The Box (Levinson book)

Last updated

The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger is a non-fiction book by Marc Levinson charting the historic rise of the intermodal container (shipping container) and how it changed the economic landscape of the global economy. [1] [2] The New York Times called it "a smart, engaging book". [3]

Contents

The book inspired the name for the project "The Box" run by BBC News from September 2008 onwards, in which the BBC were tracking a container for a period of one year. [4]

The Box won a bronze medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards (2007) in the "Finance/Investment/Economics" category. [5] It also won the 2007 Anderson Medal from the Society for Nautical Research. [6] The Box was shortlisted for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award (2006). [7]

Editions

The 2nd edition has an extra chapter.

Chapters

  1. The World the Box Made
  2. Gridlock on the Docks
  3. The Trucker
  4. The System
  5. The Battle for New York's Post
  6. Union Disunion
  7. Setting the Standard
  8. Takeoff
  9. Vietnam
  10. Ports in a Storm
  11. Boom and Bust
  12. The Bigness Complex
  13. The Shipper's Revenge
  14. Just in Time - Barbie is an example
  15. Adding Value

See also

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Containerization</span> Intermodal freight transport system

Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers. Containerization, also referred as container stuffing or container loading, is the process of unitization of cargoes in exports. Containerization is the predominant form of unitization of export cargoes, as opposed to other systems such as the barge system or palletization. The containers have standardized dimensions. They can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another—container ships, rail transport flatcars, and semi-trailer trucks—without being opened. The handling system is mechanized so that all handling is done with cranes and special forklift trucks. All containers are numbered and tracked using computerized systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intermodal container</span> Standardized reusable steel box used for transporting goods

An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a freight container, (or simply “container”) is a large standardized container designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – such as from ships to trains to trucks – without unloading and reloading their cargo. Intermodal containers are primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely in the global containerized intermodal freight transport system, but smaller numbers are in regional use as well. It is like a boxcar that does not have wheels. Based on size alone, up to 95% of intermodal containers comply with ISO standards, and can officially be called ISO containers. These containers are known by many names: cargo container, sea container, ocean container, container van or sea van, sea can or C can, or MILVAN, or SEAVAN. The term CONEX (Box) is a technically incorrect carry-over usage of the name of an important predecessor of the ISO containers: the much smaller steel CONEX boxes used by the U.S. Army.

Container ship Ship that carries cargo in intermodal containers

A container ship is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport and now carry most seagoing non-bulk cargo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intermodal freight transport</span> Cargo transport using multiple containers

Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation, without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damage and loss, and allows freight to be transported faster. Reduced costs over road trucking is the key benefit for inter-continental use. This may be offset by reduced timings for road transport over shorter distances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Box</span> Type of container

A box is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small or very large and can be used for a variety of purposes, from functional to decorative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal</span> Major component of the Port of New York and New Jersey

Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal, a major component of the Port of New York and New Jersey, is the principal container ship facility for goods entering and leaving the New York metropolitan area and the northeastern quadrant of North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dockworker</span> Occupation of loading and unloading ships

A dockworker is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships.

SS <i>Mayaguez</i>

SSMayaguez was a U.S.-flagged container ship that attained notoriety for its 12 May 1975 seizure by Khmer Rouge forces of Cambodia, which resulted in a confrontation with the United States at the close of the Vietnam War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcom McLean</span> Transport entrepreneur who developed the modern intermodal shipping container

Malcom Purcell McLean was an American businessman who invented the modern intermodal shipping container, which revolutionized transport and international trade in the second half of the twentieth century. Containerization led to a significant reduction in the cost of freight transportation by eliminating the need for repeated handling of individual pieces of cargo, and also improved reliability, reduced cargo theft, and cut inventory costs by shortening transit time. Containerization is a major driver of globalization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SeaLand</span> Shipping and containerization company

Sea-Land was an American intra-regional container shipping company headquartered in Miramar, Florida with representation in 29 countries across the Americas. It offered ocean and intermodal services using container ships, trucks, and rail serving customers between North and South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakbulk cargo</span> Shipping goods that are loaded individually

In shipping, break-bulk, breakbulk, or break bulk cargo, also called general cargo, is goods that are stowed on board ships in individually counted units. Traditionally, the large numbers of items are recorded on distinct bills of lading that list them by different commodities. This is in contrast to cargo stowed in modern intermodal containers as well as bulk cargo, which goes directly, unpackaged and in large quantities, into a ship's hold(s), measured by volume or weight.

In law, breaking bulk is the act of removing something from a package or parcel, or in any way destroying its entirety. It was thus important in connection with the subject of bailment, involving as it did the curious distinction that where a bailee received possession of goods in a box or package, and then sold them as a whole, he was guilty only of a breach of trust, but if he "broke bulk" or caused a separation of the goods, and sold a part or all, he was guilty of felony. This distinction was abolished by the Larceny Act 1861, which enacted that whoever, being a bailee of any chattel, money or valuable security, should fraudulently take or convert the same to his own use, or the use of any person other than the owner, although he should not break bulk or otherwise determine the bailment, should be guilty of larceny.

The Box or BBC Box was a single ISO intermodal container that was tracked by BBC News between September 2008 and April 2009, as part of a project to study international trade and globalisation. The Box was fitted with tracking equipment and painted in a special one-off livery.

SS <i>Ideal X</i> First container ship

SS Ideal X, a converted World War II T-2 oil tanker, was the first commercially successful container ship.

A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of international shipping trade, "container" or "shipping container" is virtually synonymous with "intermodal freight container", a container designed to be moved from one mode of transport to another without unloading and reloading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twistlock</span> Standardized rotating connector for securing intermodal containers

A twistlock or twist lock, together with matching corner castings, as defined in norms including ISO 1161:1984, form a standardized (rotating) connector system, for connecting and securing intermodal, and predominantly ISO-standard international shipping containers. The primary uses are to securely stack containers, for locking them into place on a container ship, semi-trailer or rail carriage, and for lifting and handling by specific container-handling equipment, like straddle carriers, reach stackers, container-handling forklifts, sidelifters, and various types of container cranes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conex box</span> Type of cargo container

The CONEX box, a portmanteau of "Container, express", is a type of cargo container that was developed during the Korean War and was used to transport and store supplies during the Korean and Vietnam wars. It was reinvented by Malcom McLean to form the standard intermodal shipping container, often called an ISO box, after ISO 668/ISO 6346, that is used widely by container shipping companies today.

Disembarkation or debarcation is the process of leaving a ship or aircraft, or removing goods from a ship or aircraft..

Historical economic geography examines the history and development of spatial economic structure. Using historical data, it examines how centers of population and economic activity shift, what patterns of regional specialization and localization evolve over time and what factors explain these changes.

Mark Levinson is a historian, economist, financial journalist, and book author.

References

  1. Davies, Howard (2006-04-01). "Thinking outside the box". Times Online.
  2. Krug, Nora (2008-04-13). "Globalization 1.0". Washington Post .
  3. Nocera, Joe (2006-05-13). "A Revolution That Came In a Box". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
  4. Hillman, Jeremy (2008-09-08). "The Box takes off on global journey". BBC News.
  5. "Announcing 2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards Results". Independent Publisher Book Awards. 2007. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  6. "Awards". Society for Nautical Research.
  7. "Award shortlist announced 2006". Financial Times. 18 September 2006. Retrieved 30 May 2012.