About Me


Hi, I'm Michael Ford, owner and creator of this site, Shipping Containers For Sale. I've had over 20 years in the business of international shipping, mostly regarding large container ships. And now my specialty is selling shipping containers themselves. I wanted to create a site that would educate and provide you with the kind of direct and specific information you cannot get anywhere else. I'll post articles and provide images that will help you chart a course through the murky waters of shipping containers and come to port safe and happy. Feel free to ask a question or leave a comment. I'm happy you stopped by.

Posts Tagged ‘used shipping containers’

4 Common Ways to Recycle Used Shipping Containers

Used shipping containers, depending on quality can still be used as storage of products inside the warehouse or for other relevant uses such as for building houses and other living units. According to statistics, there are about 17 million shipping containers in the world today. The quantity of produced shipping containers is still on the raise today. With this, waste is accumulated but there are ways to recycle old shipping containers which are no longer used for shipping in order to help minimize waste. Here are some of the most common ways to recycle used shipping containers.

1. Houses and Hotels
One of the newest adapted trends today for construction firms is the utilization of used shipping containers into new houses and living structures. This is more economical and practical than building new houses made of bricks and other construction materials such as concrete and wood.

Aside from little and cozy houses, hotels can also be built using used shipping containers. Did you know that the first hotel made up of used shipping containers was first build in 2008 in Uxbridge, West London? According to the builders and developers of this hotel. They used 86 used shipping containers to build the hotel and the construction was 25% faster and 10% cheaper than the cost of building a new hotel made of traditional construction materials.

2. Offices and Retail Establishments
If you are familiar with the Seven Kilometer Market in Odessa, Ukraine, you will believe that there are so many ways to recycle used shipping containers. This market is purely made of shipping containers. Another example of a beautiful creation made out of used shipping containers is the Stuttgart shipping container skyscraper. .

3. Museums
The Nomadic Museum in Mexico City is a perfect example that testifies that used shipping containers can be recycled to build museums. The walls of the Nomadic Museums are made of used shipping containers.

4. Children’s Center
Children’s centers can be built from used shipping materials. An Example of this is the Fawood Children’s Center in London.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Used Shipping Containers

Utilizing used shipping containers has it pros and cons. In general, for businesses which are on tight budget, huge savings can be achieved when they purchase used shipping containers. While quality is not as good as the new shipping containers, the used ones can also serve its purpose for storage or transport use. Several advantages and minimal disadvantages are cited in this article for utilizing used shipping containers.

Advantages of Used Shipping Containers:

1. Use as storage
Used shipping containers that can’t be used as transport cargo can be used as storage for products which are waiting for shipping. Nowadays, it is being used in construction sites as storage containers for tools and other important materials and for vendors to use as storage containers for the products they sell.

2. Use as Houses
Today, the new trend in construction firms is to develop shipping containers into more relevant purposes – house building. Shipping containers are often customized in order to install housing elements such as air-conditioning units, windows, doors and other things which will likely make a container home as comfortable as compared to regular houses made of bricks and concrete.

3. Use as Communication Rooms, Control Units, etc.
Shipping containers are not only turned into instant houses but also turned into control rooms or communication rooms or data centers for several organizations. Most of the time, these containers are installed with the latest technology depending on how it will be used and they are being moved in places where it will serve as communication bases. Most common places where these types of shipping containers are found are on battlefields.

There are still other uses of shipping containers which arise from the imaginative mind of creative people because these containers can be turned into cafes, museums, clubs and even hotels.

Disadvantages

There are only few disadvantages of used shipping containers. These includes the issue of durability and the ability to provide the required support for the purposes it will serve since these containers also deteriorate in time. Others say that effort and money are required for the used shipping containers to be cleaned and transported.

The extra expense in repairing these containers is also a disadvantage of utilizing used shipping containers.

Recycling nowadays is what we need especially with the climate change we are currently experiencing. If we recycle at least one used shipping container we have save raw materials to be used in building new ones. Thus, using recycled shipping materials is more advantageous than saying that it has disadvantages.

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