50 Years of Containerization

Containerization is 50 years old this year, and APL has been one of its prime movers, providing customers and the industry with innovations that helped to standardize containers as the standard shipping unit, extend intermodalism around the globe, and expand trade to the far reaches of the world.

1958: Realizing the Opportunity. APL sent a fact-finding team to 26 major ports to assess the world’s readiness for containerization. The report was positive, and APL began to integrate the container into its operations.

1973: Fully Cellular Ships. Four new Pacesetter class vessels, including the President Jefferson, were built between 1973 and 1974. They were the first fully containerized ships launched by APL.

1979: APL LinerTrain. The harsh winter of 1977-78 shut down large segments of the U.S. road and rail transportation system. APL's ultimate response was the LinerTrain, the first dedicated train service operated by an ocean-shipping company.

1984: APL Stacktrain. The LinerTrain evolved into the APL Stacktrain with the introduction of APL's double-stack rail cars in 1984. The stackcar's initial appeal was its lower cost per container versus traditional Trailer on Flat Car (TOFC) equipment. An unexpected benefit was a sharp decrease in cargo damage because the stackcar had a much smoother ride than conventional railcars.

1982 and 1986: 45-foot and 48-foot containers. With their 50-foot wells, stackcars offered economies of scale from longer containers. APL introduced 45-foot and 48-foot containers in 1982 and 1986, respectively. Both were used on ocean and land.

1988: Post-Panamax containerships. The reliability and transit times provided by the stacktrain led APL to develop the first-ever containerships too wide for the Panama Canal. Five 4300-TEU, C10-class vessels were delivered in 1988. The decision committed APL to intermodal container transportation in the Transpacific and started another chapter in the history of containerization.

1989: 53-foot containers. APL introduced 53-footers (for land transport only). The longer containers allowed customers to lower their unit costs of shipping goods.

1995: Second-generation Post-Panamax containerships. APL launched six 4832-TEU, C11-class containerships, three built in Germany and three in South Korea.

1995: Launch of www.apl.com. The industry's first web site went live. Just a year later, it enabled customers to track their shipments using BL or container numbers, another industry first.

1997: U.S. West Coast Superterminals. Global Gateway North and South, in Seattle and Los Angeles, opened and were the largest and most efficient of their kind, with deep-water berths, post-Panamax cranes, on-dock rail, and computerized container tracking.

1999: HomePort. The industry's first web portal for customers centralized their shipment information and transactions.

2003: New Reefer Markets. APL shipped the first-ever reefer container of highly perishable longan fruit from
China to the U.S.

2005: Real-Time Locating System for containers. APL's Global Gateway South terminal at the Port of Los Angeles became the first to use a Real Time Locating System (RTLS) to find and track containers. Accurate to within one parking space, the new system has cut misplaced containers by 70%. It's probably no coincidence that Global Gateway South was recently voted the best ocean terminal in the LA-Long Beach harbor by the California Trucking Association.