The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger - Second Edition with a new chapter by the author

by Marc Levinson

Only one roadblock remained. ISO rules required that the documents supporting proposed standards had to be distributed four months in advance of a meeting. The MH-5 committee had made its recommendation only a few days earlier, and no technical documents were ready. The ISO committee voted unanimously to waive the four-month rule. Three high-ranking corporate executives—Tantlinger, Harlander, and Eugene Hinden of Strick Trailers—then retreated to a railcar factory in nearby Utrecht, where they worked with Dutch draftsmen for forty-eight hours nonstop to produce the requisite drawings. On September 24, 1965, the ISO delegates approved the American design as the international standard for corner fittings.