#containerisation

📜 What Is Docker?

Docker is a containerisation platform that packages applications and all their dependencies into lightweight, portable containers. Instead of relying on complex system configurations or inconsistent environments, Docker ensures every application runs exactly the same — whether on a developer’s laptop, a test server, or the cloud.

Containers deliver speed, isolation, and efficiency, making Docker the backbone of DevOps, microservices, and cloud-native development.

Key capabilities include:

Consistent Environments: “Works on my machine” problems disappear.

Lightweight Virtualisation: Containers share the host OS without heavy VM overhead.

Fast Deployment: Spin up apps in seconds.

Microservices-Friendly: Break systems into independent, deployable services.

⚙️ How It Works

🔹 Images & Containers

Docker uses images (blueprints) to create containers (running instances). Images define everything the app needs, while containers execute the app in isolated environments.

🔹 Dockerfile

A simple script that describes how to build an image — including OS, libraries, packages, and runtime settings.

🔹 Docker Engine

The core runtime that builds, runs, and manages containers on any system.

🔹 Docker Compose

A tool to define and run multiple containers together — perfect for microservices and local development setups.

🔹 Docker Hub

A cloud registry where thousands of ready-to-use images are shared for public or private use.

💡 Where It’s Used

🏥 Healthcare: Deploying secure microservices for patient data systems. 🚚 Logistics: Running containerised optimisation tools and tracking services. 🏦 Finance: Ensuring consistent environments for trading algorithms and risk engines. 🎮 Gaming: Scalable backend services for real-time multiplayer systems. 🌐 Web & SaaS: Powering microservices architecture for global platforms.

⚖️ Why It Matters

Docker accelerates the entire software lifecycle — development, testing, deployment, and scaling. It allows teams to ship features faster, reduce infrastructure cost, avoid configuration conflicts, and build highly scalable cloud-native systems.

As organisations adopt DevOps and microservices, Docker is becoming an essential skill for every engineer.

🚀 Examples

Nginx + Docker: Deploy a web server in seconds using a single command.

Python/Node Apps: Package apps with all dependencies for predictable production behaviour.

CI/CD Pipelines: Use Docker images in GitHub Actions or Jenkins for clean, repeatable builds.

Database Containers: Run PostgreSQL, Redis, or MySQL locally without installation conflicts.

🧠 Pro Tip

✅ Use multi-stage builds to keep images small and secure. ✅ Combine Docker with Docker Compose to orchestrate full development environments. ✅ Store frequently used images in a private registry for speed and control.

❌ Avoid running heavy workloads inside a single container — split into microservices when possible.

🔍 Summary

Change often seems the only constant in Singapore. Its relentless pace has altered its face, so much so that many in my generation feel that home is foreign place. Nothing seems sacred, places that we have grown accustomed to and build ties with can disappear in the blink in an eye.

Vanishing scenes at Tanjong Pagar.

One change Singapore is in the midst of, the redevelopment of the Greater…

It is universally hailed as one of the greatest inventions of the modern world, one that completely changed the way in which business has been done since the 20th century and really and truly made the world a smaller place and the one true architect of Globalisation..

The ubiquitous CONTAINER without which we may not be as connected as we are today has become an integral part of our life and it is turning 60 years old today..

Happy 60th Birthday my Dear Container :)

  Let’s cast our mind slightly back to where and how it all started..

Malcom McLean & Keith Tantlinger – Remember these names..

Malcom Mclean an American trucking company owner/trucker turned inventor and Mechanical Engineer Keith Tantlinger got together to create the first shipping container..

After many discussions and plans, the first lot of 58 containers were loaded on board the SS Ideal X, a converted World War II oil tanker, on 26th April 1956..

Thus began the journey of the shipping container and there has been no turning back for containerization since then.. You should also watch this video on how containerisation shaped the modern world..

In due course, ISO standards were set for containers and this enabled mass production and usage of standardised containers which also enabled the ports, container terminals and handling equipment to be standardized across the globe, the evolution of which has resulted in the current mega-ships capable of carrying more than 20,000 TEUs on a single ship..

Benefits of containerisation ranges from

Improved and quicker handling of cargo

Flexibility of cargo operation

Door to Door movement using same unit

Cargo security

Intermodal and multimodal operations allowing cargo to reach every nook and cranny of the world whether by sea or land

Cheaper per unit shipping which savings could be passed on to consumers

As per Clarksons Reasearch, from 1971-1996 (20 years after containers first came in to being), there was 41 million TEUs of additional trade generated with about 3 million TEUs of container capacity delivered to serve the global industry..

From 1997 till 2016, this increased to 136 million TEUs of additional trade with 20 million TEU capacity delivered..

Containerisation has also enabled end to end seamless supply chain possibilities which has created further growth, employment and developmental opportunities..

Not just in shipping, containers are now used in many countries to create affordable and cheap housing especially for students..

So all in all Happy 60th birthday to container and container shipping..

Maersk Container ship. Image credit fleetmon.com

[title size=”3″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” class=”” id=””]ZIMSEC O Level Commerce Notes: Transport: Containerisation[/title]

Containerisation

Refers to the carriage of goods in standardised large containers (boxes) made of metal.

The containers are:

filled with goods ready for transportation.

They are sealed in the…

The Economist, May 18th 2013

THE humble shipping container is a powerful antidote to economic pessimism and fears of slowing innovation. Although only a simple metal box, it has transformed global trade. In fact, new research suggests that the container has been more of a driver of globalisation than all trade agreements in the past 50 years taken together.

Containerisation is a testament to the power of process innovation. In the 1950s the world's ports still did business much as they had for centuries. When ships moored, hordes of longshoremen unloaded "break bulk" cargo crammed into the hold. They then squeezed outbound cargo in as efficiently as possible in a game of maritime Tetris. The process was expensive and slow; most ships spent much more time tied up than plying the seas. And theft was rampant: a dock worker was said to earn "$20 a day and all the Scotch you could carry home."

Containerisation changed everything. It was the brainchild of Malcom McLean, an American trucking magnate. He reckoned that big savings could be had by packing goods in uniform containers that could easily be moved between lorry and ship. When he tallied the costs from the inaugural journey of his first prototype container ship in 1956, he found that they came in at just $0.16 per tonne to load--compared with $5.83 per tonne for loose cargo on a standard ship. Containerisation quickly conquered the world: between 1966 and 1983 the share of countries with container ports rose from about 1% to nearly 90%, coinciding with a take-off in global trade.

In a set of 22 industrialised countries containerisation explains a 320% rise in bilateral trade over the first five years after adoption and 790% over 20 years.

What explains the outsize effect of containers? Reduced costs alone cannot. Though containers brought some early savings, shipping rates did not drop very much after their introduction. In a 2007 paper David Hummels, an economist at Purdue University, found that ocean-shipping charges varied little from 1952 to 1970--and then rose with the cost of oil.

More important than costs are knock-on effects on efficiency. In 1965 dock labour could move only 1.7 tonnes per hour onto a cargo ship; five years later a container crew could load 30 tonnes per hour. This allowed freight lines to use bigger ships and still slash the time spent in port. The journey time from door to door fell by half and became more consistent. The container also upended a rigid labour force. Falling labour demand reduced dockworkers' bargaining power and cut the number of strikes. And because containers could be packed and sealed at the factory, losses to theft (and insurance rates) plummeted.