How containerization shaped the modern world

集装箱化如何塑造了现代世界

(Music)

翻译人员: shiyue chen 校对人员: Zhiting Chen

音乐

Everything is everywhere these days.

这年头，一切无处不在

Check out the supermarket -- orange juice from China, nuts from India,

你去超市看看——中国的橙汁，印度的坚果

swordfish from Japan, lagers from Czechoslovakia,

日本的剑鱼，捷克斯洛伐克的拉格啤酒

scores of European cheeses.

大量的欧洲奶酪

You name it, it's there. Not when I was growing up.

你随便说，它就在那儿。 但我小时候可不是这样，

You'd never taste a range of French cheeses

你永远尝不到一些列的法国芝士，

or Bohemian lager beer.

或者波西米亚的拉格啤酒。

At least, you couldn't unless you were very rich

至少，你做不到这些除非你非常有钱

and could go anywhere when the fancy took you. All that has changed.

你可以去任何你想去的地方。现在，一切都变了。

But it's not just foods. Got an iPhone?

但不仅仅是食物变了。有iPhone手机吗？

Everyone knows it was invented and designed at Cupertino

每个人都知道它是在加州的库比蒂诺研发和设计的，

in California, but who knows where

但是谁知道

the complex bits and pieces of its innards are made or assembled?

它内部复杂的小零件都是在哪里制造或者组装的呢？

Apple doesn't say.

苹果公司可没有告诉你。

The industry credits China, Japan, Germany, South Korea

这个产业归功于中国，日本，德国，韩国，

and, of course, the United States itself.

当然还有美国自己。

Just think for a moment of the trillions of parts

想想看，每秒钟有数万亿的零部件

and finished goods moving cheaply around the world

和制成品在全球范围内低价流通

every second, a small portion by air,

其中一小部分是通过空运

but most by sea.

绝大部分是通过海运。

We call it globalization,

这被我们称为全球化，

but the man who basically made globalization a reality in our lives

但是那个把全球化带到我们生活中来的人

is too little known. This is his story.

我们对他却几乎一无所知。这是他的故事。

The story of the man who makes your day.

一个造就了你今天生活的人的故事。

In the Great Depression of the '30s,

在三十年代的大萧条时期，

when millions of Americans were out of work, worse than now,

那时有数百万美国人失业了，比现在的状况还要糟糕，

Malcolm McLean was a 24-year-old truck driver.

马尔科姆 是一个24岁的卡车司机，

He got a job to take cotton bales

他得到了一个把棉包

from Fayetteville in North Carolina all the way

从北卡罗来纳州的费耶特维尔一路

to a pier in Hoboken, New Jersey for shipping overseas.

运送到新泽西州霍波肯的一个码头的工作， 棉包会在那里被运到海外。

He was glad of the work, but when he arrived

他本来对这份差事感到很开心，但是当他到了码头

he got bored out of his mind, sitting in his truck

他无聊的快要发疯了，他坐在他的卡车里

waiting and waiting and waiting on the docks

等啊等啊等啊，等着

as the worker ants muscled crates and bundles off other trucks

工人们费劲的搬运板条箱，从其他的卡车上

and into slings that lifted the goods into the hold of the ship.

卸货，把货物挂在绳索上，升起来，装到船上。

On board the ship itself,

而在船上呢，

with much yelling and arm waving,

装卸工们不断的叫喊，挥舞手臂，

the stevedores then unloaded each sling

把每条吊索的货物卸下来

and saw its contents placed in a designated position

然后看着这些货物放到船舱

in the hold.

指定的位置上。

Malcolm wasn't just bored, he was fuming.

马尔科姆不只是无聊，他气得冒烟了。

His income depended on getting back to North Carolina

他的薪水取决于他回到北卡罗来纳州

to pick up more loads in his truck.

装更多的货物在他的卡车上。

Out of the frustration, inspiration struck.

挫败之中产生灵感。

Wouldn't it be great, he thought,

这样不是很棒嘛，他想，

if my trailer could be lifted

如果我的拖车可以直接被吊起来

and placed on the ship

并且放到船上

without its cotton bales being touched. Yes, it would be great.

同时棉包不用动。 对，这个想法太棒了。

It would be revolutionary. For centuries,

这将会是革命性的。几个世纪以来，

general non-bulk cargo had been shipped in the process he watched.

非散装的一般货物都是以 他看到的这种方式装船运送的。

It was called break bulk shipping.

这被称作散货装船

Boxes, bales, crates handled piece by piece.

箱子，大包，板条箱一件一件的处理

What Malcolm envisaged would have saved him only a day,

马尔科姆的设想只能节省他一天的时间，

but it would have saved everyone else

但是却能够节省其他人装船卸船

something like two weeks in loading and unloading the ship.

大概两周的时间。

On average, it was eight days

一般来讲，拖运和分配散装货物

to haul and distribute break bulk shipments in the hold,

到船舱里需要8天的时间，

plus another eight days at the other end

外加另外的8天时间

to retrieve and distribute.

在另一头取回和分配

All that time would have been saved

所有这些时间都可以节省下来

if Malcolm McLean could have just driven his truck onto the ship

如果马尔科姆可以直接把他的卡车开到船上

and at the other end, driven it off.

然后从另一边把卡车开走。

Well, today that concept is a reality.

今天，那个概念成为了现实。

The concept that occurred to Malcolm

马尔科姆想到的那个概念

is known as containerization.

被称作集装箱化。

It has done more than just save a great deal of time.

它不仅仅是节省了大量的时间。

It's the reason why we have a thriving global marketplace,

它让我们拥有了繁荣的全球市场，

offering us that infinite variety of things,

这个市场为我们提供了无限丰富种类的商品，

and it's the reason we can move cargo

它也让我们能够在最低的成本下

from remote parts of the world at minimal cost.

从世界的各个角落运输货物。

Malcolm had his idea in 1937.

马尔科姆在1937年有了他的那个想法。

The 24-year-old truck driver sitting in his truck in Hoboken

这个在霍博肯坐在卡车里的24岁卡车司机

was 40 before he did anything about it.

在40岁之前什么也没有做。

By then, he'd built his one truck

但是之后，他把他唯一的卡车

into a big trucking company. He borrowed money

建成了一个大型卡车运货公司。他从纽约花旗银行

from an enterprising vice president at Citibank in New York,

的一个有魄力的副总裁那里借了钱，

and set about designing the steel boxes and the decks of the ships

着手设计铁箱和可以把

to carry them stacked one on top of another.

铁箱叠在一起的船甲板。

A lot of people thought he was crazy.

很多人认为他疯了。

Inventors always attract armies of naysayers

发明家总是吸引大批的否定者

who can never remember how critical they were.

这些否定者永远不会记得他们曾经有多挑剔。

For our part, we should remember Malcolm McLean.

至于我们，我们应该记住马尔科姆。

His first container ship, the Ideal X,

他的第一只集装箱运货船，理想X号，

sailed from Shed 154

从马诗街154号，

at Marsh Street, Port Newark

纽瓦克港口起航，

with 58 well-filled boxes.

它装载了59个被装满的箱子。

It was the beginning of the container era,

这是集装箱时代的开始，

shrinking our world

它把世界变小的同时

and enlarging human choice.