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When you are in the car and you drive alongside a semi-truck hauling a cargo container, do you ever wonder what's inside? 
Or, if you live in a port city and see giant cranes lifting cargo containers on and off the ships at the dock, do you ever wonder what those containers are carrying?
What DO cargo containers carry?
Well, the answer is… almost anything! Cargo containers are big metal boxes that make it easy to move things from place to place anywhere in the world. They can carry pretty much anything people want to move somewhere. In fact, in many cases cargo containers are just a modern way to move goods that have been traded around the world for centuries.
Here are a few examples of goods the Boomerang Box has carried:
COTTON. People have been spinning cotton into cloth for thousands of years. And they've been trading cotton between countries for just about as long. Arab traders first brought cotton to Europe about 1,200 years ago. By the year 1500, cotton was known and used around the world. People still use cotton today, and it is often moved around the world in cargo containers. The Boomerang Box once carried a load of cotton from Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates to Pusan, Korea. GRAIN. Chances are you eat some kind of grain every day. People all over the world use different kinds of grain - such as barley, corn, oats, rice, or wheat - in their bread, their oatmeal, or as a main dish. But how does grain get from where it's grown to where it's needed? Cargo containers, of course! During the spring of 2000, the Boomerang Box carried a load of grain from Cambria, Wisconsin to Vishakhapatnam, India. The grain was used by international relief organization CARE to help feed people who had lost their homes in a major earthquake. AIRPLANE PARTS. 
Well, OK, airplane parts haven't been traded around the world for thousands of years! Airplanes have only been around for about 100 years. But, when an airplane is built all the parts have to come from somewhere. And they usually get to the manufacturing factory in cargo containers. In 1999, the Boomerang Box carried a load of airplane parts from Nagoya, Japan to Seattle, Washington for the Boeing Company. Then, people like David Robinson used those parts to assemble an airplane.
TOYS.
Kids everywhere want good toys, but how do toys get to stores around the world? Yep, you guessed it… cargo containers! A few years ago, the Boomerang Box carried a load of toys across the United States by train, from Seattle, Washington to Kearny, New Jersey. And just last fall, as part of the Great Toy Challenge, the Boomerang Box carried a load of Toys "R" Us toys to San Salvador, El Salvador, where the toys were distributed to needy children by relief organization CARE.
TEA.Would you believe that a drink could change the world? That it could start wars and lead to the discovery of trade routes? Well, let's think about tea for a minute. The first cup of tea was first brewed about 5,000 years ago in China. Buddhist priests soon carried tea to Japan. By the 1600s traders had brought tea to Europe, where it quickly became very popular. Tea was so popular, in fact, that Portugal set up a trade route to deliver tea from Asia to European cities. And Great Britain created the East India Company to handle all its trade, including tea, with China and India. Because the East India Company was a monopoly, the price of tea was kept artificially high. That led to a little revolt called the Boston Tea Party… and you know what happened after that! Tea is still enjoyed by people all over the world, and the Boomerang Box carried a load of tea from Nhava Sheva, India to Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates in 1999. ALMONDS. Here's a nutty fact: Almonds are California's top food export! Farmers in California produce over $1 billion worth of almonds each year. They sell those almonds to people all over the world who just can't get enough of the crunchy little nuts. Over many hundreds of years, almonds have become popular as 'brain' food in India, as medicine in China, and as a standard part of students' lunches in Japan. A few years ago, the Boomerang Box carried a load of California almonds from Oakland, California to Mumbai, India. COCOA. 
Do you love chocolate? Well, you're not alone. For thousands of years people all over the world have enjoyed cocoa and chocolate. Cacao beans, which are used to make cocoa and chocolate, are grown throughout Latin America. European explorers first tried cocoa sometime in the 1500s, and they quickly became so hooked they set up companies to trade cacao beans around the world. People in the Netherlands built factories to process all the cacao beans they were trading, and even today Rotterdam in the Netherlands is a capital of cocoa and chocolate. The Boomerang Box visited Rotterdam in 2001, and carried a load of cocoa powder to Norfolk, Virginia.
PAPER.Where did the paper bag you get at the grocery store come from? What about the paper carton that holds your milk? Maybe that paper arrived in a cargo container! Cargo containers are often used as a safe and dry way to move lumber and paper products around the world. For its very first trip, the Boomerang Box carried a load of milk carton paper stock from Lewiston, Idaho to Seattle, Washington by truck. Once in Seattle, the Boomerang Box (and the paper it carried) was loaded onto a cargo ship to travel to Yokohama, Japan. People have been trading goods for thousands of years. The desire to trade has led people to cross continents and oceans and has helped them learn all about our planet. People still trade all over the world today, and cargo containers help make that trade happen. Study Questions:
2. Then select one of the cities you've located and use an encyclopedia or the Internet to learn about it. What country is the city in? What major goods are grown or produced near that city? How many people live there? Write a one-page paper about what you learn. 3. Many countries have set up rules or laws about trading with each other. Read this trade topic about trade between the U.S. and Mexico and write a one-page paper about what you've learned about trade rules.
Check out past Trade Topics entries! | |
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