On April 26 1956, the SS Ideal-X, an ageing tanker, departed from the Port of Newark, and docked in the Port of Houston five days later.

What was unusual in this otherwise routine coastal trip was that part of the cargo consisted of 58 35ft aluminium containers. The ship was owned by Malcom McLean of McLean Trucking, a man with little experience of shipping. What he did understand, however, was that if transportation could be integrated, the vast expense of shifting freight from land to sea, and back again, could be cut significantly.