Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

Read the passage and select ALL statements it supports.

The shipping container, a plain steel box of standard dimensions, is one of the least glamorous yet most transformative inventions of the twentieth century. Before its adoption, cargo was loaded piece by piece by armies of dockworkers, a slow process that left goods vulnerable to damage and theft. The container changed everything: sealed at the factory, it could be lifted directly from truck to ship to train without being opened. Loading times collapsed, freight costs plummeted, and distant factories suddenly became viable suppliers to faraway markets. In this quiet way the humble box helped knit together the global supply chains we now take for granted, though it also accelerated the decline of traditional dockside labour.