Where's the Box?

It’s in the ocean. Its cargo: whiskey.

In 2006, economist Marc Levinson published The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, 50 years after the first shipping container sailed out of Newark, New Jersey.

Inspired by the book, the BBC has attached a GPS to a shipping container, and is following its path around the world for one year to tell the story of international trade and globalization. A live updating map will document its position as it travels around the world.  BBC-branded and painted red, and the public is being encouraged to photograph it along its journey.

Departing from Southampton, UK, the Box is now on a ship heading to China. I am curious to see what the map will look like at the end of the year. Perhaps a tangled web isolated to one region, or maybe clean lines between the major shipping ports of the world.

What can we learn from one box? A compelling story, technology, audience participation, and a powerful media channel make for one heck of a marketing campaign. I for one will be checking in regularly throughout the year.

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Tags: economics, international development, map, marketing, trade