AP Photo

In 1956, the first modern container ship traveled from Newark to Houston. It seems like such a simple idea now: a boat carrying not random little crates, but massive containers that could easily be moved onto trains and trucks and straight into factories. The arrangement took years to construct, perfect and implement. But once it was put into use, the global shipping industry would never be the same. Containers revolutionized the shipping industry because they made it easier to transport massive quantities of inexpensive goods from port to port. Suddenly, small crates – and the shipmen who earned a living loading them on and off boats – became irrelevant. Goods could stay in their containers for the duration of their journey from one factory to another, saving significant...