Since the mid-1950's the technology of surface freight transportation has been radically transformed by containerization. The technological innovation at the heart of this transformation is the use of truck-sized containers as unit packages for moving cargo from its point of origin, which is often a factory, to its ultimate destination, which is commonly a retail outlet serving individual customers. This innovation is notable not because it is an example of science-based high technology, but because it enables carriers to radically reduce the cost of handling and moving cargo, especially when multiple modes of transportation are involved. Once introduced, containerization made possible profound cost reductions and efficiency gains, and today containerization is an accomplished fact in the transportation industry. Dr. Donovon is studying the origins and consequences of the container revolution and will describe these developments by using concepts and patterns of explanation currently employed by historians of technology and business. The introduction of containerization was in fact an act of entrepreneurial innovation that entailed confronting federal regulation, recalcitrant longshoreman, maritime and teamster unions as well as development of new technologies to create an intermodal transportation system. Dr. Donovan will not only create a history of this revolution but will also create an oral history archive by recording and preserving the recollections of the business and labor leaders who played key roles in the container revolution.
