The first truly successful container shipping company dates to April 26, 1956, when American trucking entrepreneur McLean put 58 trailer vans later called containers, aboard a refitted tanker ship, the SS Ideal X, and sailed them from Newark, New Jersey to Houston, Texas.

Who invented containerized shipping?

In the 1950s, Keith Tantlinger built a better box and forever changed the way global business operates. His take on the shipping container made it easier to send and store all kinds of products all around the word.

What is the history of containerization?

In 1956, an entrepreneurial trucker named Malcolm McLean, seeking a cost effective alternative to move cargo between New Jersey and Texas loaded 58 trailer bodies onto the World War II vintage tanker, the TS Ideal X, marking the start of what we call "Containerization.