|
|
|
Item Details
Title:
|
THE BOX
HOW THE SHIPPING CONTAINER MADE THE WORLD SMALLER AND THE WORLD ECONOMY BIGGER |
By: |
Marc Levinson |
Format: |
Paperback |
List price:
|
£14.95 |
We believe that this item is permanently unavailable, and so we cannot source
it.
|
|
|
|
|
ISBN 10: |
0691136408 |
ISBN 13: |
9780691136400 |
Publisher: |
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS |
Pub. date: |
7 January, 2008 |
Pages: |
400 |
Description: |
Tells the story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was adopted, and the economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about. |
Synopsis: |
In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. "The Box" tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about. Published on the fiftieth anniversary of the first container voyage, this is the first comprehensive history of the shipping container. It recounts how the drive and imagination of an iconoclastic entrepreneur, Malcom McLean, turned containerization from an impractical idea into a massive industry that slashed the cost of transporting goods around the world and made the boom in global trade possible.But the container didn't just happen. Its adoption required huge sums of money, both from private investors and from ports that aspired to be on the leading edge of a new technology.It required years of high-stakes bargaining with two of the titans of organized labor, Harry Bridges and Teddy Gleason, as well as delicate negotiations on standards that made it possible for almost any container to travel on any truck or train or ship. Ultimately, it took McLean's success in supplying U.S. forces in Vietnam to persuade the world of the container's potential.Drawing on previously neglected sources, economist Marc Levinson shows how the container transformed economic geography, devastating traditional ports such as New York and London and fueling the growth of previously obscure ones, such as Oakland. By making shipping so cheap that industry could locate factories far from its customers, the container paved the way for Asia to become the world's workshop and brought consumers a previously unimaginable variety of low-cost products from around the globe. |
Illustrations: |
1 halftone. 1 line illus. 6 tables. |
Publication: |
US |
Imprint: |
Princeton University Press |
Prizes: |
Winner of Society for Nautical Research: Anderson Medal 2007.
Winner of Independent Publisher Book Awards: Finance/Investment/Economics
Runner-up for John Lyman Book Award: Science and Technology 2006.
Shortlisted for Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year |
Returns: |
Returnable |
|
|
|
|
Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr
A celebratory, inclusive and educational exploration of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr for both children that celebrate and children who want to understand and appreciate their peers who do.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|