1
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,520
'The area forecast
for the next 24 hours.

2
00:00:04,520 --> 00:00:10,600
'Viking - westerly six to gale eight
backing south-westerly four or five,
occasionally six later.

3
00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:12,360
'Rain or showers, good.

4
00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:19,200
'North Utsire, South Utsire,
Forties, Cromarty Forth, Tyne,
Dogger, Fisher, German Bight.

5
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,200
'Westerly backing
south-westerly, 5 to 7...'

6
00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:26,040
On a small stretch of shingle
on Suffolk's North Sea coast,

7
00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,960
a handful of people have gathered.

8
00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:32,000
It's a pilgrimage of sorts.

9
00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,920
A line of cars,

10
00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:39,320
a scattering of cameras,
binoculars and notebooks.

11
00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,080
These are the ship-spotters.

12
00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:47,120
Most days, it's chock-a-block
with people coming down.

13
00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,640
Photographers take an interest,
people listen to ships.

14
00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:59,000
That is a new ship. It's just a
fascination of the ships, where
they come from, what they carry,

15
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,720
where they're going next...

16
00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:07,920
I like to come and watch the
container ships because they are...

17
00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:09,280
big!

18
00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,520
They ARE big.

19
00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:17,120
Larger than any battleship
or passenger liner,

20
00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:22,280
container ships are some of
the greatest moving structures
ever made by man.

21
00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:28,640
They are built to carry as many
as 14,000 containers of cargo.

22
00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,040
Boxes that have changed our world.

23
00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,800
You try and guess amongst yourselves
what's actually in each box.

24
00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:44,080
It could be paper, it could
be ornaments, it could be food.

25
00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,200
The interest just goes
on and on and on and on.

26
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,960
These daily deliveries
sustain our modern lives.

27
00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:57,760
Yet the boxes have been
arriving at our shores
for little more than 40 years.

28
00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,800
The shipping container
turbo-charged world trade

29
00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,560
and kick-started
the modern age of consumerism,

30
00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:18,080
bringing value, choice and luxury
beyond our wildest dreams.

31
00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:26,560
It has changed the face of industry
and altered our communities
and coastlines forever.

32
00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:34,560
This is the story of how a simple
metal box has transformed our lives.

33
00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:46,880
The British
have always looked out to sea.

34
00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,200
It's at the heart of our
identity and our culture.

35
00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:57,360
In the days of the Empire, it was
also the provider of our prosperity.

36
00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:05,080
At the turn of the 20th Century,
Britain was the maritime
power in the world.

37
00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,320
Britain had 50% of the world tonnage

38
00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,960
and carried 60% of ocean-going cargo.

39
00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,800
ON FILM: 'The city of ships is
the heart of our trade.

40
00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,600
'The dock roads and railways
its arteries,

41
00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,480
'which circulate our vital commerce
to and from every corner of Britain.

42
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,160
'500 million pounds weight of tea.

43
00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:30,960
'Wool for the baby's jacket.

44
00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:32,600
'Bananas for small boys.

45
00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,920
'Saturday's picnic or maybe
the monkeys at the zoo.'

46
00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:43,680
Before the invention of the shipping
container, the millions of tonnes of
cargo arriving in Britain

47
00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:45,200
were unloaded by hand.

48
00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:50,080
It could take weeks for dockers
to move one ship's load of cargo.

49
00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:54,800
In Liverpool, as many as 50
would be in port at one time.

50
00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:00,880
In them days, you're talking
a hundred people working on it.

51
00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,120
You've had six gangs of men,
you've got 18 men in a gang

52
00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,640
and then you had the shore gang,
the carpenters,

53
00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,320
the office staff,
the plan men, checking..

54
00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:12,080
all being in involved in one ship,

55
00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,160
more or less floating factories
coming into the port.

56
00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:19,160
The whole port area
would be thousands of people.

57
00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:35,720
In the 1960s, Britain's biggest
docks - Liverpool and London -

58
00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,840
were still major world ports.

59
00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:43,880
But their international standing
was fast coming under threat.

60
00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:48,240
For while ports in America and
Europe were adopting new technology,

61
00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:52,680
Britain's had seen little investment
since the Second World War.

62
00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:58,640
Here, dock workers relied on
rather more traditional equipment.

63
00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,160
Well, you've seen it, haven't you?
Curvy thing with a big handle on.

64
00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:04,440
That hook was your help.

65
00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:06,200
You'd be lost without it.

66
00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,400
You'd be putting your fingers into a
bag trying to lift it up, you know?

67
00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:18,520
Dock work was a family affair
and older practises were passed down
the generations, like hooks.

68
00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:21,880
This is actually me granddad's one.

69
00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,240
Because me dad was still working
in there, I couldn't have his one.

70
00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,120
They always used to carry them
about and get on buses and trains.

71
00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,400
Whereas it might be
called a dangerous object now

72
00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,960
so they might not let
you walk about with them.

73
00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:45,160
This antiquated way of working was
slow, labour intensive and tough.

74
00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:46,560
Very, very hard.

75
00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:52,080
Physically very hard. I mean, I can
remember the first time I got home

76
00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,880
and I worked on
the West India Dock then,

77
00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,480
and I'd been working on
bags of sugar,

78
00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,800
and I got home
and me dinner was put in front of me

79
00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:02,880
and I fell asleep on the table

80
00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:05,800
and it was as simple as that.

81
00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:07,680
The worst loads?

82
00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,960
The bird's mess, so to speak,
and it's used as a fertilizer.

83
00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:19,920
And the smell was unbelievable. So if
you was on that, you didn't get a bus
home or that, you walked, basically.

84
00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:22,200
You go home stinking.

85
00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:27,560
No, you've go the right word. We've
got nowhere, you've got one little
lavatory up there, you go in there,

86
00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:31,440
there's no soap, there's no towel,
there's nothing to use at all.

87
00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,720
When it's pouring rain you stand
there all day long

88
00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,520
and you work hard and what do you
get for it? Nothing.

89
00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,520
The hard work and poor conditions
took their toll.

90
00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:47,760
Dockers' life expectancy was
among the shortest in the country.

91
00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,480
Sickness and accidents
slowed work even further

92
00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:55,520
and built deep resentment
between dockers and their employers.

93
00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:57,440
They were young men and they were old

94
00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,800
because of the effects that
this had on their health.

95
00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:03,280
You know, rheumatism,

96
00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:08,080
arthritis, lung infections, asbestos

97
00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,400
and all this sort of thing.

98
00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:16,680
These poor conditions helped
turn Britain's 130,000 dockers

99
00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,720
into one of the most
unionized workforces in the world.

100
00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:25,160
But their jobs remained
unpredictable and insecure,

101
00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,360
exacerbating their grievances.

102
00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:32,640
Each morning, employers waited
inside the dock gates.

103
00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,480
They lined up for the so-called
free call to select workers.

104
00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:38,920
The men paraded themselves for hire.

105
00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,000
It was called the cattle market.

106
00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,960
The young, the brawny, usually
had no difficulty in getting a job.

107
00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,600
If there was no work, they received
a fall-back wage of £9 a week,

108
00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,960
but few knew if they would
make £9 or £20 in a week.

109
00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,600
Your fathers fought for work.

110
00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:03,920
Your mum didn't know whether
that week she'd be borrowing
money or lending it.

111
00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:09,440
By the 1960s,
revolution was in the air.

112
00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:15,600
Relations between the dockers and
their employers had hit rock bottom
and frequent strikes and stoppages

113
00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,440
brought Britain's
ports to a standstill.

114
00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:22,320
The cocktail of industrial deadlock
and crumbling infrastructure

115
00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,040
was now earning Britain's
once-great ports a new reputation

116
00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:29,880
for being
the slowest in the modern world.

117
00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:35,360
But the stalemate was about to be
broken by a box from across the sea.

118
00:08:40,680 --> 00:08:44,760
The era of modern containerization
began with Malcolm McLean who was a

119
00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:46,840
trucker from North Carolina

120
00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:50,520
who'd made a fortune with
McLean Trucking Company,

121
00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:52,680
a company he founded
in the Depression

122
00:08:52,680 --> 00:08:56,640
and built up into one of the largest
motor carriers in the country.

123
00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:05,440
In post-war America,
dockers called "longshoremen"
also lifted cargo piece by piece.

124
00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:13,320
Known as handball or
break-bulk cargo, this slow process
frustrated trucker Malcolm McLean.

125
00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:21,120
One long autumn day in 1937, he had
an idea that would change the world.

126
00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:33,960
Malcolm had driven
from North Carolina

127
00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:36,560
to Hoboken, New Jersey
right over here.

128
00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:40,000
And he had to sit
all day in his truck,

129
00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,360
watching, waiting
for the longshoremen

130
00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,920
to get around to unload his cotton.

131
00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,600
There was maybe 40 bales...

132
00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:52,520
of cotton.

133
00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:54,960
40 bales of cotton yarn.

134
00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,040
And they weighed about 400
or 500 pounds a bale,

135
00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:04,080
and I rolled 'em off one by one,
and they picked it up with
a hook and put it on the ship.

136
00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:12,200
I said to myself, "Why don't we
put that whole thing on the truck?"
That was my first thought.

137
00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,200
I just...

138
00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:17,760
knew that if you
picked it up 40 bales at once,

139
00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:20,800
it would be a lot cheaper
than picking it up one at a time.

140
00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:22,760
HE CHUCKLES

141
00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:29,120
Over the next 15 years,
Malcolm McLean grew his family
trucking business

142
00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:32,040
into one of the
biggest in the country.

143
00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:38,760
But his ambition was to work out
a way of getting a whole
truck's cargo onto a ship in one go.

144
00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,680
Malcolm knew what he wanted to do
with the container.

145
00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:48,800
He didn't know how the heck
to get it on the ship,
how to lock it on the ship,

146
00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:50,920
how to handle it on and off
the chassis.

147
00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:01,360
After a number of failed designs,
the breakthrough came in 1955

148
00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:05,920
when he began to work with an
engineer called Keith Tatlinger.

149
00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:10,560
Together, they drew up the blueprint
for what would become
the modern shipping container.

150
00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:16,680
It's simplicity is its genius.

151
00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:18,400
A corrugated steel box,

152
00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,640
around eight foot wide,
and eight foot tall.

153
00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:25,920
Today, it comes in two main sizes -
40 foot

154
00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,720
and 20 foot.

155
00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,560
The walls are just 25mm thick,

156
00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:37,320
yet the box can carry upwards
of 25,000 kilograms of cargo.

157
00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:42,360
That's the equivalent
of 22 Mini Coopers.

158
00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:45,160
The container is lifted
using a twist-lock system

159
00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:49,640
that allows the crane to grip and
release the box securely and quickly

160
00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:51,200
from its four corners.

161
00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,160
It's kind of amazing to me

162
00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,040
to look at all these boxes here

163
00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,720
and these were all designed by
Keith Tatlinger back in 1956

164
00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:09,760
and they had patents for all of these
and he convinced Malcolm McLean
to give the patents to the industry,

165
00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:14,520
so that meant everybody could come in
the thing with the same twist-locks,
same corner posts

166
00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,560
and it was an amazing system.

167
00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,960
By giving up his patents,
McLean made it easier for rivals

168
00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:36,080
to copy his design
than to develop their own ones.

169
00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:39,920
This encouraged standardization,
meaning that today any container

170
00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:46,000
can be handled at any of the world's
major ports without
any problems of compatibility.

171
00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:54,680
In April 1956, the first of these
containers was lifted onto the deck

172
00:12:54,680 --> 00:13:01,040
of a modified World War II
aero tanker called the Ideal X.

173
00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:06,720
The service would quickly assume the
name of McLean's original concept -

174
00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,640
Sea...Land.

175
00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:17,360
The Ideal X ran from Port Newark
with 58 containers to Houston

176
00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:21,720
in the first trial run
and that was the start
of cellular container ships.

177
00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,600
MUSIC: "Somewhere Beyond The Sea"
by Bobby Darin

178
00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:33,440
# Somewhere beyond the sea

179
00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:34,960
# Somewhere... #

180
00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:37,880
The Sea-Land service went
from strength to strength.

181
00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:42,440
By the mid-1960s,
Malcolm McLean's container ships
had become so popular

182
00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:47,160
that many other
shipping lines had begun to offer
services of their own.

183
00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:53,120
Dedicated container terminals
were springing up around America.

184
00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:56,640
The next step
was to take on the Atlantic.

185
00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,800
The customers
who used us in domestic

186
00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:06,000
and realised what the savings were
were waiting for us to go to Europe.

187
00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:11,520
So, the first ships that we put out
to Europe were over-booked
the very first week.

188
00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:17,800
In 1966, Sea-Land
unveiled a fleet of trans-Atlantic
all-container ships.

189
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:23,160
The first
would leave New Jersey fully loaded,
but in order to make a profit,

190
00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,680
Sea-Land would have to find
customers in Europe

191
00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:30,000
willing to take a leap of
faith into the containerized world.

192
00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:35,000
The first European port of call
was Rotterdam.

193
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,960
The ship later went to Bremen,
Germany and on the way back,

194
00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:44,680
stopped in Grangemouth
in Scotland to pick up,
among other things, whisky.

195
00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,120
# Oh, whisky is the life of man

196
00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:48,480
# Whisky

197
00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:52,640
# Oh, I'll get whisky where I... #

198
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:56,280
In the days before the shipping
container, scotch importers were

199
00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,800
accustomed to losing up to a third
of their shipments in transit.

200
00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:06,000
Carried in wooden crates,
the glass bottles were easily
broken,

201
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,840
often on purpose
by thirsty dockers.

202
00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:11,960
Don't mention whisky!

203
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,200
Don't mention whisky!
We loaded a lot of whisky.

204
00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:17,440
And drank a lot of whisky.

205
00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,600
You can imagine when they're
knocking off at seven o'clock,

206
00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:24,000
everyone's got a smile on
their face, yeah. Very good.

207
00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:32,720
The shipping container
cut theft and breakages,

208
00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:37,800
slashing insurance premiums,
sometimes by as much as 90%.

209
00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:45,560
It allowed whisky to be shipped
in cheap thin cardboard boxes
instead of expensive sturdy crates

210
00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,880
and it could be loaded
in a fraction of the time.

211
00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:55,040
For the industry, it was one major
step change in the whole business.

212
00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,400
You've one lift, your container's
off and you've got 20 tons of whisky

213
00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:02,000
onto a vessel, whereas before,
you'd probably have about maybe

214
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,040
30 dockers involved
to get that same 20 ton on.

215
00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:08,320
You've one man doing it now,
so a huge cost saving.

216
00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:18,240
When the first box loads of whisky
arrived in America 100% intact, the
container doubters were won over.

217
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,800
They can be stubborn until
price comes along and then they're

218
00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:27,200
the most cooperative people
in the world.

219
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,360
They got a better price.

220
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,880
While whisky distillers
set about making their
factories container-ready,

221
00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:40,800
shipping agents were employed by the
American container lines to spread
the word and convert the masses.

222
00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:44,680
Premises were a bit antiquated
so we had to educate them

223
00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,480
on how to load containers.

224
00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:48,920
They had to knock walls down

225
00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:51,360
and put in loading bays to
be able to load them.

226
00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,720
So yes, it was a
very interesting time.

227
00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:59,720
The container revolution
had arrived in Britain.

228
00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,280
It was extremely exciting
because we had something new.

229
00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:05,560
It must have been like
going from sail to steam.

230
00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:08,600
Ships were in port for
hours instead of days.

231
00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:10,960
Big difference.

232
00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:15,920
For sailors used to long periods
in port while they waited
for their cargo to be loaded,

233
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,400
it was a rude awakening.

234
00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:24,080
Our peaceful existence
suddenly changed. It was all go.

235
00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:27,080
And whereas before it was,
"Shall we have a game of golf?"

236
00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:30,400
it became, "Have we got time
to go ashore for lunch?"

237
00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:37,080
They were marvellous ships to drive,
they were very manoeuvrable and fast

238
00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,600
and I think most of us
eventually grew to love them.

239
00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:42,240
They were ugly damn things.

240
00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:47,480
You cannot say a container ship
is any way a pretty object.

241
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:54,800
Ports interested in
bringing these new container ships
in needed two things,

242
00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:57,600
open space and open minds.

243
00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:01,160
Liverpool
and London's docks offered neither.

244
00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:06,120
Crammed in the centre
of busy cities and hamstrung
by poor labour relations,

245
00:18:06,120 --> 00:18:09,480
they were not attractive
to the new container lines.

246
00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:14,760
Instead,
Malcolm McLean chose to base his
British operations elsewhere -

247
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,040
in a little known port
called Felixstowe.

248
00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:26,680
This berth two years ago was
no more than a strip of shingle.

249
00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:28,240
Now it's the port of the future.

250
00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:33,240
It uses modern machines, gives its
dockers security and makes money.

251
00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:35,280
Ten years ago, their headquarters

252
00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:38,000
was this quaint
little clap-board building.

253
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,640
Today, the company has
an impressive new office block.

254
00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:46,120
Felixstowe has become one
of the most successful independent
ports in the country.

255
00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:52,080
Felixstowe's rural location
didn't worry Malcolm McLean.

256
00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:56,160
He knew that he could unload five
ships' worth of cargo in containers

257
00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,600
and drive them all the way
from Felixstowe to Liverpool

258
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:05,080
in less time
than the Merseyside dockers would
take to unload one ship.

259
00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:10,760
Felixstowe's proximity to
the main shipping lines
was the important thing.

260
00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:14,120
Roads and railways
would do the rest.

261
00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:26,640
The local workers, drawn mostly from
surrounding farms, were glad of
the work brought by the containers,

262
00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:31,560
and their employers rewarded
them well for their enthusiasm.

263
00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:35,880
Here at Felixstowe, the
dockers proudly tell you that
they've never had a strike.

264
00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,840
A recent productivity deal
negotiated directly with the company

265
00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,480
gave them a minimum weekly wage
of £21 ten shillings

266
00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:48,080
but most of the 400-odd ship
workers, as they prefer to be known,

267
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:50,320
take home between £40 and £50.

268
00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:00,600
In Liverpool and London,
it was a different story.

269
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,680
The dockers were reluctant
to accept containers.

270
00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:11,080
But as they watched their cargo
begin to flow to Felixstowe,
they had no choice but to concede.

271
00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:16,760
They weren't happy to handle them,
but they had to handle them

272
00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,240
because it was their work,
it was cargo,

273
00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:23,280
but you done it
with a bit of a heavy heart.

274
00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,760
The unions turned
their focus to negotiating for
better pay and conditions

275
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,360
in return for handling containers.

276
00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:38,920
Dockers are not Luddite-minded.
We welcome machinery

277
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:45,080
but in having machinery,
we want the benefit to man
of a shorter working day

278
00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:48,040
and not at the cost
of a reduction in labour.

279
00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,320
As usual, the more profit made

280
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:52,280
wasn't put down to the workers,

281
00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:54,600
it was put down to other people.

282
00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:00,120
As regards an easier job, all they
done was extend your hours anyway.

283
00:21:00,120 --> 00:21:04,240
So it was never any better for the
people working down there in the end.

284
00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:06,520
Those men
who did make the transition

285
00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:10,360
found the atmosphere
in the container terminals
was very different

286
00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:12,200
to the one they had been used to.

287
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,160
It was a lot different.

288
00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:21,080
Basically, you're on your own up
a crane for X amount of time,
loading, discharging, what have you.

289
00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:23,040
So, all the...

290
00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:24,320
fun, if you want to call it,

291
00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,800
had gone out of
the job in that time.

292
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:37,240
Industrial action
continued for many years.

293
00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:42,200
Containers were routinely "blacked",
meaning that they would not be moved

294
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,840
by dockers
in dispute with their bosses.

295
00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:50,800
When a group of men say
that container is staying there,
in them days, it stayed there.

296
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:52,800
It wasn't going anywhere.

297
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,560
The dockers of Hull
have been blacking cargos
from two of the area's

298
00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,080
30 container companies
for the past eight days.

299
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:03,200
It's no longer a case
of wildcat strikes making news.

300
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:08,280
If a few days go by without a
stoppage of some sort, then that's
an event worthy of comment.

301
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:16,440
Desperate to reduce costs and
keep their freight moving,
cargo companies began to think

302
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:23,520
"outside the box", setting up new
container depots inland
where non-unionised men could work.

303
00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:28,360
This provoked a furious response
and the conflict came to head

304
00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:32,600
in the autumn of 1972, when
dockers picketed the new depots.

305
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:36,920
Shop Steward Vic Turner
was among their leaders.

306
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,000
The picket was about

307
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:44,440
stopping the inland container ports
doing our work.

308
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:49,040
But the men working inside
called on the police to intervene.

309
00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:54,720
Five weeks ago,
these dockers come down here and
said that this was their work.

310
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,160
This firm has been open
three-and-a-half years.

311
00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:02,400
Feelings here in the new look
dockland or "containerland"
as some people call it

312
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:08,680
are that a new chapter in the long
history of British trade unionism
may soon be written here.

313
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,280
As the picketing intensified,
Vic Turner and four other

314
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,440
shop stewards were arrested
and taken to Pentonville Prison.

315
00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:26,040
Outside, an angry mob of dockers
demanded their release

316
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:29,840
and called on the support
of every worker in the country.

317
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:34,200
We are recommending that
a complete withdrawal of labour

318
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,400
to commence at 9 o'clock tonight

319
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:40,840
until all proceedings are dropped

320
00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:45,560
against dock workers protecting
his living.

321
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:52,800
With support growing across
the country, Britain
was on the brink of shutdown.

322
00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,840
It was going to turn
into a national strike if

323
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:02,880
them men hadn't been released and
the government of the day took it to

324
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:09,840
the wire and eventually, they could
see what was going to happen and the
next minute, the men were released.

325
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:16,400
Behind the scenes, an obscure
act of Parliament was invoked

326
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:21,320
to speed their release and the men
walked free to a heroes' reception.

327
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:35,560
This was a rare victory won in a
30-year fight to stop
men being replaced by metal boxes.

328
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,520
But it was a war
they were destined to lose.

329
00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:51,920
One by one,
London's docklands were closed.

330
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:57,520
London, King George, Albert,

331
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,720
Victoria, East India,

332
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:02,440
West India,

333
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:04,200
Tobacco,

334
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:05,920
Regent's,

335
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:07,640
Surrey,

336
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,320
St Katharine, Millwall.

337
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,040
It's like
seeing your best friend die.

338
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:29,800
My last day...in 1984...

339
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:34,440
My last day.

340
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:36,240
My last time on the dock.

341
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:39,920
I woke up the next morning and...

342
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:45,520
..I looked at me hook
behind the door and I thought,

343
00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:47,240
you're redundant, that hook.

344
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,480
CHANTING

345
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,720
Liverpool's docks survived.

346
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,320
But they went through a painful
transition to containerization.

347
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:10,680
In 1995,
a dispute on overtime turned into
Britain's last major dock strike.

348
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:18,640
This time, however, the dockers were
not supported by their trade union

349
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,920
and Mersey Ports simply sacked
them.

350
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,520
Everyone that was locked out,

351
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:32,840
that was it. For two-and-a-half
years on a picket line and we never
went back to work down there.

352
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,880
On that spring day in 1966,
when the first container ship

353
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:46,360
arrived at our shores, there
were 129,000 dockers in Britain.

354
00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:53,840
30 years later, on the day the
Liverpool dockers gave up their
fight, just 11,000 remained.

355
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:09,200
The dockers may have gone from
the docklands but the cargo hasn't.

356
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:14,320
Felixstowe moved over 27
million tonnes of cargo last year,

357
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:18,480
about 40% of Britain's
total container freight.

358
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:27,520
The ships docking here today are so
laden with boxes that they have to

359
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:31,800
be guided into port by specialists
who know the local waters.

360
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:35,960
I'm a marine pilot

361
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,280
and my job is
to bring the ships

362
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,680
either from the sea into port safely

363
00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:47,080
or take them out
from the berth to the pilot station.

364
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,520
These ships are so deep
that ports around the world have had

365
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:57,600
to dredge channels to make estuaries
big enough for them to come in.

366
00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,280
Basically, we navigate in a ditch.

367
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:06,560
It's a man-made ditch, and we
drive these things through a ditch.

368
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,520
Cheers! OK, Bob. Have a good one.

369
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:15,440
See you. Cheers.

370
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:27,520
This ship is one of more than
4,500 vessels carrying upwards

371
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:31,000
of 10 million containers
around the globe each year.

372
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,720
As the number
of boxes has increased,

373
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:41,840
shipping companies like Maersk
have built bigger and bigger boats.

374
00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:47,240
Boats that, in the last decade,
have more than doubled in size,

375
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:50,280
to the delight of ship-spotters.

376
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,920
This is the Emma Maersk.

377
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,280
This is one of the largest
container ships in the world

378
00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:59,280
and as far as I know,
it still is the largest ship.

379
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,960
If you imagine
a 400-metre athletics track

380
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:07,200
stretched out longways, it'll give
you some idea of the size and scale.

381
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:11,160
I like how many
containers they have.

382
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:16,000
But the ships are now so big,
they are reaching technical
and physical limits.

383
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:17,720
A 5,000 TEU ship,

384
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:25,280
built to carry
5,000 20ft containers,
won't fit through the Panama Canal.

385
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:31,520
The biggest container ships
are more than twice that size

386
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:36,440
and there are plans
for a new class of vessel
almost double the size again.

387
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:43,840
The next major constraint might be
the Straits Of Malacca off Singapore.

388
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:48,320
It's estimated that maybe a 22,000
TEU ship would be the maximum

389
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:50,920
that would fit through
the Straits Of Malacca.

390
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,680
I think history has taught us
that it's a very dangerous game

391
00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,480
to predict how big
container ships might get.

392
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:04,040
With so many boxes
on board these ships,

393
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:08,960
their tiny 13-strong crews
can have no idea what they contain.

394
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:12,400
We do not know, it's too much.

395
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:15,160
I mean, um...

396
00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,600
if you make all the papers
available for us, I mean,

397
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,160
we would not have time
for reading it.

398
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:25,120
0-0-5. 0-0-5.

399
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,040
Each person working
in the global container supply chain

400
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:42,480
concentrates solely on doing their
job to move the box as quickly as
possible to its next destination.

401
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:47,600
It's so efficient that this
ship may be gone by tomorrow.

402
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,040
You bring in 700, 800 containers.

403
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,800
A few hours afterwards,
you leave again.

404
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:04,800
Felixstowe receives shipping
schedules from its customers
just a few hours in advance.

405
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:11,840
Planners then work out where
to dock the ships and which order
to load and unload all the boxes.

406
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,840
It's a huge,
logistical jigsaw puzzle.

407
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:18,960
Unsurprisingly,
they have computerized assistance.

408
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:29,040
All the work sequencing is automated
now so each piece of equipment
has a computer screen in its cab.

409
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,600
The computer will look forwards.

410
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,640
It will decide which
is the next best job for that

411
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:38,320
piece of machine and allocate
that machine to a particular job.

412
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:45,600
What that does is it makes much more
efficient use of our equipment, it
means that nobody's delayed unduly

413
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:49,680
and that we can better allocate
resources to the urgent jobs.

414
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:54,760
In the past, this work would have
needed tens of thousands of men.

415
00:31:54,760 --> 00:32:01,640
Today, the smooth running
of the whole quayside operation
is overseen by just one man.

416
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:08,840
I think on a good day,
we could be talking about 7,000
boxes in a 24-hour period.

417
00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:11,680
About a week of 40-44,000 boxes.

418
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:15,520
That's a lot of boxes.

419
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,000
It doesn't always go to plan.

420
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:24,080
The supervisor has been called out
to a problem with one of the cranes.

421
00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:26,800
It can be a difficult
place to drive around because

422
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,480
you've got traffic coming from every
angle, including above your head.

423
00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:34,640
You have to just look
absolutely everywhere all the time.

424
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:41,800
A crane sensor has warned that
one of the containers it lifted
from the last ship was overweight.

425
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:47,560
It means the crane now
has to be tested
to check it's safe to continue work.

426
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:51,840
But that could delay unloading
by up to 20 minutes.

427
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,560
It doesn't seem like a lot,
20 minutes,

428
00:32:54,560 --> 00:33:01,640
but when you're talking about a
14,000 TEU cargo ship, running that
for 20 minutes costs a lot of money.

429
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:07,440
You know, I think about
30,000 an hour is about
an average for something like that.

430
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,200
So if you put it
in monetary terms...

431
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:14,280
Like they say time is money and
down here, time is a lot of money.

432
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:24,840
We're doing a crane shuffle.

433
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:29,280
We're taking the crane which we have
a potential problem on and we're just

434
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:33,000
moving it off the ship and we're
going to bring on another two cranes.

435
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:37,280
So, instead of using 12 and 13
which you can just see moving off,

436
00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,440
we'll use 10 and 11 instead.

437
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:48,400
Modern container ports work
to such tight timetables that solving
problems quickly is vital.

438
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:50,440
Each ship,
crane and lorry is crucial

439
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:55,400
to keeping the global conveyor belt
of container cargo moving.

440
00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:02,360
It means any small problem has
the potential to turn into a big one.

441
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:09,080
It just starts a kind of
chain of delays which at times can
be impossible to get out of.

442
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:12,320
We don't want a ship to sail
with some cargo on it that should

443
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:18,240
have come off at Felixstowe and
actually ends up having to go back to
China or wherever it came from.

444
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:28,880
To see why this is so important,
you only need to look a bit
further up the supply chain.

445
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:38,560
Retailers like ASDA no longer have
big depositories or shop storerooms.

446
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:43,080
Instead, they use shipping
containers as mobile warehouses.

447
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,720
We very much have a supply chain
that's about flow rather than

448
00:34:50,720 --> 00:34:53,200
keeping stock
in various different places.

449
00:34:54,720 --> 00:34:57,880
Our focus here is on
how accurately can we predict

450
00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,240
what sales are going to be
in the next few days to make sure

451
00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:05,720
we have only the right amount of
stock at each point of the chain.

452
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,840
This distribution centre
is one of 26 used by ASDA

453
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:17,720
to keep its stock moving as quickly
as possible around Britain.

454
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:25,600
The maximum length of time
any one item would normally
be kept here is two weeks.

455
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:29,080
Some of these products
will stay for just a few days.

456
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:38,640
The shipping container is absolutely
fundamental to this process.

457
00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:44,000
It gives us speed, it gives us
efficiency and it gives us security.

458
00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:13,880
So dramatic is the step change
in efficiency brought by the
shipping container that it has

459
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:17,000
unleashed powerful economic forces,

460
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:23,320
accelerating world trade and helping
ignite a modern consumer revolution.

461
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,600
In the days before containerization,

462
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,360
a small vessel,
maybe a tenth the size

463
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:37,120
of an average container ship today,
would have 200,000 separate items.

464
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:40,040
Just think for a minute
about the dock workers

465
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:43,720
loading each one of those 200,000
separate items by hand.

466
00:36:43,720 --> 00:36:47,080
Think of the volume of trade
we have today. It's not conceivable

467
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:50,320
that we would have trade
on this scale without the container.

468
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:51,400
It couldn't happen.

469
00:36:53,800 --> 00:37:01,120
In the 1960s,
freight costs often accounted for
30% of the price of foreign goods.

470
00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:06,320
The shipping container
reduced those costs to less than 1%.

471
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:12,080
It caused a boom in global trade
and a revolution on the high street.

472
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:18,240
I can remember when you would go into
a shop in Britain and there were

473
00:37:18,240 --> 00:37:21,200
damn few products to buy,
there wasn't much on the shelves.

474
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:28,960
When the container came in,
the British diet was famously dull -

475
00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:32,520
you couldn't buy garlic, people
didn't drink fresh fruit juice.

476
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,280
Everyday households had
very few consumer goods.

477
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:37,360
The television was a major luxury.

478
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:41,240
Few people had it and it was shared,
like a swimming pool would be today.

479
00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:43,920
You would want to go round
and use your friend's.

480
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:51,160
The container has brought products
that were once the preserve of the
rich within the reach of the masses.

481
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:54,640
We sell something like 350,000 items.

482
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:58,400
You can pick off the shelf, probably,
a quarter of a million of them.

483
00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:05,720
Years ago, some of those items -
bringing a rug from India or
a piece of furniture from Brazil -

484
00:38:05,720 --> 00:38:08,160
would have cost
an enormous sum of money

485
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:12,040
and taken a long time to get here.
Whereas today, they can be here

486
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:15,480
in five or six weeks and they
can be here relatively cheaply.

487
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:21,560
Take a walk around your
local department store

488
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:26,680
and you can instantly see the
influence of the shipping container.

489
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,240
Amazing stuff. Incredibly good value.

490
00:38:32,240 --> 00:38:36,920
In China, there are entire towns
and cities that only make socks.

491
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:39,000
There's Sock Town in China,

492
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,440
and they have enormous factories
with 20,000 employees each,

493
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:43,520
and they make socks.

494
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:47,120
And they make them quicker, cheaper
than anyone else in the world.

495
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:51,800
The guy we know as Buzz Lightyear,

496
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:56,160
but he's also Buzz L'Eclair
for the French market

497
00:38:56,160 --> 00:39:01,080
and Karatekampfer
Buzz Lightyear in Germany.

498
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:06,560
Karateka, Faz Karate,
and he's even in Greek here.

499
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:10,520
I'm afraid my Greek isn't up to it,
but he's for the full European

500
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:14,160
market here and you can imagine
a 40ft container

501
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:19,520
absolutely jam packed with
collectables from Toy Story.

502
00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:25,960
All perfect standardized commodities
that can be very easily packed into
a container, you can get hundreds

503
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:31,800
and hundreds of these TVs into one
container and they'll all arrive in
good condition, ready to be sold on.

504
00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:40,480
Containerization is so efficient
that it costs less to ship goods
to Britain from China than it does

505
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:43,840
to drive them up the motorway
to the nearest town or city.

506
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:50,160
The economics of this are really
incredible because the delivery cost

507
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:56,120
of shipping a flat-screen TV
from halfway round the world
from Asia to the UK

508
00:39:56,120 --> 00:40:00,680
is less than the delivery cost
of taking it from the store
to your house in the UK.

509
00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:08,760
The more products the shipping
container has delivered

510
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:13,360
to our shores, the less visible
the process of delivery has become.

511
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:17,600
Because most container ports are
outside our main towns and cities,

512
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:24,000
these huge ships slide in and out
of our shores without most of us
ever noticing them.

513
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:27,680
Even if we did,
it's hard to appreciate the volume

514
00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:30,360
and variety of goods being delivered

515
00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:34,360
when they are concealed
in anonymous steel boxes.

516
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,760
It's changed our
relationship with the sea

517
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:43,120
because the cargo is no longer seen,
we just don't see what comes and goes

518
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:46,320
by sea and how important
sea transport is to Britain.

519
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:51,680
Three years ago, when the container
ship Napoli was beached off

520
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:56,880
the coast of Devon,
we got the chance to take
a rare peak inside the boxes.

521
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:03,400
With the storms and the weather,
containers were thrown

522
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:08,360
onto the shore, were broken up
and contents were spilled.

523
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:12,240
People began to see that and
all of these people came rushing down

524
00:41:12,240 --> 00:41:19,400
and as there was more of it
shown on television, yet more people
rushed down to help themselves.

525
00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:23,840
REPORTER: All day it's been
a cross between Whisky Galore

526
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:25,720
and the January sales.

527
00:41:25,720 --> 00:41:27,960
Locals ignoring
the listing Napoli in the bay

528
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:30,760
to fill up
with whatever they could find.

529
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:33,560
Most plan to sell it
on the internet,

530
00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:36,040
from Lyme Bay straight to eBay.

531
00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:41,960
This man found a brand-new
BMW motorbike among the wreckage
and he wasn't the only one.

532
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:45,160
It took about eight, ten of us
to lift each one out and as each one

533
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:47,080
came out we put the front wheels on

534
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:49,960
and then they were taken
over the cliffs and away.

535
00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:56,600
The pictures beamed around
the world sparked fierce debate

536
00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:58,800
over the morality
of the modern-day wreckers,

537
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:04,920
but also wonderment
at the bizarre array of products
contained within the boxes.

538
00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,360
It really did bring home to people
just what is carried

539
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:13,160
in these anonymous containers
on these great big anonymous ships.

540
00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:20,520
Shipping containers
are sealed after packing.

541
00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:26,800
Once en-route, the only way
to find out what's inside the box
is by referring to its unique code.

542
00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:33,520
Every container in the world has one
and it is used as a reference
by the shipping company,

543
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:38,800
the sender and the customer, so that
boxes don't get lost or mixed up.

544
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:44,960
This code can also be used to
find out what's inside the box.

545
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:47,400
Although most of the time,
it's not necessary

546
00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:51,800
for the people moving it to know,
unless the cargo is hazardous.

547
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:56,320
The anonymity
of the shipping container
is at the heart of its efficiency.

548
00:42:56,320 --> 00:43:02,200
But it can cause problems, too,
for the contents aren't always
what they claim to be.

549
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:12,480
We believe criminals see containers
as an excellent way of smuggling
because of the high volumes.

550
00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:15,720
They all look the same
and it's not too difficult

551
00:43:15,720 --> 00:43:17,680
to bring them through the port

552
00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:20,840
without the smuggled goods
being recognised.

553
00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:25,640
The UK Border Agency
has the job of policing the boxes.

554
00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:29,080
With more than 40,000 containers
travelling through a port

555
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:33,320
like Felixstowe at any one time,
they can't check them all.

556
00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:37,320
Unfortunately, all containers
tend to look the same.

557
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:42,440
Apart from being a different colour,
they all look the same so
there's nothing you can do visually

558
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:44,600
from the outside of a container.

559
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:50,880
So we have to use our profiles,
our knowledge of smuggling routes
and risks and we use intelligence

560
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:58,160
and information that comes to us
in order to select the relevant
containers for scan and examination.

561
00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:03,120
Giant X-ray machines are used
to monitor suspect containers.

562
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:06,200
We're trying to detect Class A drugs
and we're trying to detect

563
00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:08,280
cigarettes and tobacco products

564
00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:11,200
and, particularly,
counterfeit goods coming very much

565
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:16,160
from the Far East and we find
many counterfeit goods coming
in from the Far East to this port.

566
00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:24,200
Sometimes, the X-ray images
immediately show that the box
contains things it shouldn't.

567
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:28,200
But smugglers often try
to disguise their cargo so officers

568
00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:34,760
are trained to spot tell-tale signs
and send suspicious containers to
be checked the old-fashioned way.

569
00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:44,320
You may get a few rows of legitimate
goods and then it's cigarettes,
counterfeit goods, drugs, whatever.

570
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:47,600
But also, we find goods
that may be smuggled in the floor

571
00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:53,120
or in the ceiling of the container
and we find goods that are actually
hidden within a product itself.

572
00:44:53,120 --> 00:44:56,000
As an example, we had
one just a couple of weeks ago

573
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:58,280
in Felixstowe
and it was some electric fans

574
00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:01,160
and the cigarettes
were inside the fans themselves.

575
00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:13,400
Protecting the shipping-container
supply chain is vital because
we are so utterly reliant on it.

576
00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:18,840
Not only do containers deliver many
of the consumer products we now take

577
00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:23,040
for granted, they also transport
the parts needed to make them.

578
00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:27,840
In modern manufacturing,
people talk about supply chain.

579
00:45:27,840 --> 00:45:31,920
And the supply chain
is a chain of containers going
from one place to another.

580
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:37,920
Many factories are now completely
dependent on the shipping container.

581
00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:47,400
Its speed and reliability have
given rise to an innovation which
has transformed manufacturing -

582
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:49,240
just-in-time production.

583
00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:54,760
Developed by Japanese
car manufacturer Toyota,

584
00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:58,880
this philosophy has now been
widely adopted around the world.

585
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:05,280
Instead of stockpiling
components on production lines
until they were needed,

586
00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:12,680
Toyota developed a system whereby
each car part was made and supplied
just in time for it to be fitted.

587
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:19,080
This reduced factory floor space,
released capital previously

588
00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:22,120
tied up in components
and dramatically cut waste

589
00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:23,600
on the production line.

590
00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:27,720
The container added
another powerful dimension...

591
00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:37,120
It used to be that you had
car makers with all their component
manufacturers under one roof.

592
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:42,400
With containerization, it wasn't
necessary to do that any more. They
were able to break this process up.

593
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:45,560
Some things they make close
to their factory, some far away,

594
00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:50,160
some things they can make across
the ocean and they can
bring all the pieces together

595
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:53,800
on a fairly reliably schedule
to make the finished vehicle.

596
00:46:54,760 --> 00:47:00,720
Today, shipping containers
carry many more unfinished goods
than finished ones.

597
00:47:02,240 --> 00:47:08,360
Each part of a product can be made
in the cheapest or best place,
then shuttled across the sea

598
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:12,560
to the next factory
and the next one until complete.

599
00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:19,840
Complex electronic goods are often
made in a production line spanning
five or more different countries.

600
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:24,040
Even seemingly simple products
have gone global.

601
00:47:24,040 --> 00:47:27,280
# Barbie, you're beautiful... #

602
00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:29,480
Barbie used to be made in one place.

603
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:33,840
But with the container, Barbie
was broken down into components -

604
00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:36,720
you had pigments, you had plastics,

605
00:47:36,720 --> 00:47:38,320
you had hair,

606
00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:40,160
you had clothing.

607
00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:43,240
All of these things could be made
in different countries,

608
00:47:43,240 --> 00:47:45,440
wherever they could
be made most cheaply,

609
00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:48,760
and then all shipped to one location
for final manufacturing.

610
00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:53,880
This ended up being China. So
even Barbie has her own supply chain.

611
00:47:55,600 --> 00:48:00,400
The container
has played its part in a 50-year
overhaul of global industry.

612
00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:06,200
A revolution that has seen
many of the world's factories

613
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:09,880
moving en masse from Europe
and America to Asia.

614
00:48:09,880 --> 00:48:14,360
When the first container ship
arrived in 1960s Britain,

615
00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:17,960
almost half of
the country's workforce
was employed in manufacturing.

616
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:21,360
Today, it's less than 15%.

617
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,840
Manufacturing workers have
been pretty serious losers.

618
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:29,640
Nobody thought of this
when the container came,
but the people who worked

619
00:48:29,640 --> 00:48:33,240
in all of those factories,
they're sort of the secret losers,

620
00:48:33,240 --> 00:48:35,960
they simply had to go away
and find a new world.

621
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:40,120
In the years since
the arrival of the container,

622
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:44,520
Britain's industrial heartlands
have changed beyond recognition.

623
00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:52,760
It's difficult to believe today
but 50 years ago,

624
00:48:52,760 --> 00:48:56,720
Manchester was the world leader
in the manufacture of raincoats.

625
00:48:56,720 --> 00:49:00,600
The cotton would have been
woven in Lancashire,

626
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:03,960
brought to Manchester, rubberized,

627
00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:08,040
made up into coats,
and they would have been exported

628
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:12,040
all over the world as the very best
cotton you could buy.

629
00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:21,000
REPORTER: Although machines are used
to produce the vast amounts
of cloth needed each year,

630
00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:25,680
what eventually appears
depends very largely on the skill
of those people who can sew

631
00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:30,440
one piece of cloth to another
to produce anything from
a ball gown to a balaclava.

632
00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:38,480
Raincoat factories
employed more than 70,000 people
in the North West of England.

633
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:43,560
Textiles was the industry
in this area and all the people

634
00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:48,440
who were rich and famous were
all raincoat manufacturers.

635
00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:50,800
And at the time,
there were hundreds of them.

636
00:49:52,720 --> 00:49:57,640
The step-change in costs
brought by the shipping container
made it possible for factories in

637
00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:02,840
the Far East to manufacture goods
for markets in the developed world
for the first time.

638
00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:12,240
Their cheaper labour costs gave
them an immediate advantage
over their British competitors.

639
00:50:12,240 --> 00:50:14,680
In the early years
of containerization,

640
00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:17,720
governments protected
British industry by levying

641
00:50:17,720 --> 00:50:24,480
heavy duties on foreign imports,
but when Margaret Thatcher came
to power, she pursued a new policy.

642
00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:31,640
When she came in, she took import
duty off so that imports
could come in without any duty on,

643
00:50:31,640 --> 00:50:38,240
encouraged imports and put the VAT
up which squeezed the retailers
to wanting to look further afield.

644
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:44,960
Britain's textile houses had once
been powerful economic players.

645
00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:50,800
But now the market was flooded
with cheap foreign imports,
retailers held the trump cards.

646
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:56,720
They could afford to cut prices
AND take a higher profit margin
at the same time.

647
00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:02,160
When I started, the retailers
were working on doubling up,

648
00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:04,880
so if I sold something at £9,
it would be £19.99.

649
00:51:04,880 --> 00:51:08,880
Now something at £9
from China might be £130.

650
00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:12,880
They've just taken the view
of buying ever cheaper
and selling ever dearer.

651
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:20,320
Manchester's coat-makers
simply couldn't compete
in the new containerized world.

652
00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:26,160
Some relocated to Asia, taking
their skills and machines with them.

653
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,960
Others simply went out of business.

654
00:51:30,760 --> 00:51:33,280
We've probably got just
less than 70 people now

655
00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:36,360
and I think we're the very last
in the area doing what we do.

656
00:51:36,360 --> 00:51:42,880
And I think we've survived on a
little bit of determination and a
little bit of luck over the years.

657
00:51:42,880 --> 00:51:45,120
To keep going
has been very difficult.

658
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:52,800
Many British car, motorbike
and electrical manufacturers
have suffered similar fates.

659
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:59,000
With fewer goods going out than
ever before, the shipping container
has contributed to Britain's biggest

660
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:02,280
industrial trade deficit
since records began.

661
00:52:04,680 --> 00:52:07,760
The UK now has an import-led economy.

662
00:52:07,760 --> 00:52:10,640
Virtually all of the containers
that we're discharging

663
00:52:10,640 --> 00:52:13,720
that come into the country
are coming in laden with goods.

664
00:52:13,720 --> 00:52:17,320
Of those going out, something
like a half are going out empty.

665
00:52:17,320 --> 00:52:20,840
Our biggest single export
through here is fresh air.

666
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:28,560
Through four decades of
containerization, Britain changed

667
00:52:28,560 --> 00:52:33,160
from a nation of manufacturers
to a nation of office workers.

668
00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:40,160
Today, our modern service economy
is headquartered on the site
of London's once famous docks.

669
00:52:41,840 --> 00:52:47,480
This redevelopment swept away years
of decay and helped London become

670
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:52,840
one of the world's financial
centres, creating tens of thousands
of new well-paid jobs.

671
00:52:57,640 --> 00:53:02,800
If you know where to look,
you can even find a few of the
old dockers among the bankers.

672
00:53:04,320 --> 00:53:05,880
But they're a dying breed.

673
00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:14,360
As progress moved on,
the only thing that changed
was the cost of the land

674
00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:19,400
so in other words,
my children can't afford to buy it.

675
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:22,080
So when they got
married, they had to move out.

676
00:53:22,080 --> 00:53:27,080
A lot of the people
that I grew up with have

677
00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:31,280
either died or moved on, their
families have certainly moved on.

678
00:53:38,520 --> 00:53:44,320
Liverpool has clung onto its port,
but it too has been
changed by the container.

679
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:48,640
Well, you can see
the port is still busy,

680
00:53:48,640 --> 00:53:54,720
the port is still doing a lot
of business, but it's containers now.

681
00:53:54,720 --> 00:53:59,240
Before, there was loads of character,
loads of people and you just don't

682
00:53:59,240 --> 00:54:05,000
see them any more, it's like
a ghost road compared to how it was.

683
00:54:06,680 --> 00:54:12,000
The changes have left visible
scars on Liverpool's Dock Road.

684
00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:15,080
Over here is the Sandon Lion,

685
00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:20,360
and at this time of the day,
it would be heaving.

686
00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:22,840
It used to do really good business.

687
00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:28,520
Well, I hope you don't
fancy a cup of tea.

688
00:54:28,520 --> 00:54:31,080
I think this cafe's closed as well.

689
00:54:38,680 --> 00:54:43,120
Few here celebrate the invention
of the shipping container.

690
00:54:45,320 --> 00:54:51,480
I know you can't stop progress,
but it depends on your
perception of progress.

691
00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:55,200
From a capitalist's point of view,
containerization,

692
00:54:55,200 --> 00:54:59,040
because he can make more money,
is progress.

693
00:54:59,040 --> 00:55:02,440
But to the working class
where you lose your job,

694
00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:06,520
your livelihood and not much
prospects of anything else,

695
00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:08,120
it isn't progress, is it?

696
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:10,360
You've taken a backward step.

697
00:55:14,320 --> 00:55:19,960
But not all on the Mersey
believe that the metal boxes
have wrecked the area.

698
00:55:19,960 --> 00:55:23,280
When you were in the port of
Liverpool in the '80s, you couldn't

699
00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:27,480
see the future as being as bright
as what it was in the 1960s.

700
00:55:27,480 --> 00:55:32,480
But in time, those areas that were
previously handling general cargo

701
00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:34,960
that at one point became redundant

702
00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:38,480
because the cargo had moved into
containers and moved to the South

703
00:55:38,480 --> 00:55:42,440
have actually now turned into
other berths handling other cargos.

704
00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:45,520
They've given the port of Liverpool
an even brighter future.

705
00:55:48,840 --> 00:55:51,560
I've got to admit,
it's got to be a good invention.

706
00:55:51,560 --> 00:55:55,120
It's done away with a lot of work
but they're carrying more cargo,

707
00:55:55,120 --> 00:55:58,160
aren't they? Than what when
they had the general cargo.

708
00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:06,280
After years of decline,
Liverpool's port is growing again.

709
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:10,120
Its owners are investing in a new
container terminal that they hope

710
00:56:10,120 --> 00:56:14,080
will help win back business from
the world's biggest shipping lines.

711
00:56:15,600 --> 00:56:20,560
We have the permission to do it,
the business case is now being
drawn up for it and I would hope that

712
00:56:20,560 --> 00:56:25,840
within the next three or four years,
we'll see the terminal in
operation so that we can see ships

713
00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:31,560
coming in from China and the Far
East now coming back in to their
traditional port, Liverpool.

714
00:56:33,320 --> 00:56:39,600
The Port of Felixstowe
is investing too so it can handle
more of the world's biggest ships.

715
00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:44,400
Both in Felixstowe and in the UK
as a whole, we only have a limited

716
00:56:44,400 --> 00:56:48,080
number of berths that can
accommodate these bigger ships.

717
00:56:48,080 --> 00:56:53,560
As more and more of these ships
come on stream, we're going to need
bigger facilities to ensure the UK

718
00:56:53,560 --> 00:56:59,880
retains its status
as a main line call for the big
intercontinental container ships.

719
00:56:59,880 --> 00:57:03,920
Last year, the global recession
caused the first fall

720
00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:08,360
in world trade since the invention
of the shipping container.

721
00:57:08,360 --> 00:57:12,480
But the box is weathering the storm.

722
00:57:12,480 --> 00:57:15,720
Once again, trade routes
are beginning to thrive

723
00:57:15,720 --> 00:57:20,520
and the containers
are moving, supplying
the lifeblood of a modern economy.

724
00:57:22,040 --> 00:57:25,760
There are millions of containers out
there travelling around the world.

725
00:57:25,760 --> 00:57:30,520
Nobody even knows the exact number,
there are so many of them.

726
00:57:30,520 --> 00:57:34,880
I don't think we could do
without the container
for more than about a day.

727
00:57:34,880 --> 00:57:38,040
It's progress,
you can't stop progress.

728
00:57:38,040 --> 00:57:40,560
That's it.

729
00:57:40,560 --> 00:57:43,160
Day and night,

730
00:57:43,160 --> 00:57:47,240
week after week,
the lorries load, the cranes heave

731
00:57:47,240 --> 00:57:50,240
and the ships come and go.

732
00:57:50,240 --> 00:57:53,920
The metal box is always on the move.

733
00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:55,720
And we move with it.

734
00:57:57,240 --> 00:58:01,760
The container has delivered Britain
into the modern consumer society.

735
00:58:03,280 --> 00:58:09,320
Because of it,
our world seems smaller and our
aspirations are ever greater.

736
00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:14,400
The box has changed
our lives for ever.

737
00:58:27,520 --> 00:58:30,560
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

738
00:58:30,560 --> 00:58:33,600
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk