Shipping Containers for Sale: Modification Guide

You are here:

Did you know there are more than five million shipping containers in circulation worldwide? Designed to last in service travelling the world for 5-7 years, they are almost always in great condition for many more years beyond. This is one of the reasons that architects and designers have leapt on them as blank canvases for conversion into a wide range of other things.

In this article we will have a look at the wide variety of extraordinary other uses shipping containers can be converted for, and look at the various issues you’re likely to have to consider to make it possible.

What can you turn them into?

Shipping containers can be modified in a number of different ways, they may be converted into:

Home designs – from a simple shack to a large mansion
House extensions and granny flats
Hotels and apartment blocks
Garages
Offices
Retail spaces
Pop-up public relations units
Storage space with shelving or racks – even for car storage!
… The sky’s the limit!

There are some limitations as to what you can do. Ultimately you are constrained by the idea that the box is a cheap and fast conversion, so too much in the way of conversion can throw the idea in the garbage. That said, we have seen the extraordinary reaches of this constraint here at the Gateway Gazette!

Simple ways of improving a shipping container

Image Source: Inhabitat

You can have your unit altered in small ways or totally overhauled so that it is barely recognisable as a shipping container. Companies that sell second hand containers, like Gateway, are able to modify them in the following ways:

Adding roller doors
Including sliding doors
including refrigerator units
Windows
Increased security on doors
Additional doors
Improved insulation
Mounted air conditioning
Internal shelving
Extra internal fit outs
Whirly birds for cooling
Sign writing and repainting
Electrical wiring
Cutting sides, ceilings or ends off for connecting to another container

What else would you want from a shipping container? Give us a call to discuss your ideas and within reason we’re sure we could help you out.

Reinforcing holes

Image source: Dana Point Times

A shipping container has some basic design features that are expressly built into it for its initial role as a means of carrying cargo efficiently by train, truck and ship around the world. These include:

Strong corners so they can be stacked up to eight high
Waterproof and weatherproof doors
Cor-Ten steel structure to take the abuse from different climates
A weak roof that’s only there to keep the weather out (and dockers/sailors from falling through it!)
Wooden floors that can take up to 27 tonnes of weight

You can’t simply cut a huge hole in and put in a window or a door. That means you need reinforcement to ensure structural rigidity throughout the box to replace the original strength that you cut out. In short, you need to weld in girders around the holes you cut out.

This is why it pays to consult with us about your conversion before simply buying the box and doing it yourself. Here at Gateway Container Sales we have been helping customers with conversions for many years and can both advise on the modification and help you with it without over-engineering the modifications to achieve your goals. The same will apply to internal shelving and racking – we can help you keep it lightweight even while strong enough for it to carry the goods (be it archives or tools) without being too overweight or bulky.

Another thing we can help you with is whether to buy a used or new container. For certain architecture it can be necessary to buy brand new containers for their exact measurements and tolerances as during their careers containers can be bent out of shape.

We look forward to hearing from you!

If you want a shipping container conversion, it pays to speak to the experts. With decades of experience in our team, we at Gateway Container Sales can give you the advice and costings of any shipping container modification you want done. Just give us a shout we’d love to hear from you!