Shipping Container
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The boom in global trade was caused by a simple steel box. Shipping goods around the world was \\u2013 for many centuries \\u2013 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 \\u2013 one that slashed the cost of transporting goods internationally and provoked a boom in global trade.
Producer: Ben Crighton\\nEditors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Photo: Container ship travelling along the Suez Canal, Credit: Science Photo Library)
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