The Truck Driver Who Reinvented Shipping: Malcolm P. McLean

Malcolm P. McLean is the man who invented the cargo container. Here's a short and very readable account of how he came up with the idea that would revolutionize transport.

Malcolm P. McLean, a truck driver, fundamentally transformed the centuries-old shipping industry, an industry that had long decided that it had no incentive to change. By developing the first safe, reliable, and cost effective approach to transporting containerized cargo, McLean made a contribution to maritime trade so phenomenal that he has been compared to the father of the steam engine, Robert Fulton.

(source)

Comments

[hgvlgvtraining]

Yes and he was still actively involved, creating a new shipping company as late as 1992. He died only recently at the age of 87.

[truck rental]

So we really have a big thanks to McLean on his great invention, that probably led to tens of thousands of jobs and sure improved the business processes in the country and in the world.
...And to think before that people had transferred their goods with wagons :)

[digger derrick trucks]

Great ideas! It's nice to know we still have people out there trying to make life easier for the rest of us.

[jmitchell]

I drove for McLean out of Cincinnati,Oh from 1969 to 1971.