[topspin]

~1970 was the beginning of the rapid growth of commercial intermodal containerization. A couple of WTO charts in this[1] document show the trend. The US military pioneered standardized containers (for shipping supplies to S. Vietnam) in the late 1960's and the commercial world caught on very quickly.

Since then the captains of industry in the West have been able to arbitrage labor world wide. Thus labor unions in developed nations, a symptom of labor scarcity, lost their leverage.

[1] http://minotusa.com/uploads/40/NorthDakotaIntermodalInitiati...

[gen220]

The shipping container was the self driving truck of the 20th century. That one invention eventually put so many people out of work, it’s difficult to fathom.

We live in Brooklyn near the water. The entire coastline from Red Hook to Greenpoint was once dedicated to the loading, unloading, and storage of pre-shipping container cargo. This industry employed many thousands of people. It was a dangerous job but it sustained families, and it was a bootstrap to a career in the shipping industry. (There are analogies in textiles and meatpacking, in this same city).

Now, the warehouses have been converted into housing, coffee shops, art centers, and the like. The working class job is the service industry (waiting, serving coffee, delivering food), and it’s a very different culture from the working class job of the 60s.

I’m not at all saying the technological innovation was a bad thing. But it did have a huge impact on the local economies of every seaport in the world (Bay Area included, for those that live there).

If you’re interested in learning more, there’s an 8-part audio documentary on shipping containers. You can listen to episode 7 about automation here: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/AfzxGaUKuceh4W9W7

[webmaven]

> ~1970 was the beginning of the rapid growth of commercial intermodal containerization. A couple of WTO charts in this[1] document show the trend. The US military pioneered standardized containers (for shipping supplies to S. Vietnam) in the late 1960's and the commercial world caught on very quickly.

I have a feeling that use of expanded polystyrene foam (colloquially styrofoam, which is actually a brand name for a different material), as a packing material had a great deal to do with the trend as well. Loose foam packing peanuts were patented in 1965, I'm not sure when foam cushioning blocks were introduced.