Conex box
{{Short description|Type of cargo container}}
{{Infobox product
| title = CONEX (Container, express) Box
| image = Conex us army.gif
| image_size = 300px
| alt =
| caption = A conex box hoisted onto a US Army truck
| type = Shipping container
| inventor = Transportation Corps
| launch year = Late 1952{{cite web |url=http://www.transportation.army.mil/museum/transportation%20museum/CONEX.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215105008/http://www.transportation.army.mil/museum/transportation%20museum/conex.htm |archive-date=2013-02-15 |url-status=dead |title=CONEX |author= |publisher=U.S. Army Transportation Museum |quote=In late 1952, the Transportation Corps developed the Container Express (CONEX), replacing the 'Transporter'. }}
| company = U.S. Army
| available =
| current supplier =
| last production =
| models =
| url =
| notes =
}}
The CONEX box, a portmanteau of "Container, express", is a type of cargo container that was developed during the Korean War and was used to transport and store supplies during the Korean and Vietnam wars. It was reinvented by Malcom McLean to form the standard intermodal shipping container, often called an ISO box, after ISO 668/ISO 6346, that is used widely by container shipping companies today.
History
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.Intermodal Marine Container Transportation: Impediments and Opportunities, Issue 236 // National Research Council: [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmZsxfFs-zIC&pg=PA18 The container revolution] (page 18): "This [Army] box in turn served as a model for the small containers that most major ship operators began using during the late 1940s and early 1950s. These however, were mainly loaded and unloaded at the docks, and not used intermodally.." 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.
In 1948, the U.S. Army Transportation Corps developed the "Transporter", a rigid, corrugated steel container, able to carry {{convert|9000|lb|kg|0}}. It was {{convert|8|ft|6|in|2|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|6|ft|3|in|2|abbr=on}} wide, and {{convert|6|ft|10|in|2|abbr=on}} high, with double doors on one end, was mounted on skids, and had lifting rings on the top four corners.{{cite web |url=http://www.transportation.army.mil/museum/transportation%20museum/CONEX.htm |title=History & Development of the Container – The 'Transporter', predecessor to the CONEX |author= |date=15 May 2013 |website=www.transportation.army.mil |publisher=U.S. Army Transportation Museum |access-date=20 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720104152/http://www.transportation.army.mil/museum/transportation%20museum/CONEX.htm |archive-date=20 July 2015}}
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,{{#tag:ref|8' 6" length, 6' 3" width and 6' {{Frac|10|1|2}}" height, and 9000 lbs capacity.{{cite thesis |last=Heins |first=Matthew |date=2013 |title=The Shipping Container and the Globalization of American Infrastructure |type=dissertation |chapter=2 |publisher=University of Michigan |page=15 |chapter-url=http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/102480/mheins_1.pdf |access-date=21 July 2015}}{{cite book |last=Levinson |first=Marc |date=2006 |title=The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/boxhowshippin00levi/page/127 |location=Princeton, N.J. |publisher=Princeton University Press |chapter=7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/boxhowshippin00levi/page/127 127] |isbn=0-691-12324-1 |access-date=21 July 2015 |df=dmy-all |chapter-url-access=registration }}|group="nb"}} but the system was made modular, by the addition of a smaller, half-size unit of {{convert|6|ft|3|in|2|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|4|ft|3|in|2|abbr=on}} wide and {{convert|6|ft|10+1/2|in|2|abbr=on}} high.{{Cite report |date=15 December 1970 |title=Logistic Support in the Vietnam Era |volume=7: Containerization |url=http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/877965.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721230641/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/877965.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 21, 2015 |publisher=US DoD Joint Logistics Review Board |page=10 |access-date=22 July 2015 |quote=The dimensions of the CONEX II are 75 by {{Frac|82|1|2}} by 102 in. The CONEX container is a metal reusable shipping box. The most common type has a 295-cu. ft. capacity, is about {{Frac|8|1|2}} by 6 by 7 ft, and can carry 9,000 lbs. The dimensions of the Half-CONEX or CONEX I container are 75 by {{Frac|82|1|4}} by 51 in.}}Development of Containerization // J. van Ham, J. Rijsenbrij: [https://books.google.com/books?id=CgQmkTczzPwC&pg=PA8 Steel containers] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827195754/https://books.google.nl/books?id=CgQmkTczzPwC&pg=PA8 |date=27 August 2016 }} (page 8){{#tag:ref| Some sources also mention a 12-foot version.Falloff // Robert Flanagan: [https://books.google.com/books?id=nuTu4FIZdhoC&pg=PA7 Fleeing G.o.D.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827124747/https://books.google.nl/books?id=nuTu4FIZdhoC&pg=PA7 |date=27 August 2016 }} (page 7){{cite web |url=http://everhartfamily.com/vietnam1970.html |title=My Vietnam Tour – 1970 |author=Michael J. Everhart |date=7 July 2014 |access-date=21 July 2015 |quote=... CONEX ... container that ... was about 7' high by 8' wide and about 12' long...}}|group="nb"}} CONEXes could be stacked three high, and protected their contents from the elements.
By 1965, the US military had some 100,000 CONEX boxes. By 1967, over 100,000 more had been procured to support the escalation of the Vietnam War,{{Cite report |date=15 December 1970 |title=Logistic Support in the Vietnam Era |volume=7: Containerization |url=http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/877965.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721230641/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/877965.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 21, 2015 |publisher=US DoD Joint Logistics Review Board |pages=9–11 |access-date=22 July 2015 }} 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
Explanatory notes
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