Editing Containerization (section)

=== Purpose-built ships ===
[[File:Korea busan pusan harbour cargo container terminal.JPG|right|thumb|Containers waiting at the South Korean port of [[Busan]].]]
{{Main article|Container ship}}

The first vessels purpose-built to carry containers had begun operation in 1926 for the regular connection of the luxury passenger train between London and Paris, the [[Golden Arrow (train)|Golden Arrow]]/[[Fleche d'Or]]. Four containers were used for the conveyance of passengers' baggage. These containers were loaded in London or Paris and carried to the ports of Dover or Calais.<ref name="logistica2014a" /> In February 1931 the first container ship in the world was launched. It was called the Autocarrier, owned by the UK's Southern Railway. It had 21 slots for containers of Southern Railway.<ref name="TransportMeans2016" /><ref name="S/S AUTOCARRIER" />

The next step was in Europe after World War II. Vessels purpose-built to carry containers were used between UK and Netherlands<ref name="PojazdySzynowe2015a" /> and also in Denmark in 1951.{{sfn|Levinson|2006|p=31}} In the United States, ships began carrying containers in 1951, between [[Seattle]], Washington, and Alaska.<ref name="AntonsonHanable1985">{{cite book|last1=Antonson|first1=Joan M.|last2=Hanable|first2=William S.|title=Alaska's heritage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWhFAAAAYAAJ|access-date=24 April 2012|year=1985|publisher=Alaska Historical Society for the Alaska Historical Commission, Dept. of Education, State of Alaska|isbn=978-0-943712-18-5|page=328}}</ref> None of these services was particularly successful. First, the containers were rather small, with 52% of them having a volume of less than {{convert|3|m3|cuft|0}}. Almost all European containers were made of wood and used canvas lids, and they required additional equipment for loading into rail or truck bodies.{{sfn|Levinson|2006|pp=31–32}}

The world's first purpose-built container vessel was ''Clifford J. Rodgers'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marineinsight.com/maritime-history/clifford-j-rodgers-the-worlds-first-purpose-built-container-ship/|title=Clifford J. Rodgers: The World's First Purpose Built Container Ship|work=Marine Insight|date=21 July 2016|access-date=17 August 2017}}</ref> built in Montreal in 1955 and owned by the [[White Pass and Yukon Route|White Pass and Yukon Corporation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hougengroup.com/yukon-history/yukon-nuggets/white-pass-the-container-pioneers/|title=White Pass The Container Pioneers|publisher=Hougen Group of Companies|access-date=2015-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208115759/http://www.hougengroup.com/yukon-history/yukon-nuggets/white-pass-the-container-pioneers/|archive-date=2015-12-08|url-status=dead}}</ref> Her first trip carried 600 containers between North Vancouver, British Columbia, and Skagway, Alaska, on November 26, 1955. In Skagway, the containers were unloaded to purpose-built [[railroad car]]s for transport north to Yukon, in the first [[intermodal freight transport|intermodal]] service using trucks, ships, and railroad cars.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yukonmuseums.ca/treasures/ytm/09.html|title=Cargo Container|work=Treasures of the Yukon|publisher=Yukon Museum Guide|access-date=24 April 2012|archive-date=17 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017164723/http://www.yukonmuseums.ca/treasures/ytm/09.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Southbound containers were loaded by shippers in Yukon and moved by rail, ship, and truck to their consignees without opening. This first intermodal system operated from November 1955 until 1982.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hougengroup.com/family/1950s/1950s.aspx?year50=1957 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126132133/http://www.hougengroup.com/family/1950s/1950s.aspx?year50=1957 |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 January 2013 |title=White Pass: The Container Pioneers |last=McLaughlin |first=Les |publisher=[[CKRW-FM]] |access-date=24 April 2012 }}</ref>

The first truly successful container shipping company dates to April 26, 1956, when American trucking entrepreneur McLean put 58 ''trailer vans''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/04/27/archives/tankers-to-carry-2way-pay-loads-filled-trailer-vans-to-form-cargoes.html|title=Tankers to Carry 2-Way Pay Loads; Filled Trailer Vans to Form Cargoes for Vessels That Normally Carry Ballast|work=The New York Times| date= April 27, 1956}}</ref> later called containers, aboard a refitted tanker ship, the {{SS|Ideal X}}, and sailed them from [[Newark, New Jersey]], to [[Houston, Texas]].{{sfn|Levinson|2006|p=1}} Independently of the events in Canada, McLean had the idea of using large containers that never opened in transit and that were transferable on an intermodal basis, among trucks, ships, and railroad cars. McLean had initially favored the construction of "trailerships"—taking trailers from large trucks and stowing them in a ship's [[cargo]] hold. This method of stowage, referred to as [[roll-on/roll-off]], was not adopted because of the large waste in potential cargo space on board the vessel, known as broken [[stowage]]. Instead, McLean modified his original concept into loading just the containers, not the chassis, onto the ship; hence the designation "container ship" or "box" ship.<ref name="CudahyB-TRN-2006-Sep-Oct">Cudahy, Brian J., [http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/trnews/trnews246.pdf "The Containership Revolution: Malcom McLean's 1956 Innovation Goes Global"]. ''TR News''. (c/o National Academy of Sciences). Number 246. September–October 2006</ref>{{sfn|Levinson|2006}} (See also [[pantechnicon van]] and [[trolley and lift van]].)