Great blog post on Containerization...

"A BBC4 programme - 'the box that changed Britain' - brings to life another side of this story. (Great Wired article on this subject here.) Containerisation has profoundly transformed trade and production. The container bought "value, choice and luxury beyond our wildest dreams," says narrator Roger McGough. A look around most rooms in the UK confirms that - the range of goods in eyeshot at any one time is staggering. Jane Jacobs talks a great deal about the symbiotic processes that lie at the root of city development. Successful cities are ecosystems of firms, often hiving off new exports 'accidentally' discovered along the way. For the past 40 years, containers have opened the door to a just-in-time world - production is still diverse, but it's happening in many different countries. Transport is now 1% of overall costs; I think it was 30% before containerisation for overseas goods, though I haven't traced that figure yet, and it'd be useful to see how it breaks down. Production networks fight over the whole planet for their edge. As the boss of EMS notes, he's fully aware of his lowly position in that vast system. I'm reminded of Manuel Castells... damn, can't find the quote. Paraphrase: we live in world where production nodes can be switched on or off as financial logic dictates. EMS holds its place as long as nothing better comes along.

The operations research literature is full of articles modelling container optimization - a job made much easier because container ports mirror their model doppelgangers so much more precisely than the messiness of the old human dockworker system ever could. Indeed, at automated container terminals, the job of transferring model optimisations to port throughput could be as easy as an upload.

The result of all this: often it's cheaper to ship across the Atlantic than it is between cities.
I've written before about the condescension poured on anyone with the temerity to have moral qualms about the global economy. Krugman's line is still best: 'the lofty moral tone of the opponents of globalization is possible only because they have chosen not to think their position through.' This is bullshit, I realise. Here's some thoughts on why."

Read More: http://www.coveredinbees.org/node/301

...and the wired article: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.10/ports.html