[dredmorbius]

That actually dates to the 1950s and is based on concepts up to a century older than that. Break-bulk has been recognized as a bottleneck in freight transport for ages.

It's evolved and become dominant with standardization of container sizes and fittings (by 1970) and with the deregulation of the US shipping industry and introduction of double-stack rail transports (both in 1984).

I suspect more significant recent advancements have been in inventory and logistics management (though bar-coding of rail cars was already happening in the 1980s) and overnight air and other rapid freight. Not quite as visible as containers, but vital to keeping the boats, trains, and trucks moving, and with JIT delivery probably accounts for much of the success of big box stores, and now Internet-based retail and shipping.