Speaker: Miles Dodd
Before and after university, Miles worked on cargo ships bound for Panama and the west coast of South America. In 1965, while in Tokyo, he analysed Japanese cargo exports to Europe to determine approximate cargo ‘space’ (cubic metre) requirements for container fleet estimation purposes. Later based variously in Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore he worked with highly specialised ships. He also bought and sold ships including, interestingly, purchasing a 22,000 DWT ice-class vessel in East Germany (1982). From 1990 to 2000 he was at Insead business school in France responsible for Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. He also organised and taught in Instead management programmes for top Vietnamese business executives in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang etc. From 2000 to 2004 he taught management at a Japanese University.
The talk will briefly describe the traditional methods of carrying cargos across the seas; the labour, time, loading methods, and port implications. It will then go on to touch upon a number of solutions which attempted to improve the system, and the main reasons for the emergence of containers as the optimal method for all but short voyages. It will then discuss the implications of the new system for loads unsuitable for containers; for port design and operations; for port workers; and most significantly, for trade and the movement of cargo.
21 Oct 2026
2:15 pm
Hybrid: via Zoom, and U3AC, Pink room (pre-booking required)