What we ship things in makes a difference. Take the banana, for
example. In 1876, at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the
banana was a delicacy (and very black). Millions of bunches
could only be sent to U.S. shores if they were refrigerated. By
1901, as I describe in Econ 101 1/2, United Fruit was
distributing 14 million bunches of bananas in the U.S. One
reason, in addition to the railroad and the steamboat, was a
banana vessel that could maintain a 53 degree temperature for
its cargo. Just like refrigerated banana vessels transformed
world trade, so too has the cargo container. Introduced in 1956,
now one ship can carry 3,000 forty foot containers with 100,000
tons of shoes, electronics and clothing. Imagine the potential
efficiency. Put everything in the container, arrive at a port,
and just slip it onto a truck or a railroad car for it to move
to its next stop. Journalist Marc Levinson says the result is
more variety for consumers, lower freight bills, less shipping
time, lower inventory costs and