02-01 Basics - John Bulloch

It was refrigerated trucks that brought fresh vegetables and fruit and relieved women from canning their own. And it was bunker fuel that made it possible to load up ships while they were unloading their cargo. And how about refrigerated cargo planes sending fresh New Zealand lamb around the world.

Not difficult to appreciate that the way the global economy functions is about the way we ship goods around the world. And some old stories are revealing and educational.
It is WW2 and all the mothers I knew did their own canning in large glass jars with a metal top and a rubber ring to keep everything sealed and fresh.
In our basement there would be Peaches 1940, Pears 1943, Plums 1943, Tomatoes 1940 of at least 200 assorted jars. And my favourite as a child was the strawberry and raspberry jam mother made from fruit we had picked ourselves.
There was a confusing system of rationing. Not only was food going to the troops in Europe, but Japan controlled most of the tin.
And, of course, everyone had a victory garden and some of this output was also preserved for the winter.
When the war was over, not only rationing stopped, but fresh fruit and vegetables started arriving from California all year around in refrigerated trucks. A whole way of life for women disappeared. Probably for the better.
Another story linked to the impact of changes in transportation was replacing coal with bunker fuel in ships of all kinds. My job in 1960. Coal bunkers were all replaced with tanks for the hot black bunker fuel.
This was a huge saving for the shipping companies that used to load up coal and dump ash at the same time. This would take a full day.
Now ships of all kinds can be fueled by small tankers while loading or unloading passengers or freight.
It is difficult predicting were shipping is headed with some ships being designed for LNG and others for electricity.
Changes in air freight were witnessed in 1994 in Auckland, New Zealand. From shipping frozen lamb by ship, the industry moved to sending fresh vacuum packed lamb via 747s.
From my hotel window I watched a dozen refrigerated cargo planes leave at five minute intervals with fresh lamb that had been butchered the night before.
The changing nature of globalism is about, amongst other things, the changing nature of transportation. Exciting stuff.