Storage and Shipping Containers

Getting your all-important supplies and finished goods to market dry and intact
By Greg Brown What would the world be without the omnipresent shipping container, aka, "the box"? Probably a lot poorer. Shipping containers have taken over world trade, and although industrial and invariably ugly, they do serve a long-needed purpose: total storage container control over goods in transit, come high water or heavy weather.

Working with shipping containers is a matter of shopping according to your company's very specific needs. In this primer on cargo containers, you'll learn:

1. Basic shipping containers types and uses
2. Using a plastic plastic shipping container or storage container to protect goods
3. How thermal and refrigerated cargo containers work
4. Choosing among shipping container manufacturers

Choosing the right shipping containers

These days, most cargo containers for sale must conform to International Standards Organization (ISO) shipping container measurements.
Try:  Cube shipping containers are eight feet wide, eight feet six inches high, and 20 or 40 feet long. Some cube cargo containers for sale are insulated, have flat racks, open tops or can be refrigerated or simply hold tanks for liquid. Shipping and storage container vendors include Cobra, TRS, On-Site Storage, BSL Containers, and Charleston Marine. See additional storage container resources at the Business.com directory for shipping and storage containers.

Shipping containers vary according to industrial need

A storage container known as a flat rack or platform shipping container is open on the sides and can carry heavy machinery. Open top shipping containers carry oversized, heavy cargo and bulk items, like steel pellets, coal, grain or sand.
Try:  For flat-rack shipping containers, consider shipping container manufacturers SCF, Morbridge International and Cave Systems. For a tank shipping container, manufacturers include UBH International, M&S, or the member directory of the shipping container manufacturer trade group, the International Tank Container Organization. Ferguson Seacab is a shipping container manufacturer for open-top shipping containers. Find shipping containers for sale or lease at Business.com.

A plastic shipping container is the choice for fragile or odd-size goods

Before it can go in the big metal box, a lot of items should be packaged separately, often in plastic cargo containers. These are often custom-made shipping containers or designed for specific industries, like agriculture.
Try:  Vendors of custom plastic cargo containers for sale include Orbis, Cisco-Eagle, Rehrig  Pacific and Flexcon. Or take a look at plastic shipping container choices at Business.com.

For sensitive goods, use thermal or refrigerated shipping containers

Shipping containers come with thermal lining for frozen or sensitive goods, like fresh flowers and fish. Such shipping containers are not necessarily refrigerated, but refrigerated shipping containers can be bought or leased as well.
Try:  Most shipping container makers have thermal or refrigerated versions. Some additional vendors of thermal shipping containers include Thermosafe and J.D. Packaging.

• Most shipping companies supply shipping containers for their customers, although there's no guarantee. Increased world trade has squeezed the supply of steel for new shipping containers from shipping container manufacturers.
• Shipping containers are built to international standards in order to accommodate what's known as intermodal -- train, truck or boat -- transport. If the small box shipping container seems too big, time to take out partial space.
• Using a shipping container for storage can be pricey -- unless you buy a used one from a shipping container manufacturer. This can be easier than you might guess. Shipping containers get beat up on long voyages and quickly must be recycled, refurbished or sold off. There's even an architectural movement dedicated to recycling shipping containers for developing-world housing.