Re:The shipping network that keeps the world running
by contingencies on Wednesday February 11, 2015 @12:43PM
(#9034234)
I just finished Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate by Rose George. It focuses more on the life at sea, working conditions, regulation, changes in the industry, pirates, ransoms, and other things. Broad scope, readable, interesting, unique, recommended.
Re:The shipping network that keeps the world running
by jrullmann on Wednesday February 11, 2015 @11:13AM
(#9033658)
Along those lines, this article about Malcolm McLean (often called the father of containerization) is a great read.
The book is very entertaining and informative, though it has a rather US-centric approach (being Danish, I obviously looked for when Maersk would be introduced, but they are barely mentioned). I especially enjoyed the explanations of how shipping worked before "the box." Dockworkers' unions were extremely powerful, to the extent of introducing ridiculous rules. E.g. "seven people must be assigned to each hatch on the ship, even if there is not enough for them to move there, and they are not allowed to help crews at other hatches." They went to extreme lengths to protect their jobs, and ultimately failed because they would not accept that they could not stop the container.
[1] http://smile.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Econo...