Containers & international shipping are pretty cool. In undergrad I interned for a barbecue grill company and worked on a project with the VP's of engineering and manufacturing to increase container yield.
As simple as putting boxes in bigger boxes is, it was fascinating stuff, more so figuring out how to minimize the packaging of large hollow objects like bbq grills. In one case we were able to more than double the number of smokers we could fit into a container (which helped our margins big time.) That being said, shipping containers of tiny ipods has to be the most boring logistics task ever!
Finally, it's pretty interesting that you can look at a container ship and have no idea what is in every single container. It can be filled with clothes, bikes, food, electronics, toys, you name it.
I find logistics and packing problems to be fascinating. However, while there are inherent advantages to the standardization that containers provide, this comment also shows that for some of the work (here loading and packing), the container just moves to the burden to a different entity (here the manufacturer instead of the longshoremen).
Also, smaller packet size (ship vs container) means there is less theoretical efficiency (more wasted space, plus the space and weight of the containers themselves). However, since ships weren't didn't have homogeneous cargo, the practical efficiency is much better for containers.
>this comment also shows that for some of the work (here loading and packing), the container just moves to the burden to a different entity (here the manufacturer instead of the longshoremen).
But shifting the burden to the manufacturer is clearly advantageous, because, as the post also shows, the manufacturer knows more about their product and how to pack it.
Also, because neither origin or the final destination of the container are the port, there is less loading/unloading of the individual objects. The container is packed and unpacked exactly once, and apart from that only the whole container need be moved
Renting containers and keeping them on your property (vs. at the other extreme Singapore) is cheap, so you can do whatever makes sense, pack one in hours, days or weeks. No need for fine grained rush, rush efforts at a crowded port (the need for high utilization of expensive cargo ships and terminals does ensure that all moves quickly, and e.g. killed off some historic ports that were somewhat inland on a river, the cargo ships didn't want to take the extra time to transit it).
And a lot less pilferage. Scotch whisky distillers were some of the earliest adopters of the container system according to The Box.
As simple as putting boxes in bigger boxes is, it was fascinating stuff, more so figuring out how to minimize the packaging of large hollow objects like bbq grills. In one case we were able to more than double the number of smokers we could fit into a container (which helped our margins big time.) That being said, shipping containers of tiny ipods has to be the most boring logistics task ever!
Finally, it's pretty interesting that you can look at a container ship and have no idea what is in every single container. It can be filled with clothes, bikes, food, electronics, toys, you name it.