Shipping

Cool Idea: Seed Boxes

According to trendspotter Springwise, the Life Box can be made to virtually any dimension and used by consumers and companies alike to package or ship goods. What sets the Life Box apart, however, is that within its corrugations are hundreds of tree seeds and thousands of spores of beneficial mycorrhizal fungi. How it works: Once

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Niche Biz: The Good Pirate

In 1990, former English teacher, Max Hardberger, started his own marine consultancy business in Louisiana. He was periodically retained by shipowners to extract their vessels from lawless ports without a clearance from local authorities. In 1998, following his admission to the California Bar, Hardberger began to practice maritime law alongside his marine consultancy and vessel

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The Robotic Shipping Department

Long after Webvan.com’s legendary flameout in 2001, the online grocer’s biggest problem never left Mick Mountz’s mind. As employee No. 400 at the dot-com, he knew that it simply cost too much to fulfill online orders. Labor was the killer cost. Ten years later, he’s solved the labor problem with his company Kiva Systems. Kiva’s

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The Collapsible Shipping Container

The Economist: Overhauling an industry of which you know little is not easy, but neither is it impossible. In 1956 Malcolm McLean, a trucker from North Carolina, launched the first “intermodal” shipping container, which could be transferred easily between lorries, trains and ships. It revolutionised the transport of goods by abolishing the traditional (and back-breaking)

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