The successful development and implementation of global container shipping systems is related to conditions characteristic for the shipping world. One of them concerns the need for proper communication and common understanding at sea and across the different professions and national authorities involved in shipping. This has created a framework of standard concepts and activity patterns, which are reflected in international rules and regulations as formulated at conferences among shipping people. Another concerns the early participation in Nordic IT development, where a group of shipping people became experienced in computer handling and system developments. It included the IT formalization of the above framework and the holistic view of enterprises based on a coherent complex of IT systems. This supported the decision to include terminal handling and landbased logistics into the organization to maintain control of containers all the way and to get full benefit from the technology.