What can you do with shipping containers?
Apart from transporting cargo, a shipping container can be used for various other purposes. They can prove to be effective at places where it is used, provide cost savings, and create a unique space. Let us look at a few of the innovative uses of shipping containers.
Different Uses of Shipping Containers
Schools: In many underdeveloped countries investing in conventional school buildings is not a feasible option. In such countries, containers are being used to build classrooms. These schools can be fitted with solar panels to provide the necessary electricity at a considerably reduced cost.
Restaurants: Intermodal containers are nowadays being used as the base structure in many restaurants and are turning into a fashionable trend.
Custom Homes: You can buy a shipping container and convert it into a spacious home for a significantly lower cost. The container can be customized to make it unique and reflect your personal preferences.
Workshops: If there is a lack of space in your home to develop a workshop or if you want to create a separate studio workshop due to privacy reasons, then containers are an ideal option to establish an additional workplace.
Office Space: Many companies experience lack of space as their business grows. Shipping containers are the right option for meeting such space crunch. Containers can be easily modified to create spacious office buildings.
Portable Toilets: Such containers-turned-toilets prove to be useful during many outdoor events. Their portable nature helps in maintaining sanitary conditions during such events and at other places where permanent toilets cannot be set up. These containers are also utilized at construction sites and can be moved from one construction project to another with relative ease.
Art Galleries: Art galleries are a place to show creativity and one such method can be using a shipping container as an art gallery.
Temporary Shelter: During natural disasters, people get displaced and need temporary shelter. Shipping containers are a good option for such shelter homes due to their sturdy construction and mobile nature.
Vacation Homes: Containers can be easily converted into elegant yet inexpensive vacation homes. These container vacation homes become innovative options to choose from.
Indoor Garden: A shipping container can be converted into an indoor garden or nursery and prove to be a solution for space constraints many homeowners face.
Medical Clinic: Many people live in distant places and reaching a medical clinic from such a location becomes a difficult task. Shipping containers can be transformed into portable medical clinics and medical facilities can easily reach people in remote locations.
Barn: Useful properties of shipping containers make them the preferred choice for barns. These containers are wind and watertight and have fire resistance properties, making them an ideal choice for barns. In places that face severe weather conditions. these containers can be an important inclusion as barns in these locations.
Playgrounds: It is possible to stack containers and with some additions and modifications, stacked containers can be turned into a playhouse for children.
Patio or Deck: The typical material choice for decks is wood, but they tend to degrade fast due to natural conditions. When shipping containers are used, such problems are less worrisome. By customizing a shipping container, you can create a patio or deck with relative ease.
Swimming Pool: Shipping containers can be placed underground to create a swimming pool. Only minor adjustments are required, and your own swimming pool will be ready to use. Normally, containers are 10 to 53 feet in length, and it is possible to add more shipping containers to modify the swimming pool to desired size and depth.
Retail Stores: If you are planning to start a small-scale retail shop or a boutique, then a shipping container can become your storefront. For a new business with budget constraints, a container is a great option. When the business starts growing and space requirement increases, you can easily stack these containers to create extra space.
Seasonal Stores: Large or seasonal retailers often use containers as an extension of their present physical store. Such custom stores have sufficient space to meet the needs of additional customer influx during seasonal sales. Similarly, if the store is only open for a certain number of months then you do not have to rent a storefront for a complete year. For seasonal requirements you would generally need extra space and a container can be the right place to store such additional products.
Coffee Shops: Shipping containers are being used by brewers and coffee distributors as their coffee shop storefront. There are small shops and privately owned firms that require only a small amount of space to serve clients and containers are a suitable option for them. All they require is a storage space, a small area for sitting arrangements and counter space. We found that many well-known brands are also using used containers for setting up their coffee shops.
Workspace: Many businesses have online stores that require space for storing their inventory as well as to meet clients on an occasional basis. The good thing about shipping containers is that you can divide them into different sections. Certain sections can be used as storage space for inventory while others can be utilized as a workspace and for meeting clients.
Summary
To summarize, we will say that shipping containers are an ideal option for many different scenarios. You can use them when you are facing budget and space constraints and when you are looking to do something more innovative and unique.
There is a myriad of possibilities that you can explore and achieve your desired goals. If you are contemplating whether to use shipping containers or not, the details provided can certainly provide some advantages to using them .
