Shipping Containers Blog

Posts Tagged ‘used shipping container’

If you are planning to buy a second hand shipping container for storage there are various factors that you should consider prior to purchase.

The most important is whether or not the ex shipping container is guaranteed to be wind and watertight.  Whilst in an ideal world it would be great to be able to inspect the container personally few of us actually have the time to travel to the nearest depot to look at used containers prior to purchase and so a guarantee is crucial.

If you are still concerned and you have an e-mail address it should be possible to get pictures sent so you can see how damaged or dented a shipping container is.  You should ask about the doors and the locking mechanism which vary in quality according to the make of container.

Some people are concerned about the colour of the cargo container, which varies according to the shipping line or manufacturer.  It is usually possible to get the container resprayed to a colour of your choice with dark green seeming to be the most popular colour.

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 have a storage container that is not only extremely secure but has a 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 the steel and wood and turning them into 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!!

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

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 Gustav lost its momentum over the Gulf of Mexico, and ended up being classed as a Tropical Storm instead.  New Orleans survived.

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

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.