0:00:02 > 0:00:04'The area forecast for the next 24 hours.
0:00:04 > 0:00:10'Viking - westerly six to gale eight backing south-westerly four or five, occasionally six later.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12'Rain or showers, good.
0:00:12 > 0:00:19'North at zero, south at zero, Forties, Cromarty Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22'Westerly backing south-westerly, 5 to 7...'
0:00:22 > 0:00:26On a small stretch of shingle on Suffolk's North Sea coast,
0:00:26 > 0:00:28a handful of people have gathered.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32It's a pilgrimage of sorts.
0:00:32 > 0:00:33A line of cars,
0:00:33 > 0:00:39a scattering of cameras, binoculars and notebooks.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41These are the ship-spotters.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Most days, it's chock-a-block with people coming down.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Photographers take an interest, people listen to ships.
0:00:52 > 0:00:59That is a new ship. It's just a fascination of the ships, where they come from, what they carry,
0:00:59 > 0:01:01where they're going next...
0:01:01 > 0:01:07I like to come and watch the container ships because they are...
0:01:07 > 0:01:09big!
0:01:11 > 0:01:13They ARE big.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17Larger than any battleship or passenger liner,
0:01:17 > 0:01:22container ships are some of the greatest moving structures ever made by man.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28They are built to carry as many as 14,000 containers of cargo.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Boxes that have changed our world.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39You try and guess amongst yourselves what's actually in each box.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44It could be paper, it could be ornaments, it could be food.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46The interest just goes on and on and on and on.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51These daily deliveries sustain our modern lives.
0:01:51 > 0:01:57Yet the boxes have been arriving at our shores for little more than 40 years.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09The shipping container turbo-charged world trade
0:02:09 > 0:02:12and kick-started the modern age of consumerism,
0:02:12 > 0:02:18bringing value, choice and luxury beyond our wildest dreams.
0:02:20 > 0:02:26It has changed the face of industry and altered our communities and coastlines forever.
0:02:28 > 0:02:34This is the story of how a simple metal box has transformed our lives.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46The British have always looked out to sea.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51It's at the heart of our identity and our culture.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57In the days of the Empire, it was also the provider of our prosperity.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05At the turn of the 20th Century, Britain was the maritime power in the world.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09Britain had 50% of the world tonnage
0:03:09 > 0:03:12and carried 60% of ocean-going cargo.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19- ON FILM:- 'The city of ships is the heart of our trade.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22'The dock roads and railways its arteries,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26'which circulate our vital commerce to and from every corner of Britain.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29'500 million pounds weight of tea.
0:03:29 > 0:03:30'Wool for the baby's jacket.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32'Bananas for small boys.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35'Saturday's picnic or maybe the monkeys at the zoo.'
0:03:37 > 0:03:43Before the invention of the shipping container, the millions of tonnes of cargo arriving in Britain
0:03:43 > 0:03:45were unloaded by hand.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50It could take weeks for dockers to move one ship's load of cargo.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54In Liverpool, as many as 50 would be in port at one time.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00In them days, you're talking a hundred people working on it.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04You've had six gangs of men, you've got 18 men in a gang
0:04:04 > 0:04:07and then you had the shore gang, the carpenters,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10the office staff, the plan men, checking..
0:04:10 > 0:04:12all being in involved in one ship,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15more or less floating factories coming into the port.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19The whole port area would be thousands of people.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35In the 1960s, Britain's biggest docks - Liverpool and London -
0:04:35 > 0:04:38were still major world ports.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43But their international standing was fast coming under threat.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48For while ports in America and Europe were adopting new technology,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52Britain's had seen little investment since the Second World War.
0:04:52 > 0:04:58Here, dock workers relied on rather more traditional equipment.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Well, you've seen it, haven't you? Curvy thing with a big handle on.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04That hook was your help.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06You'd be lost without it.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09You'd be putting your fingers into a bag trying to lift it up, you know?
0:05:11 > 0:05:18Dock work was a family affair and older practises were passed down the generations, like hooks.
0:05:20 > 0:05:21This is actually me granddad's one.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Because me dad was still working in there, I couldn't have his one.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28They always used to carry them about and get on buses and trains.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Whereas it might be called a dangerous object now
0:05:31 > 0:05:34so they might not let you walk about with them.
0:05:39 > 0:05:45This antiquated way of working was slow, labour intensive and tough.
0:05:45 > 0:05:46Very, very hard.
0:05:46 > 0:05:52Physically very hard. I mean, I can remember the first time I got home
0:05:52 > 0:05:54and I worked on the West India Dock then,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57and I'd been working on bags of sugar,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00and I got home and me dinner was put in front of me
0:06:00 > 0:06:02and I fell asleep on the table
0:06:02 > 0:06:05and it was as simple as that.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07The worst loads?
0:06:07 > 0:06:11The bird's mess, so to speak, and it's used as a fertilizer.
0:06:11 > 0:06:19And the smell was unbelievable. So if you was on that, you didn't get a bus home or that, you walked, basically.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22You go home stinking.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27No, you've go the right word. We've got nowhere, you've got one little lavatory up there, you go in there,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31there's no soap, there's no towel, there's nothing to use at all.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34When it's pouring rain you stand there all day long
0:06:34 > 0:06:38and you work hard and what do you get for it? Nothing.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43The hard work and poor conditions took their toll.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Dockers' life expectancy was among the shortest in the country.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51Sickness and accidents slowed work even further
0:06:51 > 0:06:55and built deep resentment between dockers and their employers.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57They were young men and they were old
0:06:57 > 0:07:01because of the effects that this had on their health.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03You know, rheumatism,
0:07:03 > 0:07:08arthritis, lung infections, asbestos
0:07:08 > 0:07:11and all this sort of thing.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16These poor conditions helped turn Britain's 130,000 dockers
0:07:16 > 0:07:20into one of the most unionized workforces in the world.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25But their jobs remained unpredictable and insecure,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28exacerbating their grievances.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32Each morning, employers waited inside the dock gates.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36They lined up for the so-called free call to select workers.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38The men paraded themselves for hire.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41It was called the cattle market.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44The young, the brawny, usually had no difficulty in getting a job.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51If there was no work, they received a fall-back wage of £9 a week,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55but few knew if they would make £9 or £20 in a week.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Your fathers fought for work.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03Your mum didn't know whether that week she'd be borrowing money or lending it.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09By the 1960s, revolution was in the air.
0:08:09 > 0:08:15Relations between the dockers and their employers had hit rock bottom and frequent strikes and stoppages
0:08:15 > 0:08:18brought Britain's ports to a standstill.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22The cocktail of industrial deadlock and crumbling infrastructure
0:08:22 > 0:08:26was now earning Britain's once-great ports a new reputation
0:08:26 > 0:08:29for being the slowest in the modern world.
0:08:29 > 0:08:35But the stalemate was about to be broken by a box from across the sea.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44The era of modern containerization began with Malcolm McLean who was a
0:08:44 > 0:08:46trucker from North Carolina
0:08:46 > 0:08:50who'd made a fortune with McLean Trucking Company,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52a company he founded in the Depression
0:08:52 > 0:08:56and built up into one of the largest motor carriers in the country.
0:08:58 > 0:09:05In post-war America, dockers called "longshoremen" also lifted cargo piece by piece.
0:09:05 > 0:09:13Known as handball or break-bulk cargo, this slow process frustrated trucker Malcolm McLean.
0:09:13 > 0:09:21One long autumn day in 1937, he had an idea that would change the world.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33Malcolm had driven from North Carolina
0:09:33 > 0:09:36to Hoboken, New Jersey right over here.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40And he had to sit all day in his truck,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42watching, waiting for the longshoremen
0:09:42 > 0:09:45to get around to unload his cotton.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50There was maybe 40 bales...
0:09:50 > 0:09:52of cotton.
0:09:52 > 0:09:5440 bales of cotton yarn.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59And they weighed about 400 or 500 pounds a bale,
0:09:59 > 0:10:04and I rolled 'em off one by one, and they picked it up with a hook and put it on the ship.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12I said to myself, "Why don't we put that whole thing on the truck?" That was my first thought.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14I just...
0:10:14 > 0:10:17knew that if you picked it up 40 bales at once,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20it would be a lot cheaper than picking it up one at a time.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22HE CHUCKLES
0:10:23 > 0:10:29Over the next 15 years, Malcolm McLean grew his family trucking business
0:10:29 > 0:10:32into one of the biggest in the country.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38But his ambition was to work out a way of getting a whole truck's cargo onto a ship in one go.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Malcolm knew what he wanted to do with the container.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48He didn't know how the heck to get it on the ship, how to lock it on the ship,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50how to handle it on and off the chassis.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01After a number of failed designs, the breakthrough came in 1955
0:11:01 > 0:11:05when he began to work with an engineer called Keith Tatlinger.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10Together, they drew up the blueprint for what would become the modern shipping container.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16It's simplicity is its genius.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18A corrugated steel box,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21around eight foot wide, and eight foot tall.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Today, it comes in two main sizes - 40 foot
0:11:25 > 0:11:28and 20 foot.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31The walls are just 25mm thick,
0:11:31 > 0:11:37yet the box can carry upwards of 25,000 kilograms of cargo.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42That's the equivalent of 22 Mini Coopers.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45The container is lifted using a twist-lock system
0:11:45 > 0:11:49that allows the crane to grip and release the box securely and quickly
0:11:49 > 0:11:51from its four corners.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56It's kind of amazing to me
0:11:56 > 0:11:59to look at all these boxes here
0:11:59 > 0:12:02and these were all designed by Keith Tatlinger back in 1956
0:12:02 > 0:12:09and they had patents for all of these and he convinced Malcolm McLean to give the patents to the industry,
0:12:09 > 0:12:14so that meant everybody could come in the thing with the same twist-locks, same corner posts
0:12:14 > 0:12:17and it was an amazing system.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32By giving up his patents, McLean made it easier for rivals
0:12:32 > 0:12:36to copy his design than to develop their own ones.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39This encouraged standardization, meaning that today any container
0:12:39 > 0:12:46can be handled at any of the world's major ports without any problems of compatibility.
0:12:48 > 0:12:54In April 1956, the first of these containers was lifted onto the deck
0:12:54 > 0:13:01of a modified World War II aero tanker called the Ideal X.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06The service would quickly assume the name of McLean's original concept -
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Sea...Land.
0:13:09 > 0:13:17The Ideal X ran from Port Newark with 58 containers to Houston
0:13:17 > 0:13:21in the first trial run and that was the start of cellular container ships.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24MUSIC: "Somewhere Beyond The Sea" by Bobby Darin
0:13:28 > 0:13:33# Somewhere beyond the sea
0:13:33 > 0:13:34# Somewhere... #
0:13:34 > 0:13:37The Sea-Land service went from strength to strength.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42By the mid-1960s, Malcolm McLean's container ships had become so popular
0:13:42 > 0:13:47that many other shipping lines had begun to offer services of their own.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Dedicated container terminals were springing up around America.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56The next step was to take on the Atlantic.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01The customers who used us in domestic
0:14:01 > 0:14:06and realised what the savings were were waiting for us to go to Europe.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11So, the first ships that we put out to Europe were over-booked the very first week.
0:14:11 > 0:14:17In 1966, Sea-Land unveiled a fleet of trans-Atlantic all-container ships.
0:14:17 > 0:14:23The first would leave New Jersey fully loaded, but in order to make a profit,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Sea-Land would have to find customers in Europe
0:14:26 > 0:14:30willing to take a leap of faith into the containerized world.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35The first European port of call was Rotterdam.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38The ship later went to Bremen, Germany and on the way back,
0:14:38 > 0:14:44stopped in Grangemouth in Scotland to pick up, among other things, whisky.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47# Oh, whisky is the life of man
0:14:47 > 0:14:48# Whisky
0:14:48 > 0:14:52# Oh, I'll get whisky where I... #
0:14:52 > 0:14:56In the days before the shipping container, scotch importers were
0:14:56 > 0:14:59accustomed to losing up to a third of their shipments in transit.
0:15:01 > 0:15:06Carried in wooden crates, the glass bottles were easily broken,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09often on purpose by thirsty dockers.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Don't mention whisky!
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Don't mention whisky! We loaded a lot of whisky.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17And drank a lot of whisky.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20You can imagine when they're knocking off at seven o'clock,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24everyone's got a smile on their face, yeah. Very good.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32The shipping container cut theft and breakages,
0:15:32 > 0:15:37slashing insurance premiums, sometimes by as much as 90%.
0:15:37 > 0:15:45It allowed whisky to be shipped in cheap thin cardboard boxes instead of expensive sturdy crates
0:15:45 > 0:15:48and it could be loaded in a fraction of the time.
0:15:48 > 0:15:55For the industry, it was one major step change in the whole business.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58You've one lift, your container's off and you've got 20 tons of whisky
0:15:58 > 0:16:02onto a vessel, whereas before, you'd probably have about maybe
0:16:02 > 0:16:0530 dockers involved to get that same 20 ton on.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08You've one man doing it now, so a huge cost saving.
0:16:10 > 0:16:18When the first box loads of whisky arrived in America 100% intact, the container doubters were won over.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23They can be stubborn until price comes along and then they're
0:16:23 > 0:16:27the most cooperative people in the world.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29They got a better price.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33While whisky distillers set about making their factories container-ready,
0:16:33 > 0:16:40shipping agents were employed by the American container lines to spread the word and convert the masses.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Premises were a bit antiquated so we had to educate them
0:16:44 > 0:16:47on how to load containers.
0:16:47 > 0:16:48They had to knock walls down
0:16:48 > 0:16:51and put in loading bays to be able to load them.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53So yes, it was a very interesting time.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59The container revolution had arrived in Britain.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03It was extremely exciting because we had something new.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05It must have been like going from sail to steam.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08Ships were in port for hours instead of days.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Big difference.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15For sailors used to long periods in port while they waited for their cargo to be loaded,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18it was a rude awakening.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24Our peaceful existence suddenly changed. It was all go.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27And whereas before it was, "Shall we have a game of golf?"
0:17:27 > 0:17:30it became, "Have we got time to go ashore for lunch?"
0:17:31 > 0:17:37They were marvellous ships to drive, they were very manoeuvrable and fast
0:17:37 > 0:17:40and I think most of us eventually grew to love them.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42They were ugly damn things.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47You cannot say a container ship is any way a pretty object.
0:17:49 > 0:17:54Ports interested in bringing these new container ships in needed two things,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57open space and open minds.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Liverpool and London's docks offered neither.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06Crammed in the centre of busy cities and hamstrung by poor labour relations,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09they were not attractive to the new container lines.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14Instead, Malcolm McLean chose to base his British operations elsewhere -
0:18:14 > 0:18:18in a little known port called Felixstowe.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26This berth two years ago was no more than a strip of shingle.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28Now it's the port of the future.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33It uses modern machines, gives its dockers security and makes money.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Ten years ago, their headquarters
0:18:35 > 0:18:38was this quaint little clap-board building.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Today, the company has an impressive new office block.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46Felixstowe has become one of the most successful independent ports in the country.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52Felixstowe's rural location didn't worry Malcolm McLean.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56He knew that he could unload five ships' worth of cargo in containers
0:18:56 > 0:18:59and drive them all the way from Felixstowe to Liverpool
0:18:59 > 0:19:05in less time than the Merseyside dockers would take to unload one ship.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10Felixstowe's proximity to the main shipping lines was the important thing.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14Roads and railways would do the rest.
0:19:20 > 0:19:26The local workers, drawn mostly from surrounding farms, were glad of the work brought by the containers,
0:19:26 > 0:19:31and their employers rewarded them well for their enthusiasm.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35Here at Felixstowe, the dockers proudly tell you that they've never had a strike.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39A recent productivity deal negotiated directly with the company
0:19:39 > 0:19:43gave them a minimum weekly wage of £21 ten shillings
0:19:43 > 0:19:48but most of the 400-odd ship workers, as they prefer to be known,
0:19:48 > 0:19:50take home between £40 and £50.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00In Liverpool and London, it was a different story.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04The dockers were reluctant to accept containers.
0:20:04 > 0:20:11But as they watched their cargo begin to flow to Felixstowe, they had no choice but to concede.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16They weren't happy to handle them, but they had to handle them
0:20:16 > 0:20:20because it was their work, it was cargo,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23but you done it with a bit of a heavy heart.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30The unions turned their focus to negotiating for better pay and conditions
0:20:30 > 0:20:33in return for handling containers.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38Dockers are not Luddite-minded. We welcome machinery
0:20:38 > 0:20:45but in having machinery, we want the benefit to man of a shorter working day
0:20:45 > 0:20:48and not at the cost of a reduction in labour.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50As usual, the more profit made
0:20:50 > 0:20:52wasn't put down to the workers,
0:20:52 > 0:20:54it was put down to other people.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00As regards an easier job, all they done was extend your hours anyway.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04So it was never any better for the people working down there in the end.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Those men who did make the transition
0:21:06 > 0:21:10found the atmosphere in the container terminals was very different
0:21:10 > 0:21:12to the one they had been used to.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14It was a lot different.
0:21:14 > 0:21:21Basically, you're on your own up a crane for X amount of time, loading, discharging, what have you.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23So, all the...
0:21:23 > 0:21:24fun, if you want to call it,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27had gone out of the job in that time.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Industrial action continued for many years.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42Containers were routinely "blacked", meaning that they would not be moved
0:21:42 > 0:21:44by dockers in dispute with their bosses.
0:21:44 > 0:21:50When a group of men say that container is staying there, in them days, it stayed there.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52It wasn't going anywhere.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56The dockers of Hull have been blacking cargos from two of the area's
0:21:56 > 0:21:5930 container companies for the past eight days.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03It's no longer a case of wildcat strikes making news.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08If a few days go by without a stoppage of some sort, then that's an event worthy of comment.
0:22:10 > 0:22:16Desperate to reduce costs and keep their freight moving, cargo companies began to think
0:22:16 > 0:22:23"outside the box", setting up new container depots inland where non-unionised men could work.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28This provoked a furious response and the conflict came to head
0:22:28 > 0:22:32in the autumn of 1972, when dockers picketed the new depots.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Shop Steward Vic Turner was among their leaders.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39The picket was about
0:22:39 > 0:22:44stopping the inland container ports doing our work.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49But the men working inside called on the police to intervene.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54Five weeks ago, these dockers come down here and said that this was their work.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57This firm has been open three-and-a-half years.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02Feelings here in the new look dockland or "containerland" as some people call it
0:23:02 > 0:23:08are that a new chapter in the long history of British trade unionism may soon be written here.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14As the picketing intensified, Vic Turner and four other
0:23:14 > 0:23:17shop stewards were arrested and taken to Pentonville Prison.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Outside, an angry mob of dockers demanded their release
0:23:26 > 0:23:29and called on the support of every worker in the country.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34We are recommending that a complete withdrawal of labour
0:23:34 > 0:23:37to commence at 9 o'clock tonight
0:23:37 > 0:23:40until all proceedings are dropped
0:23:40 > 0:23:45against dock workers protecting his living.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52With support growing across the country, Britain was on the brink of shutdown.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57It was going to turn into a national strike if
0:23:57 > 0:24:02them men hadn't been released and the government of the day took it to
0:24:02 > 0:24:09the wire and eventually, they could see what was going to happen and the next minute, the men were released.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16Behind the scenes, an obscure act of Parliament was invoked
0:24:16 > 0:24:21to speed their release and the men walked free to a heroes' reception.
0:24:28 > 0:24:35This was a rare victory won in a 30-year fight to stop men being replaced by metal boxes.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43But it was a war they were destined to lose.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51One by one, London's docklands were closed.
0:24:51 > 0:24:57London, King George, Albert,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00Victoria, East India,
0:25:00 > 0:25:02West India,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Tobacco,
0:25:04 > 0:25:05Regent's,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07Surrey,
0:25:07 > 0:25:11St Katharine, Millwall.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19It's like seeing your best friend die.
0:25:22 > 0:25:29My last day...in 1984...
0:25:32 > 0:25:34My last day.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36My last time on the dock.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39I woke up the next morning and...
0:25:41 > 0:25:45..I looked at me hook behind the door and I thought,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47you're redundant, that hook.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54CHANTING
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Liverpool's docks survived.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02But they went through a painful transition to containerization.
0:26:03 > 0:26:10In 1995, a dispute on overtime turned into Britain's last major dock strike.
0:26:12 > 0:26:18This time, however, the dockers were not supported by their trade union
0:26:18 > 0:26:21and Mersey Ports simply sacked them.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Everyone that was locked out,
0:26:27 > 0:26:32that was it. For two-and-a-half years on a picket line and we never went back to work down there.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39On that spring day in 1966, when the first container ship
0:26:39 > 0:26:46arrived at our shores, there were 129,000 dockers in Britain.
0:26:46 > 0:26:5330 years later, on the day the Liverpool dockers gave up their fight, just 11,000 remained.
0:27:04 > 0:27:09The dockers may have gone from the docklands but the cargo hasn't.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14Felixstowe moved over 27 million tonnes of cargo last year,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18about 40% of Britain's total container freight.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27The ships docking here today are so laden with boxes that they have to
0:27:27 > 0:27:31be guided into port by specialists who know the local waters.
0:27:34 > 0:27:35I'm a marine pilot
0:27:35 > 0:27:39and my job is to bring the ships
0:27:39 > 0:27:42either from the sea into port safely
0:27:42 > 0:27:47or take them out from the berth to the pilot station.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52These ships are so deep that ports around the world have had
0:27:52 > 0:27:57to dredge channels to make estuaries big enough for them to come in.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Basically, we navigate in a ditch.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06It's a man-made ditch, and we drive these things through a ditch.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13- Cheers!- OK, Bob. Have a good one.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15- See you.- Cheers.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27This ship is one of more than 4,500 vessels carrying upwards
0:28:27 > 0:28:31of 10 million containers around the globe each year.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36As the number of boxes has increased,
0:28:36 > 0:28:41shipping companies like Maersk have built bigger and bigger boats.
0:28:41 > 0:28:47Boats that, in the last decade, have more than doubled in size,
0:28:47 > 0:28:50to the delight of ship-spotters.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52This is the Emma Maersk.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56This is one of the largest container ships in the world
0:28:56 > 0:28:59and as far as I know, it still is the largest ship.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01If you imagine a 400-metre athletics track
0:29:01 > 0:29:07stretched out longways, it'll give you some idea of the size and scale.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11I like how many containers they have.
0:29:11 > 0:29:16But the ships are now so big, they are reaching technical and physical limits.
0:29:16 > 0:29:17A 5,000 TEU ship,
0:29:17 > 0:29:25built to carry 5,000 20ft containers, won't fit through the Panama Canal.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31The biggest container ships are more than twice that size
0:29:31 > 0:29:36and there are plans for a new class of vessel almost double the size again.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43The next major constraint might be the Straits Of Malacca off Singapore.
0:29:43 > 0:29:48It's estimated that maybe a 22,000 TEU ship would be the maximum
0:29:48 > 0:29:50that would fit through the Straits Of Malacca.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54I think history has taught us that it's a very dangerous game
0:29:54 > 0:29:57to predict how big container ships might get.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04With so many boxes on board these ships,
0:30:04 > 0:30:08their tiny 13-strong crews can have no idea what they contain.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12We do not know, it's too much.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15I mean, um...
0:30:15 > 0:30:18if you make all the papers available for us, I mean,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21we would not have time for reading it.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25- 0-0-5.- 0-0-5.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35Each person working in the global container supply chain
0:30:35 > 0:30:42concentrates solely on doing their job to move the box as quickly as possible to its next destination.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47It's so efficient that this ship may be gone by tomorrow.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54You bring in 700, 800 containers.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56A few hours afterwards, you leave again.
0:30:58 > 0:31:04Felixstowe receives shipping schedules from its customers just a few hours in advance.
0:31:04 > 0:31:11Planners then work out where to dock the ships and which order to load and unload all the boxes.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14It's a huge, logistical jigsaw puzzle.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18Unsurprisingly, they have computerized assistance.
0:31:22 > 0:31:29All the work sequencing is automated now so each piece of equipment has a computer screen in its cab.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31The computer will look forwards.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34It will decide which is the next best job for that
0:31:34 > 0:31:38piece of machine and allocate that machine to a particular job.
0:31:38 > 0:31:45What that does is it makes much more efficient use of our equipment, it means that nobody's delayed unduly
0:31:45 > 0:31:49and that we can better allocate resources to the urgent jobs.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54In the past, this work would have needed tens of thousands of men.
0:31:54 > 0:32:01Today, the smooth running of the whole quayside operation is overseen by just one man.
0:32:01 > 0:32:08I think on a good day, we could be talking about 7,000 boxes in a 24-hour period.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11About a week of 40-44,000 boxes.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15That's a lot of boxes.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19It doesn't always go to plan.
0:32:19 > 0:32:24The supervisor has been called out to a problem with one of the cranes.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26It can be a difficult place to drive around because
0:32:26 > 0:32:30you've got traffic coming from every angle, including above your head.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34You have to just look absolutely everywhere all the time.
0:32:34 > 0:32:41A crane sensor has warned that one of the containers it lifted from the last ship was overweight.
0:32:41 > 0:32:47It means the crane now has to be tested to check it's safe to continue work.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51But that could delay unloading by up to 20 minutes.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54It doesn't seem like a lot, 20 minutes,
0:32:54 > 0:33:01but when you're talking about a 14,000 TEU cargo ship, running that for 20 minutes costs a lot of money.
0:33:01 > 0:33:07You know, I think about 30,000 an hour is about an average for something like that.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10So if you put it in monetary terms...
0:33:10 > 0:33:14Like they say time is money and down here, time is a lot of money.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24We're doing a crane shuffle.
0:33:24 > 0:33:29We're taking the crane which we have a potential problem on and we're just
0:33:29 > 0:33:33moving it off the ship and we're going to bring on another two cranes.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37So, instead of using 12 and 13 which you can just see moving off,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40we'll use 10 and 11 instead.
0:33:41 > 0:33:48Modern container ports work to such tight timetables that solving problems quickly is vital.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50Each ship, crane and lorry is crucial
0:33:50 > 0:33:55to keeping the global conveyor belt of container cargo moving.
0:33:57 > 0:34:02It means any small problem has the potential to turn into a big one.
0:34:02 > 0:34:09It just starts a kind of chain of delays which at times can be impossible to get out of.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12We don't want a ship to sail with some cargo on it that should
0:34:12 > 0:34:18have come off at Felixstowe and actually ends up having to go back to China or wherever it came from.
0:34:23 > 0:34:28To see why this is so important, you only need to look a bit further up the supply chain.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38Retailers like ASDA no longer have big depositories or shop storerooms.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43Instead, they use shipping containers as mobile warehouses.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50We very much have a supply chain that's about flow rather than
0:34:50 > 0:34:53keeping stock in various different places.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57Our focus here is on how accurately can we predict
0:34:57 > 0:35:01what sales are going to be in the next few days to make sure
0:35:01 > 0:35:05we have only the right amount of stock at each point of the chain.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12This distribution centre is one of 26 used by ASDA
0:35:12 > 0:35:17to keep its stock moving as quickly as possible around Britain.
0:35:19 > 0:35:25The maximum length of time any one item would normally be kept here is two weeks.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29Some of these products will stay for just a few days.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38The shipping container is absolutely fundamental to this process.
0:35:38 > 0:35:44It gives us speed, it gives us efficiency and it gives us security.
0:36:07 > 0:36:13So dramatic is the step change in efficiency brought by the shipping container that it has
0:36:13 > 0:36:17unleashed powerful economic forces,
0:36:17 > 0:36:23accelerating world trade and helping ignite a modern consumer revolution.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29In the days before containerization,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32a small vessel, maybe a tenth the size
0:36:32 > 0:36:37of an average container ship today, would have 200,000 separate items.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40Just think for a minute about the dock workers
0:36:40 > 0:36:43loading each one of those 200,000 separate items by hand.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47Think of the volume of trade we have today. It's not conceivable
0:36:47 > 0:36:50that we would have trade on this scale without the container.
0:36:50 > 0:36:51It couldn't happen.
0:36:53 > 0:37:01In the 1960s, freight costs often accounted for 30% of the price of foreign goods.
0:37:01 > 0:37:06The shipping container reduced those costs to less than 1%.
0:37:06 > 0:37:12It caused a boom in global trade and a revolution on the high street.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18I can remember when you would go into a shop in Britain and there were
0:37:18 > 0:37:21damn few products to buy, there wasn't much on the shelves.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28When the container came in, the British diet was famously dull -
0:37:28 > 0:37:32you couldn't buy garlic, people didn't drink fresh fruit juice.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Everyday households had very few consumer goods.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37The television was a major luxury.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41Few people had it and it was shared, like a swimming pool would be today.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43You would want to go round and use your friend's.
0:37:43 > 0:37:51The container has brought products that were once the preserve of the rich within the reach of the masses.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54We sell something like 350,000 items.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58You can pick off the shelf, probably, a quarter of a million of them.
0:37:58 > 0:38:05Years ago, some of those items - bringing a rug from India or a piece of furniture from Brazil -
0:38:05 > 0:38:08would have cost an enormous sum of money
0:38:08 > 0:38:12and taken a long time to get here. Whereas today, they can be here
0:38:12 > 0:38:15in five or six weeks and they can be here relatively cheaply.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21Take a walk around your local department store
0:38:21 > 0:38:26and you can instantly see the influence of the shipping container.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32Amazing stuff. Incredibly good value.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36In China, there are entire towns and cities that only make socks.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39There's Sock Town in China,
0:38:39 > 0:38:42and they have enormous factories with 20,000 employees each,
0:38:42 > 0:38:43and they make socks.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47And they make them quicker, cheaper than anyone else in the world.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51The guy we know as Buzz Lightyear,
0:38:51 > 0:38:56but he's also Buzz L'Eclair for the French market
0:38:56 > 0:39:01and Karatekampfer Buzz Lightyear in Germany.
0:39:01 > 0:39:06Karateka, Faz Karate, and he's even in Greek here.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10I'm afraid my Greek isn't up to it, but he's for the full European
0:39:10 > 0:39:14market here and you can imagine a 40ft container
0:39:14 > 0:39:19absolutely jam packed with collectables from Toy Story.
0:39:19 > 0:39:25All perfect standardized commodities that can be very easily packed into a container, you can get hundreds
0:39:25 > 0:39:31and hundreds of these TVs into one container and they'll all arrive in good condition, ready to be sold on.
0:39:33 > 0:39:40Containerization is so efficient that it costs less to ship goods to Britain from China than it does
0:39:40 > 0:39:43to drive them up the motorway to the nearest town or city.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50The economics of this are really incredible because the delivery cost
0:39:50 > 0:39:56of shipping a flat-screen TV from halfway round the world from Asia to the UK
0:39:56 > 0:40:00is less than the delivery cost of taking it from the store to your house in the UK.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08The more products the shipping container has delivered
0:40:08 > 0:40:13to our shores, the less visible the process of delivery has become.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17Because most container ports are outside our main towns and cities,
0:40:17 > 0:40:24these huge ships slide in and out of our shores without most of us ever noticing them.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Even if we did, it's hard to appreciate the volume
0:40:27 > 0:40:30and variety of goods being delivered
0:40:30 > 0:40:34when they are concealed in anonymous steel boxes.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37It's changed our relationship with the sea
0:40:37 > 0:40:43because the cargo is no longer seen, we just don't see what comes and goes
0:40:43 > 0:40:46by sea and how important sea transport is to Britain.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51Three years ago, when the container ship Napoli was beached off
0:40:51 > 0:40:56the coast of Devon, we got the chance to take a rare peak inside the boxes.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03With the storms and the weather, containers were thrown
0:41:03 > 0:41:08onto the shore, were broken up and contents were spilled.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12People began to see that and all of these people came rushing down
0:41:12 > 0:41:19and as there was more of it shown on television, yet more people rushed down to help themselves.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23- REPORTER:- All day it's been a cross between Whisky Galore
0:41:23 > 0:41:25and the January sales.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27Locals ignoring the listing Napoli in the bay
0:41:27 > 0:41:30to fill up with whatever they could find.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33Most plan to sell it on the internet,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36from Lyme Bay straight to eBay.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41This man found a brand-new BMW motorbike among the wreckage and he wasn't the only one.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45It took about eight, ten of us to lift each one out and as each one
0:41:45 > 0:41:47came out we put the front wheels on
0:41:47 > 0:41:49and then they were taken over the cliffs and away.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56The pictures beamed around the world sparked fierce debate
0:41:56 > 0:41:58over the morality of the modern-day wreckers,
0:41:58 > 0:42:04but also wonderment at the bizarre array of products contained within the boxes.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08It really did bring home to people just what is carried
0:42:08 > 0:42:13in these anonymous containers on these great big anonymous ships.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Shipping containers are sealed after packing.
0:42:20 > 0:42:26Once en-route, the only way to find out what's inside the box is by referring to its unique code.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33Every container in the world has one and it is used as a reference by the shipping company,
0:42:33 > 0:42:38the sender and the customer, so that boxes don't get lost or mixed up.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44This code can also be used to find out what's inside the box.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47Although most of the time, it's not necessary
0:42:47 > 0:42:51for the people moving it to know, unless the cargo is hazardous.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56The anonymity of the shipping container is at the heart of its efficiency.
0:42:56 > 0:43:02But it can cause problems, too, for the contents aren't always what they claim to be.
0:43:07 > 0:43:12We believe criminals see containers as an excellent way of smuggling because of the high volumes.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15They all look the same and it's not too difficult
0:43:15 > 0:43:17to bring them through the port
0:43:17 > 0:43:20without the smuggled goods being recognised.
0:43:20 > 0:43:25The UK Border Agency has the job of policing the boxes.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29With more than 40,000 containers travelling through a port
0:43:29 > 0:43:33like Felixstowe at any one time, they can't check them all.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37Unfortunately, all containers tend to look the same.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42Apart from being a different colour, they all look the same so there's nothing you can do visually
0:43:42 > 0:43:44from the outside of a container.
0:43:44 > 0:43:50So we have to use our profiles, our knowledge of smuggling routes and risks and we use intelligence
0:43:50 > 0:43:58and information that comes to us in order to select the relevant containers for scan and examination.
0:43:58 > 0:44:03Giant X-ray machines are used to monitor suspect containers.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06We're trying to detect Class A drugs and we're trying to detect
0:44:06 > 0:44:08cigarettes and tobacco products
0:44:08 > 0:44:11and, particularly, counterfeit goods coming very much
0:44:11 > 0:44:16from the Far East and we find many counterfeit goods coming in from the Far East to this port.
0:44:18 > 0:44:24Sometimes, the X-ray images immediately show that the box contains things it shouldn't.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28But smugglers often try to disguise their cargo so officers
0:44:28 > 0:44:34are trained to spot tell-tale signs and send suspicious containers to be checked the old-fashioned way.
0:44:39 > 0:44:44You may get a few rows of legitimate goods and then it's cigarettes, counterfeit goods, drugs, whatever.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47But also, we find goods that may be smuggled in the floor
0:44:47 > 0:44:53or in the ceiling of the container and we find goods that are actually hidden within a product itself.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56As an example, we had one just a couple of weeks ago
0:44:56 > 0:44:58in Felixstowe and it was some electric fans
0:44:58 > 0:45:01and the cigarettes were inside the fans themselves.
0:45:07 > 0:45:13Protecting the shipping-container supply chain is vital because we are so utterly reliant on it.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18Not only do containers deliver many of the consumer products we now take
0:45:18 > 0:45:23for granted, they also transport the parts needed to make them.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27In modern manufacturing, people talk about supply chain.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31And the supply chain is a chain of containers going from one place to another.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37Many factories are now completely dependent on the shipping container.
0:45:40 > 0:45:47Its speed and reliability have given rise to an innovation which has transformed manufacturing -
0:45:47 > 0:45:49just-in-time production.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54Developed by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota,
0:45:54 > 0:45:58this philosophy has now been widely adopted around the world.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05Instead of stockpiling components on production lines until they were needed,
0:46:05 > 0:46:12Toyota developed a system whereby each car part was made and supplied just in time for it to be fitted.
0:46:14 > 0:46:19This reduced factory floor space, released capital previously
0:46:19 > 0:46:22tied up in components and dramatically cut waste
0:46:22 > 0:46:23on the production line.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27The container added another powerful dimension...
0:46:30 > 0:46:37It used to be that you had car makers with all their component manufacturers under one roof.
0:46:37 > 0:46:42With containerization, it wasn't necessary to do that any more. They were able to break this process up.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45Some things they make close to their factory, some far away,
0:46:45 > 0:46:50some things they can make across the ocean and they can bring all the pieces together
0:46:50 > 0:46:53on a fairly reliably schedule to make the finished vehicle.
0:46:54 > 0:47:00Today, shipping containers carry many more unfinished goods than finished ones.
0:47:02 > 0:47:08Each part of a product can be made in the cheapest or best place, then shuttled across the sea
0:47:08 > 0:47:12to the next factory and the next one until complete.
0:47:12 > 0:47:19Complex electronic goods are often made in a production line spanning five or more different countries.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24Even seemingly simple products have gone global.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27# Barbie, you're beautiful... #
0:47:27 > 0:47:29Barbie used to be made in one place.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33But with the container, Barbie was broken down into components -
0:47:33 > 0:47:36you had pigments, you had plastics,
0:47:36 > 0:47:38you had hair,
0:47:38 > 0:47:40you had clothing.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43All of these things could be made in different countries,
0:47:43 > 0:47:45wherever they could be made most cheaply,
0:47:45 > 0:47:48and then all shipped to one location for final manufacturing.
0:47:48 > 0:47:53This ended up being China. So even Barbie has her own supply chain.
0:47:55 > 0:48:00The container has played its part in a 50-year overhaul of global industry.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06A revolution that has seen many of the world's factories
0:48:06 > 0:48:09moving en masse from Europe and America to Asia.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14When the first container ship arrived in 1960s Britain,
0:48:14 > 0:48:17almost half of the country's workforce was employed in manufacturing.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21Today, it's less than 15%.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25Manufacturing workers have been pretty serious losers.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29Nobody thought of this when the container came, but the people who worked
0:48:29 > 0:48:33in all of those factories, they're sort of the secret losers,
0:48:33 > 0:48:35they simply had to go away and find a new world.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40In the years since the arrival of the container,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44Britain's industrial heartlands have changed beyond recognition.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52It's difficult to believe today but 50 years ago,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56Manchester was the world leader in the manufacture of raincoats.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00The cotton would have been woven in Lancashire,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03brought to Manchester, rubberized,
0:49:03 > 0:49:08made up into coats, and they would have been exported
0:49:08 > 0:49:12all over the world as the very best cotton you could buy.
0:49:15 > 0:49:21- REPORTER:- Although machines are used to produce the vast amounts of cloth needed each year,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25what eventually appears depends very largely on the skill of those people who can sew
0:49:25 > 0:49:30one piece of cloth to another to produce anything from a ball gown to a balaclava.
0:49:32 > 0:49:38Raincoat factories employed more than 70,000 people in the North West of England.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43Textiles was the industry in this area and all the people
0:49:43 > 0:49:48who were rich and famous were all raincoat manufacturers.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50And at the time, there were hundreds of them.
0:49:52 > 0:49:57The step-change in costs brought by the shipping container made it possible for factories in
0:49:57 > 0:50:02the Far East to manufacture goods for markets in the developed world for the first time.
0:50:04 > 0:50:12Their cheaper labour costs gave them an immediate advantage over their British competitors.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14In the early years of containerization,
0:50:14 > 0:50:17governments protected British industry by levying
0:50:17 > 0:50:24heavy duties on foreign imports, but when Margaret Thatcher came to power, she pursued a new policy.
0:50:26 > 0:50:31When she came in, she took import duty off so that imports could come in without any duty on,
0:50:31 > 0:50:38encouraged imports and put the VAT up which squeezed the retailers to wanting to look further afield.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44Britain's textile houses had once been powerful economic players.
0:50:44 > 0:50:50But now the market was flooded with cheap foreign imports, retailers held the trump cards.
0:50:50 > 0:50:56They could afford to cut prices AND take a higher profit margin at the same time.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02When I started, the retailers were working on doubling up,
0:51:02 > 0:51:04so if I sold something at £9, it would be £19.99.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08Now something at £9 from China might be £130.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12They've just taken the view of buying ever cheaper and selling ever dearer.
0:51:14 > 0:51:20Manchester's coat-makers simply couldn't compete in the new containerized world.
0:51:20 > 0:51:26Some relocated to Asia, taking their skills and machines with them.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28Others simply went out of business.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33We've probably got just less than 70 people now
0:51:33 > 0:51:36and I think we're the very last in the area doing what we do.
0:51:36 > 0:51:42And I think we've survived on a little bit of determination and a little bit of luck over the years.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45To keep going has been very difficult.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52Many British car, motorbike and electrical manufacturers have suffered similar fates.
0:51:52 > 0:51:59With fewer goods going out than ever before, the shipping container has contributed to Britain's biggest
0:51:59 > 0:52:02industrial trade deficit since records began.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07The UK now has an import-led economy.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10Virtually all of the containers that we're discharging
0:52:10 > 0:52:13that come into the country are coming in laden with goods.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17Of those going out, something like a half are going out empty.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20Our biggest single export through here is fresh air.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28Through four decades of containerization, Britain changed
0:52:28 > 0:52:33from a nation of manufacturers to a nation of office workers.
0:52:33 > 0:52:40Today, our modern service economy is headquartered on the site of London's once famous docks.
0:52:41 > 0:52:47This redevelopment swept away years of decay and helped London become
0:52:47 > 0:52:52one of the world's financial centres, creating tens of thousands of new well-paid jobs.
0:52:57 > 0:53:02If you know where to look, you can even find a few of the old dockers among the bankers.
0:53:04 > 0:53:05But they're a dying breed.
0:53:08 > 0:53:14As progress moved on, the only thing that changed was the cost of the land
0:53:14 > 0:53:19so in other words, my children can't afford to buy it.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22So when they got married, they had to move out.
0:53:22 > 0:53:27A lot of the people that I grew up with have
0:53:27 > 0:53:31either died or moved on, their families have certainly moved on.
0:53:38 > 0:53:44Liverpool has clung onto its port, but it too has been changed by the container.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48Well, you can see the port is still busy,
0:53:48 > 0:53:54the port is still doing a lot of business, but it's containers now.
0:53:54 > 0:53:59Before, there was loads of character, loads of people and you just don't
0:53:59 > 0:54:05see them any more, it's like a ghost road compared to how it was.
0:54:06 > 0:54:12The changes have left visible scars on Liverpool's Dock Road.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15Over here is the Sandon Lion,
0:54:15 > 0:54:20and at this time of the day, it would be heaving.
0:54:20 > 0:54:22It used to do really good business.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28Well, I hope you don't fancy a cup of tea.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31I think this cafe's closed as well.
0:54:38 > 0:54:43Few here celebrate the invention of the shipping container.
0:54:45 > 0:54:51I know you can't stop progress, but it depends on your perception of progress.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55From a capitalist's point of view, containerization,
0:54:55 > 0:54:59because he can make more money, is progress.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02But to the working class where you lose your job,
0:55:02 > 0:55:06your livelihood and not much prospects of anything else,
0:55:06 > 0:55:08it isn't progress, is it?
0:55:08 > 0:55:10You've taken a backward step.
0:55:14 > 0:55:19But not all on the Mersey believe that the metal boxes have wrecked the area.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23When you were in the port of Liverpool in the '80s, you couldn't
0:55:23 > 0:55:27see the future as being as bright as what it was in the 1960s.
0:55:27 > 0:55:32But in time, those areas that were previously handling general cargo
0:55:32 > 0:55:34that at one point became redundant
0:55:34 > 0:55:38because the cargo had moved into containers and moved to the South
0:55:38 > 0:55:42have actually now turned into other berths handling other cargos.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45They've given the port of Liverpool an even brighter future.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51I've got to admit, it's got to be a good invention.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55It's done away with a lot of work but they're carrying more cargo,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58aren't they? Than what when they had the general cargo.
0:56:01 > 0:56:06After years of decline, Liverpool's port is growing again.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10Its owners are investing in a new container terminal that they hope
0:56:10 > 0:56:14will help win back business from the world's biggest shipping lines.
0:56:15 > 0:56:20We have the permission to do it, the business case is now being drawn up for it and I would hope that
0:56:20 > 0:56:25within the next three or four years, we'll see the terminal in operation so that we can see ships
0:56:25 > 0:56:31coming in from China and the Far East now coming back in to their traditional port, Liverpool.
0:56:33 > 0:56:39The Port of Felixstowe is investing too so it can handle more of the world's biggest ships.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Both in Felixstowe and in the UK as a whole, we only have a limited
0:56:44 > 0:56:48number of berths that can accommodate these bigger ships.
0:56:48 > 0:56:53As more and more of these ships come on stream, we're going to need bigger facilities to ensure the UK
0:56:53 > 0:56:59retains its status as a main line call for the big intercontinental container ships.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03Last year, the global recession caused the first fall
0:57:03 > 0:57:08in world trade since the invention of the shipping container.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12But the box is weathering the storm.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15Once again, trade routes are beginning to thrive
0:57:15 > 0:57:20and the containers are moving, supplying the lifeblood of a modern economy.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25There are millions of containers out there travelling around the world.
0:57:25 > 0:57:30Nobody even knows the exact number, there are so many of them.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34I don't think we could do without the container for more than about a day.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38It's progress, you can't stop progress.
0:57:38 > 0:57:40That's it.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43Day and night,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47week after week, the lorries load, the cranes heave
0:57:47 > 0:57:50and the ships come and go.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53The metal box is always on the move.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55And we move with it.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01The container has delivered Britain into the modern consumer society.
0:58:03 > 0:58:09Because of it, our world seems smaller and our aspirations are ever greater.
0:58:10 > 0:58:16The box has changed our lives for ever.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd