Shipping Containers Blog

I got quite a shock this morning when on BBC Breakfast they announced that they were going to be following the progress of a 40ft shipping container as it journeyed around the world! Not something I was expecting - and I am afraid that in my shock I spilt the milk going into my cornflakes - but what a great idea!

Not many people realise that because of shipping containers making transportation so much easier and cheaper, prices of all sorts of things from cars to toys, electrical equipment to clothes have been reduced. Prior to shipping containers items to be transported used to be of all different sizes and take up odd spaces on ships and require individual handling. The whole beauty of making all shipping containers the same size, or a derivative thereof, the equipment used to transport them - whether ships, lorries, cranes, trains etc can all be standardised. This makes the whole business of delivery cheaper by far and far less labour intensive. It has suddenly become more cost effective, for example, for a garage to order in cars as and when it needs them rather than keeping a whole lot in stock. This saves them a huge financial outlay in buying terms, let alone the costs of keeping the cars on site, and the price of the end product, in this case the car, to the consumer is cheaper as a result.

The box being followed by the BBC has just been sprayed and is setting off empty to Scotland where it will fill up with whiskey before being shipped to Shanghai. Declan Curry will be following its progress in a series which will have updates throughout the year when anything interesting happens.

We will, of course, keep you updated as to the shipping containers progress as well! Though, hopefully the next time it appears on the tv I won’t spill the milk going onto my cornflakes!!