Nord news

How it all started
company and bought a coastal tank ship operation
the "Pan Atlantic Steamship" company. He then
set out to make his vision a reality. The small fleet
of the "Pan Atlantic Steamship" consisted of World
War II built T-2 Tankers. The ships were already
fitted with a wooden spar deck to carry fighter
aircrafts. With minimum modifications the
container age began on April 26, 1956, at New
Jersey when the first T-2 tanker was loaded with
58 trailers for transportation to Texas.
Realising that the use of Tankers was not very
convenient and that a ship that could carry boxes
below decks would be more efficient, more
vessels were converted and in 1957 the first of
these vessels "Gateway City" entered service.
Their decks were cleared, their width was
increased by sponsons and they were fitted with
two rail mounted gantry cranes giving them self
sufficiency. They were able to lift 35 ft vans
from the quayside and stow 226 of them on deck
and in the holds. In 1959 the Pan Atlantic
became the "Sea-Land Service" serving a growing
number of ports, buying tankers, cargo ships and
military surplus vessels and converting them to
container ships. Containers were also developing
fast and soon the basic dry box was developed
which evolved into refrigerated and ventilated
containers, side loading units and “open tops”,
inside stout frames of appropriate dimensions
and a whole range of other specialist units.
By the end of the 1960's the 42 ships of the US "Sea
Land" were covering both the Atlantic and the
Pacific ports and the Japanese and Europeans were
developing and building their own containerships.
Mr. McLean sold his interest in the flourishing “Sea-
Land” Company in the late 1960's and turned his
attention to other interests like real estate and life
insurance. He returned to marine transport in the
late 1970's with the purchase of the United States
Lines and introduced a round the world service with
a dozen 4,456 teu ships. These Jumbo-Econoships
were launched in 1984 and they successfully
transited the Panama Canal. But the quadrupling of
fuel prices and the economic circumstances rendered
them uneconomical and they had to be scrapped.
With the introduction of containerisation, ports
that were dependent on manual labour and
stevedoring went into sharp decline and became
largely obsolete. However, its benefits are vast
and undisputable. Briefly, they relate to greater
efficiency and reduced costs, faster and larger
vessels, reduced delays in port, and greater cargo
security.
Nowadays, goods are transported in standard
sized containers from trains to ships and can be
transported worldwide in a “Door to Door”
service. Almost every manufactured product we
consume spends some time in a container.
Approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo
worldwide moves by containers stacked on ships
and 26% of all containers originate from China.
As of 2005, some 18 million total containers
make over 200 million trips per year. There are
ships trading that can carry over 9,000 TEU.
Maersk, the biggest container company in the
world that bought over “Sea Land” have now
launched the “Emma Maersk”, a 11,000 TEU
nominal capacity vessel and designers are
working on ships capable of carrying 14,000
TEU. Predictions have also been made that at
some point the size of container ships will only
be constrained by the Straits of Malacca (one of
the world's busiest shipping lanes), with ships as
long as one quarter of a mile and 190 feet wide.
Mr. McLean died in 2001, at the age of 88.
He was the "father of containerization" and also
one of the principal architects of a technology
that has facilitated the world trade and
globalization. He revolutionized and sped up
cargo shipping and the entire transportation
chain and reduced its costs, so that people
throughout the entire world are now able to
bring their products to the global marketplace.
In memory and recognition of Malcom McLean's
achievement, the US Merchant Marine Academy
at Kings Point is to become the home for a
collection of records, photographs and artifacts
relating to the history of containerization and it
will be called the "McLean's Container Centre".
NORD NEWS Autumn 2006 5