Hand-written cargo manifests like this one were still prevalent in the early 20th century. Click on image to see a larger version.

Prior to recent advances in the dissemination of information, the shipping industry used labor-intensive practices that had changed little since the first vessels set sail centuries ago. For example, bills of lading and cargo manifests were handwritten until the advent of the typewriter, and even then the need for multiple copies resulted in a time-consuming task.

As one purser put it, “Coming into the United States from the Far East, there was a manifest about two feet wide, so our typewriters all had big carriage returns. With the ship rolling, we had to use a big rubber band to tie up the carriage so it stayed in one position. We worked hard coming home, sometimes until two o’clock in the morning, typing, typing, typing.”

Now, thanks in part to the use of the Internet for business, the documentation process has become streamlined. Customers can print bills of lading with the click of a mouse and can access the latest information about routes, shipping costs, and vessel schedules.