Conex box

The Conex box emerged because the Korean War forced the U.S. Army to solve the oldest problem in logistics—how to move supplies without unloading them at every transfer point—and created the template for global containerized shipping.

During World War II, the United States Army began experimenting with standardized container transport. By 1948, they had developed the 'Transporter': a standardized, all-metal, stackable container measuring 8'6" long, 6'3" wide, and 6'10" high. The Transporter could be loaded from a ship directly onto a truck without unpacking, a revolutionary simplification of military logistics.

The Korean War (1950-1953) proved the concept. The Transporter significantly accelerated supply delivery to troops while protecting cargo from the elements. Towards the end of the war, the Army refined the design into the CONEX (CONtainer EXpress) box system. The name captured the essence: CON for container (storing weapons, food, medical equipment), EX for express (swift and efficient movement).

The CONEX box measured 8 feet by 8 feet by 10 feet, built from corrugated steel with twistlock mechanisms at each of the four top corners to facilitate crane handling. Containers could be stacked three high. The system was modular—the Army also produced a smaller, half-size unit for flexibility.

By 1965, the U.S. military had 100,000 CONEX boxes. By 1967, over 100,000 more had been procured to support the Vietnam War escalation, making CONEX the world's first intercontinental application of intermodal containers.

The civilian revolution followed directly. American entrepreneur Malcom McLean recognized that containerized shipping could transform commercial freight. In 1956, he launched the Ideal X, the first container ship designed to transport standardized steel containers based on the CONEX model. This marked the beginning of modern intermodal shipping, where containers transfer seamlessly between ships, trains, and trucks without unloading their contents.

The CONEX box thus represents a pattern repeated throughout invention history: military logistics demands creating infrastructure that transforms civilian commerce. The Army's need to move supplies to Korea became the template for globalized trade.