Meanwhile, yet another player entered the standards business. The National Defense Transportation Association, representing companies that handled military cargo, decided that it too would study 20 Foot Container Dimensions. … By late summer of 1959 it had agreed unanimously that “standard” containers would be 20 feet or 40 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 8 feet high. The other lengths approved by the MH-5 and Marad committees, and the 8 1/2-foot-high boxes supported by some truckers and most ship lines, would not be acceptable for military freight—a decision Forgash’s committee was able to reach only because no one from the maritime industry was involved.
