How the world got into the box

In 1966, the US container ship "Fairland" of the Sea-Land shipping company calls at Europe for the first time and moors in Bremen's Überseehafen on May 5th. The first containers to reach Germany are on board. Within a few years, the steel crate revolutionized the entire transport business worldwide. At first, the European shipping companies just smiled at the container, then viewed it with a lot of skepticism and later feared it - not without reason, because the new system will be a test for many shipping companies.

1968:The first full container ship reaches Hamburg

The arrival of the "American Lancer" on May 31, 1968 in the port of Hamburg heralds the triumphant advance to Germany's largest container port. The 213 meter long ship of United States Lines is the first full container ship on the Elbe and can transport around 1,200 containers. But every beginning is difficult:a few dozen containers are unloaded, but they are hardly noticed in the port and are simply considered additional deck cargo.

Car loading facility becomes a container center

The first special facility for container handling in Hamburg was planned as early as November 1965 at Burchardkai - originally a car loading facility in Waltershof, where primarily VW Beetles for transport to the USA were loaded until the mid-1960s. In 1967 the first container bridge was built, which handled a little more than a dozen containers an hour. Five years later there are already six such bridges. Container shipping is developing rapidly:More and more and ever larger full container ships are mooring at Burchardkai. The terminal is constantly being expanded and expanded and is quickly becoming the largest handling facility in the port.

The father of the container

The American freight forwarder Malcolm McLean is credited with inventing the 20-foot standard container. His idea:instead of hauling bales, sacks, barrels and pallets on board individually, the different goods should be packed in large containers and loaded directly from the truck onto the ship. Despite much resistance from shipping companies and transport companies, McLean implemented his idea:On April 26, 1956, the converted freighter "IDEAL X" was loaded for the first time with 58 standardized, stackable metal crates and sent on a journey - the birth of container shipping. This replaces the conventional cargo shipping of previous generations faster than expected.

The end of the good old days

The advantages of container transport:Both the ships and the port facilities can be better utilized. And while the previous cargo ships often lie in the port for a whole week to be loaded and unloaded, with container ships it is only a matter of hours - this saves time, effort and, above all, money. Ultimately, however, it also means fewer ships and therefore fewer shipping companies. Many traditional companies cannot keep up with the transport revolution at the beginning and cannot bear the high investment costs. Because the containers and container ships alone are not enough. Rather, it is about setting up an international service company:worldwide transport, directly from the production site to the recipient - via roads, rails and water. The port facilities and transport connections are also undergoing fundamental change:special loading bridges for containers, cranes running on rails and long-legged conveyor vehicles are being purchased, container halls are being built, quays are being expanded and direct connections for trucks and trains are being laid.

The container is changing the world

The ships:Bigger and longer

The first container ships in the 1960s are 180 meters long and can carry 500 to 800 container units (TEU). Up until the 1980s, the Panama Canal limited the size of ships. They are 275 meters long, 32 meters wide and can carry 3,000 TEU. At the end of the 1980s, German shipyards built the first container ships with a deadweight tonnage of 4,500 TEU, which no longer fit through the Panama Canal. Another leap in 1996:The "Regina Maersk" is over 300 meters long, 43 meters wide and can carry up to 7,000 TEU. Today, the largest ships are around 400 meters long, 59 meters wide and have a deadweight tonnage of 19,000 TEU. According to experts, this is the end of the road - larger ships are not worthwhile and only increase the economic risks.

The workers:formerly unskilled, now skilled workers

Work in the port is also changing significantly as a result of the container revolution. Before that, strong men were needed who could tackle and carry things. "You can push carts, you can get work" was the motto for the mostly unskilled port workers. This picture is changing:today the profession is called dockworker.

The clientele:New requirements

The order customers also have to learn how to load the containers correctly. At first there is a lot of damage. "Barrels rolled through the containers because they weren't lashed down," recalls the shipping clerk Peter Jansen. Or goods are packed together that trigger chemical reactions. "We then opened containers and almost fainted," said Jansen.

Shipbuilding:Asia in supremacy

The triumph of the container also led to an enormous upswing in world trade. To do this, the shipowners need more and larger ships - South Korea and Japan are building them, and China will be added later. Today, these countries are by far the most important shipbuilding countries. A total of almost 42,000 larger merchant ships are registered worldwide, including more than 5,000 container ships. They transport around 129 million standard containers (TEU) around the world every year.

The ports:A top ten only with Asia

With the increasing transport performance of the ships, the ports are also expanding, especially in Asia. There is no European port in the top ten in the world rankings and only one US port (Los Angeles) - the rest is in Asian hands. The largest ports, in Shanghai and Singapore, handle more than 30 million TEU a year. In 2014, Hamburg was still 16th in the world rankings. With 8.8 million TEU per year, Hamburg is in third place in Europe - behind Rotterdam and Antwerp. Handling in Bremerhaven was 5.5 million TEU in 2015.

The environment:One of the losers of globalization

However, the upswing in world trade and shipping also has a significant impact on the environment. Container ships burn heavy oil, which emits a particularly large number of pollutants such as sulphur, nitrogen oxides and CO2. The shipping associations point out that ships are much more environmentally friendly than other means of transport. Nevertheless, according to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), shipping emits around 800 million tons of CO2 per year - this corresponds to ten percent of the emissions of all modes of transport. In some shipping areas, such as on the coasts of North America or in the North and Baltic Seas, the limit values ​​have already been tightened by the International Maritime Organization, and further tightening is imminent. (Source:dpa)

Not all containers are the same

There are not only countless container sizes, but also different types - depending on which goods are to be transported. The classic 20-foot container is primarily used for heavy goods such as motors or transformers - maximum total weight:24 tons. The 40-foot container is twice as long at twelve meters and can weigh up to 30 tons. Textiles and bulky goods, for example, find their place in them. There are special refrigerated containers for transporting groceries such as bananas, citrus fruits, meat, fish or dairy products. Either with a built-in refrigeration unit or with a connection to the ship's own refrigeration system. The temperature in the container is electronically monitored.

Ventilated containers are used to transport coffee. In these ventilated containers, the warm, humid tropical air is exchanged and the goods are cooled. In the early days of container traffic, there were still concerns about shipping the sensitive coffee beans in containers. But now there are hardly any restrictions on transport - unless the goods are too big, too long or too heavy for the container, such as steel pipes or complete machine systems.