From the Annals of Shipping News – In 1956, the SS Ideal X left Port Newark, New Jersey bound for the Port of Houston.  The Ideal X was the world’s first modern container cargo ship.  The IX was a converted World War II T-2 oil tanker Potrero Hills.  She was later purchased by the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, modified to  carry shipping containers and rechristened Ideal X.  She carried 58 containers on her first voyage to Houston where she was met by 58 trucks who hauled away the containers launching a new paradigm for shipping.