All the discussion seems to indicate that if there was a strong government willing to standardize and is starting from a blank slate (no organized labor, no complex legacy infrastructure, no political interference), containerization might have been undertaken earlier.
You mean like in 1795 where a coal mine was shipping coal around in carts that could be put on boats? Or how in 1830s they were using basic wooden boxes that could be loaded 4/cart? 1840s they were made of iron?
Containerization has been around, but not united until the past several decades.
As to the dockworkers lifting goods, the other detail is that containers kept dockworkers from seeing what was inside, so they didn't know if the container was worth breaking into. Regular cargo could be seen, so any pilferage would be focused on the more valuable stuff.
That could have been the method used to introduce containerization early, where alcohol shippers would use the container to fully secure their cargo, instead of taking the losses from break bulk. They would set up two ports, and just ship the alcohol between those two ports. At the end of the year they would judge based on losses if containers were more efficient. Have another shipper ask them about shipping costs, and if the container is cheaper they will use those ports too.
(As a comparison, in 1956 it cost $5.86 US to load and unload a ton of cargo from a ship. Using a container the price dropped to $.16 per ton. There is a lot of money to be made by the alcohol shippers if they offer containerized shipping to others.)