KOORINGA, the world's first purpose built cellular container ship
Date1964
Object number00030220
NamePhotograph
MediumPhotographic print on paper.
DimensionsMount / Matt size: 400 × 582 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from McIlwraith McEacharn Limited
DescriptionA colour photograph of the Mcilwraith McEacharn container ship KOORINGA at sea.
An attached plaque reads 'KOORINGA - the world's first purpose built cellular container ship constructed in 1964 by State Dockyard New South Wales for Associated Steamships Pty Ltd'.History"The idea of using some type of shipping container was not completely novel. Boxes similar to modern containers had been used for combined rail- and horse-drawn transport in England as early as 1792. The US government used small standard-sized containers during the Second World War, which proved a means of quickly and efficiently unloading and distributing supplies. However, in 1955, Malcom P. McLean, a trucking entrepreneur from North Carolina, USA, bought a steamship company with the idea of transporting entire truck trailers with their cargo still inside. He realized it would be much simpler and quicker to have one container that could be lifted from a vehicle directly on to a ship without first having to unload its contents.
His ideas were based on the theory that efficiency could be vastly improved through a system of "intermodalism", in which the same container, with the same cargo, can be transported with minimum interruption via different transport modes during its journey. Containers could be moved seamlessly between ships, trucks and trains. This would simplify the whole logistical process and, eventually, implementing this idea led to a revolution in cargo transportation and international trade over the next 50 years."
[http://www.worldshipping.org/about-the-industry/history-of-containerization]
SignificanceKOORINGA was the first purpose built cellular container ship and part of the advent of a new maritime transport industry that would go on to change the face of ports across the globe.