50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Shipping Container

Shipping Container

11/19/16 • 8 min

2 Listeners

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)

Previous Episode

Haber-Bosch Process

Saving lives with thin air - by taking nitrogen from the air to make fertiliser, the Haber-Bosch Process has been called the greatest invention of the 20th Century – and without it almost half the world’s population would not be alive today. Tim Harford tells the story of two German chemists, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, figured out a way to use nitrogen from the air to make ammonia, which makes fertiliser. It was like alchemy; 'Brot aus Luft', as Germans put it, 'Bread from air'.

Haber and Bosch both received a Nobel prize for their invention. But Haber’s place in history is controversial – he is also considered the 'father of chemical warfare' for his years of work developing and weaponising chlorine and other poisonous gases during World War One.

Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon

(Photo: A farmer sprays fertiliser. Credit: Remy Gabalda/Getty Images)

Next Episode

Concrete

It's improved health, school attendance, agricultural productivity and farm worker wages, but concrete has a poor reputation. It takes a lot of energy to produce and releases a great deal of CO2 in the process. However, architects appreciate its versatility and there are few more important inventions. Tim Harford tells the remarkable hidden story of a ubiquitous, unloved material.

(Image: Masons hands spread concrete, Credit: APGuide/Shutterstock)