Bitcoin and Containers: A Tribute to Malcolm McLean

1 BTC = 106,109.02 USD (2025-05-30)

One

Every year on May 30th, I think of a great pioneer, Malcolm McLean.

He is the “father of the container”. His name may not be as well-known as that of technology giants, but he has filled the world’s every port, every route, and even every corner with containers, which now seem like ordinary large metal boxes, profoundly changing the human world.

In fact, at that time, containerization was not high technology and did not require any cutting-edge technology.

Humans invented canned food as early as 1800, effectively extending the shelf life of food through sealing. However, the container was not truly accepted by the world until 1956, which is a gap of 150 years.

It is important to know that making an iron box of more than ten meters is technically much easier than making a sealed box.

Today, more than 250 million standard containers circulate annually across seas, land, and rail, carrying 90% of global trade volume – from small commodities in Yiwu, China, to precision machinery in the Ruhr, Germany, from crude oil in the Persian Gulf to soybeans in Brazil, each container represents the most vivid cell of globalization.

Two

Before the advent of containers in 1960, the cost of transporting Brazilian coffee beans reached as high as 200 USD per ton, and that 200 USD at the time was equivalent to about 1800 USD today. Furthermore, the transportation cycle lasted 30 days (for example, from São Paulo to the Port of Rotterdam).

After containers began to be widely promoted and applied, the freight rate dropped to 30 USD per ton, and the transportation cycle was shortened to 12 days. Data statistics show that the popularization of container transportation of coffee beans has resulted in a fourfold increase in the global coffee consumption population.

If there are no containers now, not only will global coffee consumption shrink by at least 60%, but it will also reduce the GDP of relevant countries by 20 billion US dollars, and the Starbucks we drink daily will also rise from 4 US dollars (28 yuan) to more than 10 US dollars (more than 70 yuan).

If you don’t like drinking coffee, then you must always eat cherries, right? Now you ignore cherries that are 40 yuan per pound, but when there are no containers, you won’t be able to afford cherries that are 200 yuan per pound.

On April 16, 1956, the first container ship fleet “Ideal-X” of American businessman Malcolm McLean set sail from the port of New Jersey, at that moment, the boundaries between the oceans and land for humanity were redefined.

This has not only profoundly changed the human economy but has also directly transformed some seemingly insignificant small countries into “world ports” and “strategic hubs.”

For example, Singapore, an island nation with a land area of less than 1/20 of Beijing, has undergone disruptive changes; over 36 million containers are transshipped here every year, and re-export trade accounts for more than 30% of its GDP, enhancing its strategic value.

There is also the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, which covers an area of only 40,000 square kilometers, yet it has become the “European grocery basket,” with 60% of agricultural products circulating daily. This has further spurred the emergence of bonded zones, free trade zones, and multinational corporate headquarters gathering here, making it an important global hub for capital, technology, and talent.

The containers stacked up at the Port of Rotterdam, when connected, could circle the Earth three times. Perhaps Malcolm McLean never imagined that his metal box would, like a domino, change the world in the future, writing the most magnificent economic epic of the era of globalization.

And all of this began on an ordinary spring day in 1956, when a cargo ship, with a nervous heart, sailed into the sea and into the tide of human civilization.

Three

Of course, the popularity of containers has not been smooth sailing; instead, it is fraught with difficulties and constant challenges. Traditional shipping industry stakeholders regard it as a disruptor, dock workers see containers as “job destroyers,” and incidents such as the destruction and theft of containers occur frequently. Even so-called designers and experts in the shipping field mock it as a “tin box” that could capsize at any moment.

However, regardless of the mainstream voices of opposition and ridicule, the final result is clear to everyone today: the world cannot do without containers. In order to adapt to containers, ports in various countries have been rebuilt, all related fields have been restructured, and the number of dockworkers has actually doubled compared to before. The demonized container has now become a hot commodity.

History always rhymes, and Bitcoin, this “digital container” born in 2009, is experiencing a storyline almost identical to that of McLean’s tin box.

Bitcoin has been labeled as a “scam,” “tulip,” “tool for crime,” and “dark web money laundering” by traditional finance and so-called elites.

All banks and regulatory agencies, like dock workers worried about losing their jobs, use loud resistance to cover their inner fears.

However, today, Bitcoin has silently become powerful on its own, becoming a globally accepted, smooth trading, and immutable digital ledger.

No matter where you are, even on opposite sides of the Earth, whether the transfer amount is 0.00001 BTC or 1000 BTC, you can achieve almost instant, borderless, low-friction (transaction fees from a few dimes to a few bucks) value transfer.

There are no longer media reports claiming that Bitcoin is about to die, nor will there be people blindly thinking that Bitcoin is not secure enough. On the contrary, smart individual investors are buying in large quantities, traditional financial institutions are entering the market, using Bitcoin ETFs to lock in liquidity, and publicly traded companies are starting to allocate a portion of Bitcoin.

Even the United States, which has the world’s largest GDP, has treated Bitcoin as a strategic reserve, not to mention that more countries are likely to follow suit in the future and look to El Salvador, which has adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.

Isn’t the current stablecoin legislation just paving the way for the further global popularity and trading of Bitcoin? If we draw a parallel, isn’t it similar to how containers have spawned standardized ports, giant cargo ships, automated cranes, and a series of supporting facilities?

Imagine if Bitcoin could flow globally as efficiently and seamlessly as container logistics, would the value and price of Bitcoin still be the same as today?

As more and more people realize that the private key of Bitcoin is the true “wealth” that belongs to them, no longer worrying about bank freezes and vicious inflation, where will human wealth flow?

As the flow of materials on Earth is profoundly changed by containers and continues to improve, how deep will the influence of Bitcoin be in the upcoming new financial era on Earth?

Are those voices that resist Bitcoin and oppose Bitcoin rational? Or do they stem from fear and helplessness after being unable to control it?

If Bitcoin rises another 10 times to reach 1 million USD, it will truly realize the dream of “digital gold,” but that is just the starting point.

As we look back at the cargo ship that sailed into the waves in 1956, or open the Bitcoin white paper born in 2009, we always see the most precious spark of human civilization — the courage to break the old order and the imagination to reconstruct the world.

On May 30, 2001, when McClain bid farewell to the world, humanity offered him the grandest and most fitting elegy with the network he had personally created—container ships around the globe sounded their horns at that moment.