Insulation, refrigeration and the container. What is best for you?

Refrigerator 40' container

So you want a container.  You know it needs to be insulated, but what exactly will fit your needs?  Containers come in two styles – standard shipping container and refrigerator (reefer) containers.  Here are some general rules of thumb that might be helpful.

1)      Refrigerator containers are ideal when you need to store items at a particular temperature year round and you have a power source to run the container.  They are considerably more expensive than standard containers, which may play a role in your decision-making.

Inside refrigerator container

2)      If you are storing general items, the standard containers are great.  Standard containers are used around the world, year round for transporting the vast majority goods manufactured year round.

3)      If you are modifying the container, standard containers are much preferred to refrigerator containers.  Refrigerator containers have loose insulation between two walls, which makes modifications a huge headache.  Also, if you are using the container for living space, you will be very disappointed with a refrigerator container floor.  They are grooved to drain any liquid away from items being stored.  While that is great if the container isn’t plugged in and you are storing ice cream.  It is not as great if you want to live in the container.

Inside used 40'

One other consideration for those who are modifying containers – if you plan on adding electricity or plumbing, you will want to insulate the container once you have added those and done all your modifications.

If you still have questions about which is the right one for you, please call us and we can discuss your needs further.

What Container Glut? Why container prices are not what you think.

If you are looking for a container and it has been a couple of years since you (or your buddy) bought one, you may be going through a bit of sticker shock.  It is not your imagination.  Container prices are at an all-time high right now.

Full container yard summer of 2010

So what happened to that oversupply of containers and the container prices you were hoping for?   The promises you have heard of free containers being handed out at the ports?  The dream of a “cheap, used, battered up container for next to nothing”?  A couple of things have happened:

A)       When the economy tanked in 2008, shipping lines took ships off the water.  There was less demand, so this made sense.  But then they had containers all over the world and had to pay storage on those containers.  So they sold them.  If you bought a container in early 2009 or before, pricing was great!  Containers were plentiful and wonderful!  But then they ran out.  With fewer ships moving, containers being sold, the oversupply turned into a shortage.

Same yard empty in December 2010

B)      Meanwhile, fewer new containers were being built.  Due to many factors between the container manufacturers, steel providers, shipping lines and many others, fewer new containers were manufactured in 2008-2010.  This means as that shipping lines were selling off their existing equipment, they were not replenishing it.

C)      More people want containers.  Containers are wonderful!  They can be used for so many things from basic storage to housing.  You really are only limited by your imagination for the possible uses of containers.  With all these new uses, came increased demand worldwide.

Containers pass through a port

D)      The economy picked up.  At least in shipping.  The shipping lines have been increasing their number of ships on the water.  That is great news!  Except if you want a container.  Since there were fewer containers out there in the shipping lines’ fleets, and higher demand, they sold far fewer than normal.  Which means the supply doesn’t meet the demand for used containers.

E)      The end result – prices increased from 2009 through now.  While the shipping lines and leasing lines are increasing their fleets, containers are being made and things will even out again, there still are not as many containers available as there once were.  This has driven the price of containers up.  All industry projections indicate that they will stay this way for some time to come as the situation did not happen overnight, nor can it change back overnight.

But I see a ton of containers when I drive by the port or rail yard!

Containers waiting to be loaded

Yes, you do.  But that doesn’t mean they are available for sale.  The shipping lines and leasing lines use those containers for shipping goods overseas.  Containers are used over and over again throughout their life cycle.  You are probably seeing containers either full of goods about to be shipped somewhere or coming in from somewhere, or you are seeing the empty containers being prepped to be filled and shipped out.

Inventor of the container twist-lock dies at 92

Keith W. Tantlinger invented a very small thing that had a very big impact.  He invented the twist-lock corner to containers. This simple device allows containers to be stacked and locked together on ships or locked down onto a truck.

Container Corner

While that doesn’t seem like inventing fire, it has had an enormous impact on all of our lives.  By creating an efficient way to stack containers that can be loaded in one location, sent by truck or rail to a port, shipped overseas, travel by truck or rail to a destination – all without unloading the container – opened new possibilities.  It opened the door to globalization.

So when you enjoy food from across the globe, find imported goods at a reasonable rate, or export goods overseas, that was made possible by one small invention that revolutionized the shipping industry.

Mr. Tantlinger invented the corner casting and twist locks in the 1950′s.  He passed away on Aug. 29, 2011.

For more information, please click here for more information.  Also, click here for more coverage on Mr. Tantlinger.

Mobile Container Structures

La Boite cafe at sunset

Containers move.  Containers make great, green, building blocks.  But what about containers making great, gree building blocks that move?  Well, for those of you who want to take your container building on the road, we have some ideas for you!

La Boite's open design

Container Café

Austin, TX is known for doing things their own way and food trailers, enter a great combination of both – La Boite café.  It is a movable restaurant made from a 20’ container.  The café incorporates green practices, down to the spray insulation in the container.  Not only is it a fun, clean design, they have really maximized the space available to them to make an inviting café.  Check out these links for pictures of how they made the café, what it looks like now and more information on the spray insulation.  Spray insulation is a great option when using building with containers.  The insulation can get into the corrugation to provide extra insulation throughout and is also a great way to control the r-factor of the insulation without having to give up interior space in the container.

Micro-living

Cargotecture in Menlo Park

HyBrid Architecture’s Cargotecture series is a wonderful example of micro-living.  Bringing designs down to smaller sized structures idea for remote areas such as cabins, backyard retreats or offices or anywhere you want to have a temporary or permanent structure.  They were recently in the news for partnering up with Sunset to become Sunset’s Cargotecture^® home.  HyBrid is really doing things right with these efficient designs that can are mobile, easy to install and come in a range of sizes to fit various budgets and needs.

Mobile Wildlife Clinic

Dwyer Technical Services designed a wildlife heath care for Massey University.  The unit is made from a 40’ container and is a mobile unit that can move to where oil spills affect wildlife.  The mobility allows experts to reach wildlife quickly and onsite, making it that much easier to help animals in need.  Dwyer Technical Services announced  their first international export – to Maritime New Zealand, where a similar unit will help Australian wildlife.

Container Shortages Predicted to Last All Year

In a recent article by JOC Sailings, a leading maritime news provider for the cargo transport industry, this week, container shortages are expected to continue at least through the year.

Full container yard summer of 2010

Various factors are contributing to this shortage – shipping lines selling off containers during the recession, container manufacturers producing more refrigerator and specialty containers than standard containers and an increase on new container prices.

Same yard empty in December 2010

In 2009, shipping lines sold off older equipment as they had lower demands due to the worldwide recession.  At the same time, more orders for specialty containers pushed out production of standard containers.  The result is a box-inventory-to-vessel capacity ratio that is predicted to be a 1.99 by the end of the year, down from the 2000 ration of 2.99.

What does this mean for the container buyer – plan in more time to get a container as containers simply are not as plentiful as they once were.  And the law of supply and demand is driving the price of containers up.  Containers are still a great value even at their higher rates for the quality and versatility they offer.

Read the article here:  Carriers Face Renewed Container Shortage

The Latest Celebrity – Containers

Disney's TRON home

Containers are making a splash in movies lately.  Sure, they have always been a great backdrop for dangerous encounters “down at the docks” for that renegade cop who is solving the latest mystery.  But lately, containers are coming more into their own.  The latest cameo is in TRON: Legacy.

Interior of Disney's TRON home

In TRON: Legacy, Sam Flynn, son of the creator of TRON, lives in a home made from containers.  Disney went with a distressed-industrial look for the home which opens up for a spectacular view of Vancouver for a critical conversation in the movie.  According to Jetson Green :

“The shipping container house style was chosen because [director Joseph Kosinski] and our production designer, Darren Gilford, couldn’t find a house for Sam Flynn in Vancouver with suitable architecture and as designers both were interested in retro-fitted shipping containers as living spaces”

20th Century Fox's A Team

It is nice to see container architecture getting a nod.  They are a great green option for unique building materials.

Containers were almost extras in 20^th Century Fox’s A-Team. After hijacking a container delivery, the team has to prove their innocence.  The finale is at the LA Port where the A Team uses containers in order to prove their innocence, but not before many containers are destroyed.

20th Century Fox's A Team

Even the small screen is getting in on the action.  On TNT’s Leverage, one episode was centered on tracking a container full of cash. (See link below)  Despite being safe storage options, particularly with the lockbox on the containers in this clip, Super Cubes does not recommend storing large quantities of cash in containers.

TNTs Leverage The Homecoming Job

Containers long have been a backdrop for movies, but it is nice to see they are finally getting their close-up.  I wonder how they would show up in a fluffy romantic comedy–maybe a couple on the run from the law will hide in a container used for farm storage or spend a weekend in a container home on the beach. When that happens, you’ll be sure to read about it here.

What size container do you need? 5 Questions help you figure it out.

You know you need a lot of dry, safe storage, but just how much is enough?  Ask yourself these questions and you’ll know:

1)      How much stuff do you have? Size up what you actually need to store.  The most common sizes of containers are :

20’ – 20’ x 8’ x 8’6” – or 1,169 cubic feet
40’ standard – 40’ x 8’ x 8’6” – or 2,385 cubic feet
40’ high cube – 40’ x 8’ x 9’6” – or 2,690 cubic feet

High cubes are nice if you are thinking about living in a container.  The internal height of a standard container is 7’8.5”, and a high cube is 8’8.5”.  Over time, you will feel that height difference.

Do one of these seem like enough to fit what you have?  If not, think about specialty sizes, but keep in mind that the cost on those containers adds up – bigger, more specialized trucks are required to deliver them and they may have to come from further away.

Used 20'

2)      Are you going to move the container around? If the answer to this is yes, think small.  A 20’ container weighs 5,000 pounds when it is empty, but is still small enough and light enough to be mobile.  20’ containers can be moved on a variety of trucks and even when they are full, can be moved by very heavy duty forklifts.

Once you jump up to a 40’ container, you will need a larger truck for moving it and when they are full, you will need a crane to lift the container on and off the truck.  Cranes mean money.  So even if you need the space of 40’s, think about 20’s.

3)       Are you going to ship the container overseas? If yes, even though the container is moving around, think about the 40’ or the 40’ high cube.  Usually there is a minimal extra cost to the larger size and you get to send more per cubic foot.  However, the delivery issues listed above still apply.  To get around this, most freight forwarders will pick up your container from a depot, bring it to you for loading, you load it while it stays on the truck, then they deliver it to the rail or port to ship.

40' container on a truck

4)      Do you have enough space to accommodate the size you want? Containers are delivered on tilt-bed trucks when you ask for ground-level delivery.  This means that the truck will back into the spot you want the container.  The back of the truck tips down and there is a winch on the truck to lower the container off of the bed of the truck and start setting it on the ground.  Then the driver pulls forward and finished setting the container on the ground with the winch.  All of this works beautifully – if you have enough space.  For a 40’ container, you will generally need 110-120’ of a straight, relatively flat area.  For a 20’ – 100’.  And don’t forget that the truck has to get to that spot.  Make sure you think about how the driver will pull in and pull out of your site.  Think about how firm and flat the ground is because delivering a container involves more physics than driving a truck across a ground.

Used 45' container

5)      Do you still need more or less space? If you need more space, there are larger containers – 45’, 48’ and 53’ containers.  They are not available in all markets and require larger trucks than 40’s, so be prepared for additional costs.

10' with roll door added

If you need less space, containers can be cut down for an additional fee.  Generally this process will add an extra $2000 dollars and the containers will still be delivered on the same truck.

If course this won’t answer everyone’s question on sizes.  Give us a call if you want to discuss it further!

Container Delivery Basics: Tilt-Bed, Flat-Bed, or Chassis

So OK, you’ve found the steel container you need, but how do you get the massive thing delivered?  Here’s a guide to the three standard container delivery methods.

Tilt-Bed Delivery

Tilt-bed Landoll trailer with container

A tilt-bed is the most popular delivery option, either with a straight truck or a tractor-trailer combo. The truck will back right into the place you want your container, the trailer will tip down, and a winch will lower one end of the container to the ground. Then the truck will pull forward as the winch lowers the other container end.

Pros: Your container is slid to the ground right where you want it.

Cons: Generally more expensive than other methods. While these trucks can pick up a lightly loaded 20’ container, they cannot pick up loaded 40’ containers at all.

Flat-Bed Delivery

Container on Flatbed

Trucks with a long flat bed can hold either one 40’ container or up to two 20’ containers. A forklift or crane will set your container on the truck at the beginning of the trip and lift it off when it reaches your site.

Pros: Because your container will be loaded onto a truck that also carries other cargo, flat-bed delivery is a low-cost alternative, especially when the container needs to travel long distances.

Cons: You need to make sure equipment is available to load and unload your container.

Chassis Delivery

Container Chassis

Pulled by a trailer, a chassis is a metal frame with wheels designed to carry containers securely. Shipping lines use them (along with special fork-lifts) to bring containers to customers for loading and unloading. If you ship cargo overseas, this is usually how the container will arrive.

Pros: Low-cost way to move a container. The tractor disconnect easily from the chassis, which gives added flexibility if you need some time to load and don’t want the driver to have to wait. In some cases, chassis are the only delivery means acceptable to ports or rail lines.

Cons: You must load the container while it stays on the chassis or have some means of lifting the container on and off the chassis. When a container is on a chassis, it is dock height. Lifting a 40’ steel container on a chassis requires a crane.

Your best delivery option will depend in part on how you will use your container. Talk it over with your container vendor or shipping agent. As always, Super Cubes is happy to offer friendly advice geared to your needs.

Moving Overseas? How about Shipping Overseas?

Are you leaving for an extended stay overseas?  Do you want to ship items overseas?  Shipping is easier than you think.  Shipping lines will move a cargo container from anywhere in the United States to your destination.  Containers provide much more space than mailing goods overseas.  Whether you are on assignment overseas, or want to send items back home again, containers are an efficient way to move large quantities of goods from one country to another.

But how easy is it for an individual or non-profit?  Easy!

The first decision you need to make is if you want the container that moves your items to stay at its destination, or if you want to give it back to the shipping line when you are done with your move.  For many individuals and non-profits, having extra storage space at the destination makes more sense.  Super Cubes LLC can sell you a container and provide all the necessary certification to ship the container overseas.  If you need help bringing the container to your location for loading and then bringing it to the closest port or rail location to ship the container, we can help with that too!

If you are simply trying to get goods from point A to point B, the shipping lines will provide you with a container to use.

Super Cubes will help you coordinate with your shipping line and freight forwarder to make sure the process goes smoothly.

Once the container arrives at its destination, you have built-in storage right onsite!