(With videos) Fifty years ago, on 3 May 1966, the MS Fairland arrived in Rotterdam with 226 containers on board. From that moment on, the Sea-Land Shipping Company has been maintaining a weekly container service between New York and the West European ports of Rotterdam, Bremen and Grangemouth, and Rotterdam became Europe's first container port.
ECT was founded by Quick Dispatch, Thomsen's Port Authority, Cornelis Swart Rope, Müller Progress Pakhuismeesteren and the Dutch Railways to handle the containers and to respond to this development. Today, Rotterdam is still the main container port in Europe.
On Tuesday 3 May, the Port of Rotterdam Authority took a moment to reflect on this event in 1966 that turned out to be so important for the port of Rotterdam. On board of the UASC Al Zubura, Emile Hoogsteden, Director of Containers, Breakbulk & Logistics of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, presented a "container cake" to the captain and Rob Bagchus of ECT
(picture by Ries van Wendel de Joode).
The Invention of the Container
Until 1966, cargo came in different shapes and sizes and sometimes dockworkers had to toil for weeks to load and unload a vessel in a decent way. Until the American Malcolm McLean came up with the idea that it would be much more efficient if everyone worldwide were to use an identical container. He invented the container that we still use today. A steel 40-ft or 20-ft box, with swing doors.
First Container Terminal
The Port of Rotterdam was one of the first ports to take containers seriously from the start. With the Rotterdam Municipal Port Management as co-initiator, a number of stevedoring companies established Europe Container Terminals (ECT).
'ECT fully focused on container transhipment and for that purpose it developed and exploited the first specialised container terminal, in the Eemhaven,' says Rob Bagchus, Chief Public Affairs & Public Relations Officer of ECT. 'This innovation and many that have followed since, have given Rotterdam a lead over other ports. Thanks to ECT the port of Rotterdam has become a big player in the container business.'
ECT has published a timeline of all developments of ECT from 1966 on. Watch it here.
12 Million Containers in 2015
Since then, container transhipment in Rotterdam has developed at top speed. Container cargo is usually measured in TEU, which means Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit, that is, a twenty-foot container. A regular large container, like the ones you see on trucks, is two TEU. The short, smaller container is one TEU.
Over the years, the number of transhipped containers rose fast, from just 65,000 TEU in 1968, to 1 million in 1974 and 12 million in 2015. And the port continues to grow; the construction of a new generation of revolutionary container terminals at Maasvlakte 2 being one example.
Below you find two videos. The first looks back on the invention of the container with Bart Kuipers, Seaports and Logistics Adviser at Erasmus University Rotterdam. The second shows how the port of Rotterdam maintains its leading position trough innovation and by expanding boundaries.
Picture: On 3 May 1966, the MS Fairland arrived in Rotterdam under the watchful eye of Queen Juliana, with 226 containers on board.
