Sea Box works with Razorleaf to connect design, production and inventory, improving efficiencies and enhancing its bespoke customization capabilities
A portable forensic laboratory for investigating whether nuclear waste complies with international regulations. A
mobile hospital for patients during a disease outbreak. A school annex. A wartime emergency room for acute care
of the wounded. Even a 40-foot hot dog stand wrapped from end to end in an eye-catching red and yellow
checkerboard pattern.
Each of these is an example of how that everyday, ubiquitous item – known the world over as a shipping container
– can be customized into something unique.
The 10- to 40-foot containers are today’s gold
standard for moving a lot of things from place to
place. But prior to the 1950s, most goods were
relocated in simple wooden crates and loaded, largely
by hand, in and out of trucks, trains and ships – a
tedious and time-consuming practice. Then in 1956,
American entrepreneur Malcolm McLean started a
revolution with the New Jersey launch of the first
container ship. The converted World War II tanker was
loaded with 58 one-size metal boxes that could be
easily transferred by lift or crane between multiple
modes of transport.
By the late 1960s other countries were adopting the
template, relying on interlocking, stackable metal
containers to move cars, furniture, clothing,
electronics, or just a single family’s entire household
goods in one big box. No one knows exactly how
many ISO-standard shipping containers exist in the
world today, but there are at least 65 million known to
be in “active use” at any one time. Other containers
are increasingly being adapted for non-shipping uses,
which is where the Sea Box story begins.
