Saw this show this morning. They’re using four containers as part of the house, making the house hurricane-resistant.
Wow, that’s great! Ya figure there are going to be quite a few of those in the near future…
Saw a segment on one of the Discovery channels where some European architects had modified a pile of containers into a multi-unit apartment complex. The interiors looked normal enough (except for huge round windows,) and the brightly-painted exteriors looked like a pile of Lego blocks.
If you tried to do anything similar on this side of the Atlantic the folks who write and administer building codes would go ballistic!
Chuck
I may be mistaken, but recently, I think that there was a show dedicated to using old ocean shipping containers as emergency residences. The had modified, and fully furnished them; the idea being that they could be used, and reused as emergency residences as needed by FEMA. I think that the statement was made that FEMA had not only endorsed this planned usage, but was seriously looking at funding the program for the next calamity where they could be used. But have seen or heard nothing else about this program since.
At about this same time, there was an article[cannot remember where I saw it?] that made the statement that the Chinese could build containers so much cheaper, it was able to build enough of them, that it was unnecessar to actually return all of the used container back to the source for reloading, and this was the reason that there was an overabundance of empties building up at the ports, and other storage locations.
Would be interested if anyone else has better info on this last part. What is the real story?
Well if I can move in and then have myself shipped around the county on regular freight trains then sign me up !!!
Yeah, but getting stuffed into a holding stack in the middle of an industrial complex would get real old, real fast![;)]
[:O] That would suck. I guess I better make sure terminal delays are minimal.[:D]
Hey, as long as they don’t block the door…
Might want to pack a ladder, too, in case you get stuck on top of the pile. Nice view, but a long way to the ground…
I remember someone on the forum posting that - possibly Mark H? Since then I’ve noticed that the aging of the paint on import containers varies considerably, from band spanking new to extremely faded with plenty of rust. That could vary depending on where they were loaded on the ship, but it seems like they make more than one trip. Plan B was to look for build dates on a slow moving double stack, but I never got around to doing that. I don’t doubt that the decision not to return them is made over here, but I don’t know how many trips they make. There are huge piles of them around Chicago, some along the ex-SF Southwest side yards seem like they’re 10 stories high.