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Transportation · Recorded milestone

Shipping container

Recorded year1956

Malcom McLean's standard steel box slashes cargo-handling costs and makes global supply chains possible.

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Built on

No connections of this kind are recorded.

Led to

Automated container terminalRecorded · 1993enables
Lights-out portsRecorded · 2017enables
Zero-carbon shippingRecorded · 2023enables
Global code for autonomous shipsRecorded · 2026enables
Autonomous cargo shipsForecast · ~2030enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.