Since we are spending this year talking about Devine’s history, we would be remiss if we did not talk about the history of containerization.
Malcolm McLean is the father of containerization. He began purchasing and reconfiguring retired World War II tankers in the early 1950’s. By the mid-1950’s, he developed the first set of containers. In April 1956, he loaded the first fifty-eight 35′ containers onto his converted tanker, SS Ideal-X, and sailed from Port Elizabeth to the Port of Houston. And, containerization was born.
McLean filed patents on much of the container and chassis design…much of which is still used today.
But, did you know he started out as a truck driver? He bought one used truck and started a trucking company.