Read the following excerpt:
'In the mid-twentieth century, the introduction of the standardized shipping container revolutionized global commerce. Prior to its invention, break-bulk shipping—in which loose cargo was individually handled by longshoremen—was so labor-intensive that the transshipment costs often exceeded the ocean voyage itself. The container drastically reduced these transshipment costs. However, its most profound economic impact was not merely making existing trade cheaper, but making entirely new, hyper-fragmented supply chains viable. For instance, before containerization, the prohibitive cost of transporting raw cotton to Asia and shipping finished garments back to Western markets meant that clothing manufacturing remained highly localized. Once containerization eliminated freight costs as a decisive barrier, apparel brands could decouple production from consumption.'
Statement: The author uses the example of the apparel industry (transporting raw cotton to Asia and shipping finished garments back) primarily to illustrate how the labor-intensive nature of break-bulk shipping made the transshipment process more expensive than the ocean voyage itself.
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