The use of standardized steel and aluminum
shipping containers began during the late 1940s and early 1950s, when commercial shipping operators and the US military started developing such units. During
World War II, the US Army began experiments with containers to ship supplies to the front lines. Cargo was being delayed at ports due to the time required by
break bulk loading and offloading of ships. In addition, the supplies suffered from pilferage and in-transit damage. After proving successful in Korea, the Transporter was developed into the Container Express (CONEX) box system in late 1952. Based on the Transporter, the size and capacity of the Conex were about the same, but the system was made
modular, by the addition of a smaller, half-size unit of long, wide and high. CONEXes could be stacked three high, and protected their contents from the elements. making this the world's first intercontinental application of
intermodal containers. More than three quarters were shipped only once, because they remained in theatre. The CONEX boxes were as useful to the soldiers as their contents, in particular as storage facilities where there were no other options. The term "CONEX" remains in common use in the US military to refer to the similar but larger ISO-standard shipping containers. File:Conex box.jpeg File:Conex box picture.jpeg ==See also==