26 April 2012

DAWN OF THE CONTAINER REVOLUTION

On 26 April 1956, the [Tankship] Ideal-X left the Port of Newark, New Jersey, bound for Houston, Texas. She carried 58 35-foot containers, along with her liquid cargo. This ship was converted under the initiative of Malcolm McLean, a trucking magnate who saw the tremendous potential of containerization. In 1960, McLean founded SeaLand, a major container shipping line, which was purchased by Maersk in 1999. The Ideal X carried containers until 1965, when she was scrapped.