Containers

Containers in Maritime Law

Note: There is more information on maritime/admiralty law here.

The following is a definition of Containers, produced by Tetley, in the context of admiralty law: Steel boxes, usually 20 feet or 40 feet in length, used to carry cargo aboard specially-designed container ships, as well as on trucks and rail cars. Containers can be filled, sealed, transported by truck or rail and loaded onto container ships quickly, securely and much more cheaply than by the traditional break bulk, (see this legal term in this law dictionary), method. Containers were invented by an American, Malcom McLean (1914-2001), owner of Pan Atlantic Steamship Co. (which later became Sea-Land Service). They were first used aboard a converted tanker, the SS IDEAL-X, whose maiden voyage, from Newark, New Jersey, to Houston, Texas, occurred in April 1956. See Jim Wilson, “What if there were no boxes?”, Fairplay magazine, April 27, 2006 at p. 40. The use of containers in intermodal carriage soon spread, touching off the container revolution in the transportation of goods around the world.