Archive for February, 2009

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Green Shipping Containers and the Environment

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Now I don’t mean by this that I am going to talk to you about painting your second hand shipping container green so it blends into the countryside. This blog is about how by buying a shipping container you can flex your environmentally friendly muscles and feel good about the fact that you have done your bit to help the planet (and got a really good product into the bargain!!).

  1. If you decide to buy a second hand shipping container then, obviously, you are recycling an industrial product by giving it a new life. Most people use their ex-shipping container as a means of storage. With the addition of a lockbox and a hardened steel shackle padlock you havea storage containerthat is not only extremely secure but hasa whole new useful purpose.
  2. New/once used shipping containers also can be environmentally friendly. When used as part of a construction project these containers can be erected in much less time (and therefore use much less energy) than traditional construction methods.A recent well known example of this was the Travelodge in Uxbridge. Costs were a third . less than a traditional build, and construction took a matter of months. All achieved by using purpose built containers which were put together in no time on site.
  3. Shipping containers can be converted into affordable housing that is ideal for enabling nurses, teachers, students etc to live near to their place of work/study. This reduces the carbon footprint by abolishing the need to commute.
  4. On the subject of accommodation, shipping container conversions slot easily into towns and cities without requiring much – if any – additional infrastructure. They can be easily transported onto brown field sites and connected up with minimum disturbance to their surroundings.
  5. The flat roof of a shipping container is ideal for housing solar panels or growing a “green roof”. The use of ceramic thermal paint for insulation means that the containers themselves are often better insulation than traditional houses.
  6. Shipping Containers are often used as receptacles for recycling. Think of the containers where you put your old newspapers in car parks for example. 10ft containers are frequently used to recycle clothes, shoes and the like.
  7. Charities re-use shipping containers to transport items such as medical equipment, classroom furniture, books and clothes (all of which are being recycled themselves) to Africa etc. Afterwards the container is often used to provide the community with additional covered space.
  8. At the end of a containers useful life it can be totally re-used by recycling thesteel and woodand turning theminto something else.

These days going green and doing your bit for the environment has never been so popular. Often, however, it involves additional effort and compromise. With a shipping container not only are you going green by giving an essentially industrial product a new life but you will have a supremely adaptable and long lasting practical product helping you in your everyday life – in whatever role you have chosen for it!!

10 Tips on starting a new business from home and how shipping containers can help!

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

If you are thinking about starting a business from home there are a number of things you should consider before you even start.

  • What type of business you start is often based purely on what you are doing now, regardless of what the market will take. For example, if you are currently employedin a sports shop you might think that the right business for you is to branch out on your own and sell ski wear directly from your own home. It is true that you will have contacts and the product knowledge but have you thought about who you will sell to as a new business without a high street presence and whether you will be able to compete with your erstwhile employer? Play to your personal strengths.
  • Basing your business at home is a great way to avoid the cost of renting an office. But do you have enough room? A shipping container conversion could prove to be the answer andprovide you with a purpose built office that could be sited in your garden. Various sizes of site office should be available either new or second hand and at reasonable cost.
  • Talk to other small business owners who have at least 6 months to 5 years experience. Ask them about the stresses and problems that they have experienced in setting up their business, how they conducted their market research and for any tips they can give you. This could save you money and lots of wasted effort.
  • Whilst on the subject of research – talk to your potential client base. Find out what they are looking for from you, who they are and how they would like to pay for their goods/services. This will help you to know more about how you should structure your business and give you a chance to make some pre-sales. At the very worst, people who have been asked for their opinion are far more likely to buy from you than someone else as they feel they have had a personal involvement -nothing is as good as direct communication as a form of advertising!
  • Rather than starting a business totally from scratch, consider taking on a franchise or buying an existing business. Find out what is involved in each of these – for example, why are the owners of the existing business selling or what is the franchise company prepared to do for you in the way of support and advertising in your area?
  • Where are you going to store your stock? You need a dedicated area that is wind and watertight as well as secure. A shipping container used as a home storage container could be the answer. Either new or as a second hand container, they are easily delivered to your home and stock can be easily organised by adding shelving or cupboards.
  • Make a thorough financial business plan. Know what start-up costs are involved (that home storage container or shipping container conversion for example!) and allow enough in the budget to support yourself whilst your business gets going.
  • Consider all your marketing – are you mainly going to base yourself online? Can you sell via e-bay? Research how your competitors use the web and talk to an expert about setting up your own website and getting it properly optimized. 80% of all traffic comes from being on the first page of Google -so if online sales/marketing is the way forward for you this is something you want to take very seriously indeed.
  • How do you deal with stress? Make no mistake, a new business venture is often extremely stressful and you need to be able to keep calm both for your customers and for your family.
  • Finally, and once again, do your research and then do it agin. There is a well-known story about two people starting up new businesses. One walks down the local high street and sees there is notea shop so straight away starts up their own. The business fails because there is not enough demand locally. The second walks down the same high street and sees that there are two thriving greengrocers. They start up a third greengrocers and the business thrives. This is because there is the market demand for fruit and vegetables and the new greengrocer researches how they can offer a better, and more friendly service to their customers than their competitors. Find out about your competition and your potential market in whatever way you can.

Steel Shipping Containers

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

I am often asked “your second hand container won’t be all rusty will it?”

Shipping containers are made out of corten steel. Why, I am often asked, is corten steel so special? Why not just use ordinary steel instead?

Wikepedia defines corten steel as “Weathering steel, best-known under the trademark COR-TEN steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to obviate the need for painting, and form a stable rust-like appearance if exposed to the weather for several years”. What this actually means is that due to the chemical make-up of corten steel it has an increased resistance to weather corrosion. In short corten steel forms a protective surface layer that acts as a weather proof barrier. Very useful in a steel container that is primarily designed to withstand salt water and the extreme conditions found at sea.

But if the corten steel container is painted a weather proof layer does not have a chance to form. It is no more effective against the climate than normal unalloyed steel. So why do shipping lines bother to paint their containers? Apart from the obvious advertising benefits of having a ship stacked with boxes all carrying your logo, shipping containers do not stay pristine. The moving of the containers on and off ships does result in the steel shipping containers getting knocked and the paintwork scraped leaving the steel exposed underneath. That is where the fact the containers are made of corten steel is an advantage, because, rather like putting a plaster on a cut, the corten steel starts to form its protective layer when exposed to the weather and prolongs the life of the steel shipping container. No need to repaint!

The rust proof qualities of corten steel are not only put to use in shipping but in other industries such as construction. Many buildings, such as the The U.S. Steel Tower in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have been made out of corten steel. There is, of course, a crossover between shipping containers and construction which is largely due to the corten steel. Nowadays, shipping container conversions have become popular not only because of the green credentials of recycling an industrial product but because of the strong construction and weatherproofing that is inherent in the steel shipping container itself. There are numerous examples of projects that use shipping containers that our previous blogs have highlighted, but, at the risk of repeating myself, new readers only have to look at projects such as Container City or Riverside House to see what can be done. These are of course, container conversions on a large scale. The properties of shipping containers can also be utilised in smaller conversions such as offices, site accommodation and storage containers.

So next time you look at a second hand steel shipping container and see what appears to be a brown patina where the paint has scraped off, remember that it may not be rust at all, but the weatherproofing layer formed by the corten steel itself.

Storage Shipping Containers

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

Storage shipping containers are extremely versatile and are being used by individuals and businesses alike. Shipping containers being used for storage has only really taken off during the last 30 years or so, but now it is extremely common to see them in use as storage containers everywhere from building sites, backgardens or even off shore.

Shipping containers are of a much stronger construction than portable buildings or wooden sheds, so it is little surprise that they are being used so much as a means of secure storage. Storage shipping containers differ only from a standard shipping container in so far as it may not be of standard length – often being adapted to be anything from 8ft to 40ft as opposed to the traditional 20ft and 40ft containers that are standard on ships.

Storage shipping containers are oftenconverted to make the organisation of the items stored within easier. Racking – or shelving – is often fitted and can be all metal, all wood or a combination of the two. Cupboards are also often put into the containers. These additions can be done at the depot but there is nothing to stop standard flat pack shelves or cupboards from local DIY store being fitted by the end user. As long as the holes drilled into the container are sealed properly with silicone afterwards so that the container remains wind and watertight home fitted shelving and cupboards are often considerably cheaper.

Another alteration that sets storage shipping containers apart from standard shipping containers are the additions of a lockbox and a heavy duty container padlock. The lockbox is fitted to the double container doors and acts as a shroud for the padlock stopping illegal access from bolt croppers or angle grinders. The padlocks themselves often have hardened steel shackles and are extremely robust. Together, the construction, lockbox and padlock make it extremely difficult for all but the most determined to break into a shipping container.

People often are concerned about condensation in their storage shipping containers. This can be tackled through the addition of grafo paint to the container ceiling which absorbs moisture or by the simpler method of using moisture traps. These moisture traps are used on marine voyages and which absorb up to two-and-a-half litres of moisture keeping the stored goods dry. They are extremely effective – after all no-one wants to have spent a lot of money to ship cargo half way round the world only for it to arrive ruined!

Storage shipping containers look as though they are here to stay. The fact that they are strong and secure, easily transportable, come in varying sizes and are easily fitted out to hold a variety of goods mean that they are an economic and practical for all sorts of storage needs.

Shipping Containers – How they get on and off a ship

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Several of you have asked me to explain how shipping containers are used within the shipping industry. I have been going on about all the different uses that the containers have once they are no longer needed for shipping,but haven’t said a word about the shipping containers in their original “vocation” as it were!

It may surprise you to know that shipping containers, in both the standard 20ft and40ft sizes, have been in regular use in the UK and aroundthe world since about 1960. In fact 80% of all imports to the UK come in through shipping containers. Although the average life of container in the shipping industry is 10-15 years, only one in five of containers arriving on these shores, goes back out on another ship. The remainderare swallowed into the domestic market for various uses already described in previous posts in this blog.

Anyway, that all said, how does a cargo container get onto a ship? Lorries arrive at the road transfer area of the terminal to drop off shipping containers for export. A central computer has already devised a bay plan of the ship tomaximise space, and this computer sends instructions toa straddle carrier, pictured below, as to where to place the containers in a holding stack prior to loading.

straddle carrer taking shipping containers from lorry prior to loading on ship

When the ship is ready to load, the central computer then instructs the straddle carrier which container to bring to the crane so that the shipping containers can be loaded efficiently as per the bay plan.

shipping containers being loaded onto ship

Once the ship is loaded it can set sail and when it reaches its destination the process is repeated in reverse.

Simple really. The really clever bit has already happened. That is the standardisation of the sizes of containers so that the machinery such as the straddle carriers and the cranes could handle all the cargo being put onto the ship. This greatly reduced costs and meant that shipping became an affordable option for all sorts of different cargo.

SHIPPING CONTAINER LOGO

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Today we would like to ask for your help in selecting our new logo for CS Shipping Containers. The designsare meant to represent shipping containersand the sea.

LOGO ONE

CS Shipping Container Logo 1

This first logo is meant to represent a line of boxes in sea colours. It is Susan’s favorite.

LOGO TWO

CS Shipping Container Logo 2

This second logo, designed by Simon represents a stack ofcargo containersand has a very modern font to represent how shipping containers fit into modern society.

LOGO THREE

CS Shipping Container Logo 3

This final logo is my favorite. Itrepresents shipping containers in sea colours wrapping round CSSC as a wave.

Anyway, let us know what you think as we would be really interested to hear from you.

Second Hand Containers

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Why buy second hand containers? There are plenty of shipping containers that have only been used to ship over one load from China that are available at reasonable prices after all?

There are multiple answers to that question. Second hand containers are some 50% cheaper than new/once used containers and so just on the question of economics have a place in today’s economic climate. The condition of the second hand container is also usually of high standard. With care you can source a guaranteed wind and watertight, structurally sound container that you can even have painted in colour of your choice. The fact that the container is made of corten steel means that a second hand container is extremely strong and durable and often has another 15-20 years of useful life from time of purchase.

Second hand containers also have impeccable green credentials. Environmentalists gain great satisfaction from re-cycling an industrial waste product. It seems ridiculous that shipping lines find it more economic to source containers from the outbound port rather than return containers from other parts of the world. The containers that are left behind can be used for storage containers, conversions or even for building projects.

Remember too that second hand containers are easily moved to wherever you need them. Designed to be extremely transportable, lorries fitted with hi-ab cranes are able to both deliver and offload the containers almost everywhere with the minimum of disturbance.

New/once used containers have their place for when appearance is important but second hand containers also have a valuable part to play when affordable storage with green credentials

Shipping Containers Help Out In A Crisis

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Earlier this month Hurricane Gustav threatened to hit New Orleans. The city was evacuated in preparation. Everyone held their breath.

Hurricane Gustav

The American Red Cross prepared Shipping Containers in readiness. They planned to use them as storage for all the equipment and provisions that would be needed to cope with the fall out from Gustav.

In the event, although the 20ft containers were still needed, Hurricane Gustavlost its momentum over the Gulf of Mexico, andended up being classed as a Tropical Storm instead. New Orleans survived.

Yet shipping containers are used in many other emergency situations throughout the world.

Shipping Containers used by the Red Cross for Hurricane Gustav

In Australia and New Zealand the steel containers are often used to provide temporary secure housing that is easily transportable and infinitely adaptable.

In China this year after the earthquakes they used shipping containers to provide storage, office and housing.

Whilst we get excited about the amazing things that Architects do with shipping container conversions, such as the Containart Pavillion we featured yesterday, it can be easy to forget how the adaptability and the easily transportable qualities of a shipping container can be used in their most basic form to help out in a crisis.

Refrigerated Containers – FAQ Part 1

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

We have been discussing refrigerated containers on this week’s blog and quite a few of you have rung the office with questions which I thought would be a good idea to answer here.

How is the temperature recorded on a refrigerated shipping container?

On marine units the controller will have a display that will show the set point and the running temperature. If particularly required some units have displays which can also be “downloaded” – whereby you can see a set of parameters over a set period of time although you will need additional equipment in the form of a laptop, specialised software etc. Other units have a Partlowchart (like the taco graph that some lorries have) although it is important should you wish to use them you specify this to your supplier at point of order.

How should a refrigerated shipping container beloaded for maximum efficiency?

The products inside te container should be stacked at least a foot away from the front panel (which is the end opposite the doors!) and at least a foot away from the ceiling. This allows air to flow under the product (through the t-bar flooring) and up by the doors before going over the top of the goods and back down again.

Can I use a refrigerated container to bring things down to temperature?

A refrigerated container is designed to maintain the temperature of the goods placed inside rather than bring the goods down/up to the set point temperature like a blast freezer.

Tomorrow we will deal with some of the more challenging technical questions to do with electricity supply and servicing that some of you seem so keen to know about – our electrician has been relentlessly quizzed and come up with some understandable answers to your questions.

Shipping Container Conversion for the RSPB

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

CS Shipping Containers have been asked to make a shipping container conversion which will provide a workshop and tool store for the RSPB at The Lodge reserve in Sandy.
The 30ft shipping container will help the RSPB by providing a much needed extra facility on their site and proves just how versatile shipping containers can be.

The Reserve Management Team are “really excited to be getting a purpose made workshop at last”. The container conversion will allow the RSPB to maintain chainsaws and brushcutters, mend nest boxes, assemble gates and signs, and store the tools they use to look after 200ha of woodland and heath on the reserve.

If you would like to help them meet their costs, please send a donation made out to RSPB to:
RSPB The Lodge Nature Reserve
The Gatehouse
Potton Road
Sandy,
Beds SG19 2DL

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