
more power. It's a giant mess.

Main improvements would be a better implementation, obviously, but also a
better line of communication between companies and workers. I wrote a piece of
Medium (<https://medium.com/labor-related/188796b758d>) about how they hired
18,000 new workers in the late 90's; which would normally be a very good thing
but 80% of those workers are still on temp status (including me). Temp status
(i.e., a Casual) doesn't earn a pension, get benefits, or have any of the
other perks of a regular worker. I might be getting off-topic a little here,
but an improvement to the ports would include a better line of communication
between workers and companies instead of trying to turn the port into a giant
conveyor belt. I'm not so skeptical to think that a good paying blue collar
job will exist forever, but there is an extreme level of efficiency that
happens when you put human minds behind big tasks instead of leaving it up to
computers.

Here is another panoramic pic of when I worked rails:
<http://i.imgur.com/V1Sficm.jpg>. Those giant four legged things move back and
forth over the wells. The machine I was in moves along side the tracks and
allows you to hop on and off the containers to take cones on or off.

~~~
kyllo
Hey. I worked at a major steamship line for five years. The coolest part was
watching the ships come into the terminal and get worked by the longshoremen.

It's still a dangerous job though. Someone gets badly hurt or killed at the
port here once every year or two.

Ever heard of Euromax in the Netherlands? Not a single human on the docks
there most of the time. The entire terminal is robotic now. Just a few
engineers up in a control tower, to make sure the computers keep running. That
won't happen in the US for a long time, though. The ILA and ILWU have a lot of
political power.

~~~
raymondduke
I have heard of fully automated ports, but not Euromax in particular.

I suppose the ILWU and ILA do have a lot of political power when you compare
them to other ports. But from my perspective, we are losing more and more
ground each day. Since a majority of the workers are temps who can't get
involved with meetings and other "official bidness", then I don't know who
will take the reigns 10-20 years from now.

Did you keep up to date with what happened in Hong Kong?

~~~
kyllo
I wasn't really following it, but I see they had to strike for six weeks to
get a 9.8% pay raise to keep up with inflation. I believe they probably did
need it just for that reason, Hong Kong is a crazy expensive place to live.

I feel bad for longshoremen in Asia, they have more dangerous conditions and
weaker unions, so it's much harder for them to get reasonable pay and
benefits. And the rate of inflation/cost of living is getting crazy in China
and Hong Kong.

------
masonhensley
Containers & international shipping are pretty cool. In undergrad I interned
for a barbecue grill company and worked on a project with the VP's of
engineering and manufacturing to increase container yield.

As simple as putting boxes in bigger boxes is, it was fascinating stuff, more
so figuring out how to minimize the packaging of large hollow objects like bbq
grills. In one case we were able to more than double the number of smokers we
could fit into a container (which helped our margins big time.) That being
said, shipping containers of tiny ipods has to be the most boring logistics
task ever!

Finally, it's pretty interesting that you can look at a container ship and
have no idea what is in every single container. It can be filled with clothes,
bikes, food, electronics, toys, you name it.

~~~
bmbyers
... or cruise missiles ready to launch straight from the container, if this
Russian weapon-maker's video is to be believed:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIgvGpH2smY>

~~~
varikin
... or some unknown radiation source that closes down a port for a long time
and causes international headaches.

<http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/10/ff_radioactivecargo/>

------
jedc
I highly recommend the book "The Box" which goes deep into the history of the
shipping container. [http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-
Smaller/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-
Smaller/dp/0691136408/)

In a nutshell, it was messy. It's not easy in the physical/infrastructure
world to create a standard and then impose it world-wide. (ie, competing
standards, etc.)

Then the container literally created and destroyed neighborhoods & cities, but
as the article notes revolutionized world trade. I can HIGHLY recommend the
book.

~~~
jashmenn
If I may piggy-back on this thread, the idea of "containerization" is one of
our inspirations at IFTTT. Information is currently being transported in
"break-bulk" [1] - everyone has a different way of shuffling it around.

What we hope to do at IFTTT is develop a containerization of information; a
common interface for moving data from point a to point b. Now, I realize we
run the risk of creating the 15th competing standard [2], but we have some big
ideas on the horizon of how we can make this work in a really general (and
beautiful) way.

BTW, if these types of problems interest you, we're hiring :)

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break_bulk_cargo>

[2] <http://xkcd.com/927/>

~~~
eli_gottlieb
We have a containerized standard for moving data around. It's called TCP/IP.

What you're developing is a containerized standard for moving _understanding_
around, manipulating data in a relatively standard way while still
_maintaining its context_.

~~~
lsb
Understanding, or just information. Data is "things that have been given [to
you]", from the Latin, whereas information is something that informs you
[about the world].

------
No1
To give credit where credit is due, Keith Tantlinger invented the system that
allowed locking containers together for stacking and lifting to and from
ships. He convinced the company he worked for to relinquish the patent to
encourage adoption and standardization. That invention and standardization are
what gave us our current shipping industry.

~~~
gcb0
Wonder if the company ever regreted giving away that patent... In a purely
financial context.

~~~
olefoo
Much like TCP/IP, HTTP and a plethora of other internet standards; it would
have not been adopted had anyone maintained an active claim of ownership.

The way to make money off a standard is to sell it's complements ( think Cisco
or SUN selling equipment that works with TCP/IP and ethernet ) not to attempt
to charge for use of the standard.

~~~
No1
"The way to make money off a standard is to sell it's complements"

That seems to be how things went. Tantlinger created over 70 patents related
to transportation in his lifetime. Sea-Land, his employer, sold containerized
shipping services.

I doubt there were any regrets about dropping the patent. Malcom McLean, owner
of Sea-Land, did pretty well for himself:

[R.J.] Reynolds agreed in January 1969 to buy Sea-Land for $530 million in
cash and stock. McLean made $160 million personally and got a seat on the
company’s board.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea-Land_Service,_Inc>

~~~
thaumasiotes
If I remember right, he hated serving on the board, left to found a rival
container-shipping company, and ran it into the ground. (Not to knock Malcom
McLean! But I think it makes the story even more interesting.)

~~~
hga
Sort of the inverse of "genius is a rising market", it wasn't that he "ran it
into the ground", he made a bad bet, but one _completely_ in keeping with the
'70s "Limits to Growth" _Zeitgeist_ (more like "no limits to government",
especially stupidity in energy policy). From his Wikipedia page, and of course
there's more detail in _The Box_ :

" _In 1978, McLean purchased United States Lines. There, he built a fleet of
4,400-TEU container ships that were the largest afloat at the time. The ships,
operating in round-the-world service, were designed in the aftermath of the
1970s oil shortages and were fuel-efficient but slow, and therefore not well-
adapted to compete in the subsequent period of cheap oil. USL went bankrupt in
1987. McLean took very personally the criticism directed against him after the
collapse of USL and the resulting loss of many jobs associated with and
dependent on USL._ "

------
retroafroman
It's interesting that the next step down from the containers in a
transportation/logistics sense is the pallet, which is still pretty far from
being standardized. Right now, there are a variety of competing standards-the
EUR pallet, CHEP, iGPS, GMA, etc. Europe has done fairly well in standardizing
on the EUR pallet and half pallet (which you can see at Ikea in the states).
The North American market _usually_ uses 40" x 48" pallets, but quality varies
widely. It's a constant thorn in the side of any business who wants to
standardize and automate their material handling, because without consistent
pallets, automated systems can't be reliable.

~~~
chiph
How well does the EUR pallet fit into the non-metric dimensions of a 40'
container?

~~~
retroafroman
Worse, as you would expect. 15.2% wasted floor space vs 3.7% with 40x48
pallets. See here:
[http://www.ncagr.gov/markets/international/documents/PalletI...](http://www.ncagr.gov/markets/international/documents/PalletInfoandCalculationforExporters.pdf)

------
ZeroGravitas
It's not mentioned here, but I think it's in the book they mention (and the
BBC documentary based on it): containers were "open source" in the sense that
they allowed anyone to use the patents, which was vital in kickstarting the
network effects.

~~~
Hontano
The book is a fascinating read: [http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-
Smaller-Economy...](http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-
Economy/dp/0691136408)

It chronicles competing standards, proprietary efforts, attempts at sea-rail-
road integration, with some lively characters thrown in. It captures the
entrepreneurial vibe of the heady postwar decades. I loved it.

~~~
hga
Indeed, it'll teach you a lot about how the recent "modern" world developed;
containers became important for the Vietnam War, but its mostly pure business
and economic history, with sufficient detail---well, enough for me---on the
technical side. Also the interplay of government laws and regulation, and
shipping cartels, on the path this all took. And tells you why most of the
historic ports of old faded away.

Absolutely fascinating.

------
socalnate1
A religious non profit that I support uses decommissioned shipping containers
to build "super kitchens" in poorer countries. They are able to ship an entire
self contained kitchen to a site, and get it set up in (relatively) no time
thanks to this standardization.

If interested: <http://outsidethebowl.org/?page_id=61>

~~~
205guy
The reuse of shipping containers is becoming a rather trendy thing. There are
many projects for the 3rd world, and many design/architecture projects for the
1st world. I don't think containers make good building materials, for many
reasons not worth listing here. One additional critique is that the reasons
for taking a container out of circulation (damage, corrosion, pollution) are
exaclty the reasons you wouldn't want them for construction. So for
construction, you have to buy a working container (especially if you want to
ship it as a kitchen to the 3rd world), so building with containers is not
recycling but more like buying an alternative construction material.

Also, I wonder how good it is for local cultures to have religious
organizations parachute food and foreign religion into their communities. That
whole "teach a person to fish..." thing.

~~~
socalnate1
Couple more details on the points you brought up:

1) I think they buy used (not decommissioned) containers for the reasons you
specified. So it is more like an alternative building material rather than
true recycling. The biggest advantage is standardization and speed to launch
so they can replicate in many places that don't have local materials available
(i.e. Haiti) or where a local construction project from scratch would be
nearly impossible to get off the ground.

2) The kitchens actually resell their food for very cheap to local ministries
and non profits and is run by locals. (Volume/standardization = much cheaper
food). So, self sustainability is built into their model. The South African
kitchen is run and supported 100% by the community at this point.

------
usea
The company I work for was located in a shipping container for a year. 3
people had computers and (eventually) a window air conditioning unit. It got
cold in winter.

We create products and services for the shipping industry (usually bulk cargo,
but sometimes containers).

------
jbuzbee
Reminds me of the Wired article comparing shipping containers to network
packets:

<http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.10/ports.html>

------
steve19
I was talking to a former navy Intel officer recently who told me about the
former art of deducting what cargo was on deck a ship by the shape of the
tarpaulins covering them. books were written on the subject. now that is all
obsoleted by containers that hide the objects being carried.

~~~
hga
"Crateology" isn't _completely_ obsolete, there's lots of vital stuff that
won't fit in containers, but, yeah, this has certainly put a damper in it.

------
ww520
Didn't Google use to build mini-data center fitted in the standard size
container? Completed with powers, racks, cooling, etc. Ready to drop-ship it
to any location in short notice.

~~~
cobralibre
You're thinking of Sun.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Modular_Datacenter>

------
wdr1
> Containers have been more important for globalisation than freer trade

Why did you editorialize the title?

The Economist article doesn't say that. It does state "In fact, new research
suggests that the container has been more of a driver of globalisation than
all trade agreements in the past 50 years taken together."

Although they do also state it's difficult to quantify & that
"containerisation" seems to, in turn, drive freer trade.

~~~
pg
That's the subtitle of the article, verbatim.

------
dlhavema
It's really cool to read about how a "simple" metal box could change this
industry and many others so dramatically, talk about ripple effect...

~~~
betterunix
The article makes a big deal about efficiency, but underlying the efficiency
of the container system is _standardization_. It is the same story as
railroads using standard gauges and couplers, electrical sockets being
standardized and having standard voltages and frequencies, the IP protocol,
etc. It allows people to think about their problems more abstractly, which
allows people to get more done.

------
jpalomaki
I liked the idea that containers with their transport routes are for physical
objects what Internet is for digital content. I put stuff in the container,
put a destination address on it and then let the network take care of it.

------
guard-of-terra
And the added benefit of unified containers is this:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yAGE3Bt1yE>

(Container missile system)

------
diminish
containers, planes, fax/email/chat/videocalls, computers/smartphones

