Early containers became common on the American rail network after the 1929 Wall Street crash, when efforts were being made to improve trade and containers were found to be a convenient way to move items. They wouldn't always fit different modes of transport, but weren't standardised until the late 1940’s, early 1950's. Although the lengths can still vary, most are now 20 or 40 feet long and are made to fit rail, road, sea and air transport requirements. It's estimated that there are about 40 million containers in use around the world and 90% are now made in China. Each is expected to last for about 10 years and they're usually insulated if required for foodstuff.
90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is now transported by container and the largest ships can each carry over 19,000. Can you imagine the weight of that? It's estimated that at least 3000 are lost at sea every year, presumably falling off ships in bad weather and possibly never seen again. The containers are often unloaded, or dispatched, in transit ports before being reloaded onto another ship. In that way, items can be conveniently delivered to most ports around the world. Amazingly, crane drivers only have a 90 second target time to take off a container from a ship and place it on a lorry. There may be 6 or 7 cranes in operation on each ship and the same number of lorries for each crane. The lorries take the containers to other cranes which will stack them until ready to be reloaded. Each operation needs to be logistically recorded and every container has a unique code number, so can be traced and identified in any location.
Containers don't end their lives when no longer used for transportation. There's a growing business in the conversion and sale of containers for use as homes, work places and shops. A basic, used container can be bought for under 2000€. You can buy an off-the-shelf converted container or have one prepared to your specifications. There are now many homes in remote areas that are constructed from containers in various combinations. Complete shopping parks and small businesses, as far apart as London and Christchurch, New Zealand, have been opened using containers, and portable showrooms or offices, as used by Puma, may be put on the back of a lorry to be transported to a new venue.
After my research, I have a new respect for the world of freight containers. Up to now, I've taken for granted that an item can be grown in the Caribbean and arrive in perfect condition in my supermarket; or I can order something in America and expect it to turn up on my doorstep. I hadn't ever given a thought to how it was done; now I have some idea. If it weren't for containers, we wouldn't have the huge variety of products available. I wonder how many miles a container covers during its lifetime.