I spent a few days as a passenger on a small (800 TEU) freighter that sailed from Rotterdam to Hull and back. From my cabin, I had an excellent view of the loading and discarge of the containers. The voyage itself was really fun and I learned a lot about the vessel herself and how she operated.
I lived in a CLU or Containerized Living Unit while deployed. They were stacked three high with stairs and catwalks connecting them. A lot better than a tent in the heat as they had AC and some had running water.
Speaking of shipping containers what about the humble pallet (and or forklift) and which one came first. both extremely relevant to the shipping container.
To answer a few questions about container use -- containers must be almost perfect to use on ships / if the corner is broken in any way the container will probably be recycled instead of fixed -- and possible contamination from different sides of the pond and different chemicals: A container is inspected on every end. If needed, a container can be used over and over... All wooden floors are removed, the container is sandblasted, then sprayed with high power hoses with a cleaner (like going through a car wash), the the container is inspected for any holes, which are welded and grinded, then all support beams are double welded, the doors and locks are inspected and, if needed, repaired, then, new wooden floors are installed. The end user gets a very clean container before using again. --- if repairs are not worth the cost of a new container, then the container would be sold for reuse for regular companies or for recycling.
The inspection isn't unique to "from overseas." They do the same thing for loads from Canada that came in on the rail. Can't tell you how many times I've had a load cancel on me because the container hadn't been cleared by customs yet from the CN yard in Harvey, IL.......
Then there are the containers which come from places where there's not enough of a market to ship things back to. They get containers manufactured as close as possible delivered, filled with stuff, then shipped off. Since the container isn't going back and there's usually a glut of containers where it arrived, it may get sold off as a 'one trip'. They're nice and clean, usually with no damage beyond a few paint scuffs. They might even have some sort of hardwood floor if softwoods are in short supply where they were made. One trip containers are the best ones for building houses, using as sheds, or for other non-shipping purposes. Then there are several lesser grades as the containers get damaged. For the most part they're acceptable for seagoing use as long as they're "wind and water tight". In other words wind isn't going to blow loose contents out of holes and rain and sea spray won't get inside to damage the contents. The lowest grade is no longer acceptable for any sort of shipping. They either get scrapped or sold of to people who want the lowest price container they can get to use for a shed for storing things that need to have the rain and sun kept off, though they may have some rust holes in the sides, damaged floor boards, and bent door hinges and/or latches.
Shipping containers are super interesting but afrw years ago I ran across an article about what pallets did to shipping. Absolutely insane and interesting. Not only faster to load and unload rail cars but even to the point where Ikea designs products to fit ideally on a pallet.
That very top one is 53'. The blue one is 40'. Size according to the chart is, Red 2 20' , blue 40', gray 45' ,white 48' dark gray 53'. Super cubes or high cubes are 9'6" tall.
You somehow missed one of the biggest reasons for the mass adoption of shipping containers. Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft. I read that it was not uncommon before the era of shipping containers for up to half of products being shipped to somehow mysteriously disappear along the way to their destination.
Well this is still a thing, I heard of a container beeing missing in the port of Rotterdam and over the weeks after loads of people had new Nike trainers.
Nitpick: the arrow when Simon says "30 feet" is pointing at a 53-foot box, the 40-foot is the blue one second from the bottom (and the resd, a pair of 20-footers). For even more detail, I recommend the book "The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger" by Marc Levinson. It's basically the same outline as this video, but goes into detail about all the things Simon spent one sentence on. Like how the contents of a container full of bath toys and another of shoes that fell overboard are helping scientists chart ocean currents.
Hi Simon It would be cool if you would make make a video about the Gautrain. The train project aimed to open for the 2010 FIFA world cup in South Africa. The train links Pretoria and Johannesburg. Its an amazing piece of engineering as a lot of the tracks run on bridges. Absolutely love your channels! Keep it up
You could build a home of the same size for about the same money. Buying the container, shipping it will cost 10k. then you still need to frame and insulate the inside.
The outside of one of the stadiums that will be used for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has actual shipping containers built into its design! It will then be dismantled once the tournament ends. Kudos to the organizers for their innovation and for using a temporary venue, which should be utilized more often.
Im a painting contractor and we just did a whole little division of these containers about 2 an a half years ago. They were double stacked and might would be ok for one person but a couple....it would be prison at home! And don't get me started on the rent smh. Great content Simon and Co.
Well, if a couple should live in a container, they'd each bring thier own box, park it across from one another and build a porch connecting their spaces.
It's not as bad as you might think. I lived on a houseboat with less interior space than most shipping containers with my ex for five years (and the living situation didn't have anything to do with the breakup haha.) It takes a certain sort of relationship to tolerate the complete lack of privacy but if you have that it's not bad at all. I'd describe it as "cozy." When we moved off the houseboat we actually found ourselves almost always staying in the same room because we'd become used to and comfortable with it.
@@extendoduck lmao my wife hates it when I come in the bathroom to ask her something as shes using it lol so I understand what you mean by lack of privacy. But these containers after all was said and done, you know like appliances,shower, and sheetrock was all done... You almost had to turn side ways to go up the stairs to the second floor where the prison shower was right beside the bed lol 1450$ a month. ummm, how about noooo!
@@joeyr7294 Huh, sounds like the space was used less efficiently than on my boat then. For example the shower/bathroom on the boat was a waterproofed room the size of a phone booth with a drain in the floor and a showerhead in the ceiling. The sink doubled as a grab handle and the toilet doubled as a shower seat. Very efficient use of space though not the most comfortable thing in the world. $1450/mo is LUDICROUSLY high though for that amount of space! Where in the world is this?
I was talking to my husband about these a while back and he just cringed. He said there's no way he'd want to convert one into a home after having to live in them while deployed with the Army.
A neat use of containers is moving house interstate. Instead of removalists trucking your house contents to a warehouse, reloading onto a semi, driving it interstate and reversing the process at the other end, some removalists simply have a container on their truck, which they load and drive to the nearest railhead. The container goes interstate by train (much cheaper, better for the environment) and just gets put onto a removalist truck at the other end for delivery. Less manual handling also reduces the risk of damage.
The twist lock is the key to why the shipping container became the standard. There were a few container like standards at the time but they weren't as easy to stack and secure.
Be aware of the tremendous negatives of shipping containers as houses. 1)What was in the container? Toxic substances or waste? 2)Hard to control temps 3)Electrical set up is a costly nightmare. 4)Interior insulation could easily cause condensation and mildew on the metal walls.
To answer a few questions about container use -- containers must be almost perfect to use on ships / if the corner is broken in any way the container will probably be recycled instead of fixed -- and possible contamination from different sides of the pond and different chemicals: A container is inspected on every end. If needed, a container can be used over and over... All wooden floors are removed, the container is sandblasted, then sprayed with high power hoses with a cleaner (like going through a car wash), the the container is inspected for any holes, which are welded and grinded, then all support beams are double welded, the doors and locks are inspected and, if needed, repaired, then, new wooden floors are installed. The end user gets a very clean container before using again. --- if repairs are not worth the cost of a new container, then the container would be sold for reuse for regular companies or for recycling.
@@amandajones661 your description of containers that people buy is not always the case...not by a long shot. Many people get "as is" containers and repair them and clean them. They don't know what's been inside them. And even "professionally cleaned" containers can have lingering amount of toxins in them.
@@horrormike I do agree with you on the "as is" side. The professional home building side or container reuse side should follow the same procedures I outlined. I can't control what people do in their own backyards.
@@horrormike I would disagree about your statement about professional cleaning not getting all the toxins out, but I'm more than open to the discussion of you can give me an example of a situation you can pinpoint this happened.
@@amandajones661 That is true but people see containers as "salvage" much like used furniture or appliances. They dream big of buying one cheap and rehabbing it themselves. A big risk.
Shipping containers are a questionable base for housing (for storage or similar stuff, they are good though), thermal isolation is tricky enough in normal homes. On top of that, any holes you cut into it will weaken the structure, so stacking can be problematic, unless you reinforce them again. And the problem with reinforcing is, at that point it's more effective to just build a metal shed... which completely ruins the cheapness part. And it's not like steel containers are hard to recycle, so the environment factor is also negligible.
Most of the vertical strength is in the corner posts that are always 40 feet apart, except (obviously) for the 20 foot containers. There are types of containers with tops and sides that aren't load bearing at all, and some with no top, sides, or ends. Those are just strong frames with the corner lock points, used for weatherproof items that need the few extra inches of width or height taken up by the corrugations in the metal.
It's not rocket science, but there are strict regulations on how to load containers, then how those containers get loaded onto ships, airplanes, and trains. It's all about weight distribution and also how weight will react once a ship, plane, or train starts swaying.
I got to live in a converted 10x10 shipping container in Afghanistan from '06-'07. Had an AC, small window, bed and lockers. It was my home away from home.
Another way shipping containers lower costs. In a standard cargo ship, it might take a week to load the cargo. Then the ship might sail from say the US to Amsterdam, which takes about 6-8 days. Then it would take another week to unload the ship. Thus, this ship would be sailing only 1/3 of it's life, and spending 2/3 of it tied up at dock. By comparison, a container ship of similar size would take 12 hours to load, 6-8 days of sailing, and 12 hours to unload. So that, instead of sailing 1 day for 2 days loading and unloading, it sails for 8 days and only spends one day total loading and unloading.
Simon, what do you think about Residential Housing built using these "Shipping LEGO" bits? Not all to sure about the Environmental Impact given deterioration, but saves Trees...
They're not small, and they will be affected by the environment. If you decided to make one into a house? 1 you'll definitely try and insulate it. 2. You'd need to power it with a generator, or electrical hookup. 3 no sewage or waste disposal. You have a box to live in, but you have to overcome so many things to validate using it.
Most non-container ships now are bulk cargo types, mainly used for hauling grain though they can haul other loose product like sand, soil, concrete, coal, or ore chunks. Then there are the tanker ships which haul oil, liquefied natural gas, and other products that are most efficient to carry in bulk and can be pumped, augered, or conveyed rapidly into and out of the ship. Fun Fact: There is a bulk freighter named Kobayashi Maru, currently flagged in the Marshall Islands. There are also several ships less imaginatively named Enterprise, of various types. I have to wonder if the owners of the ship are Trekkies and if their first thought was to name it Enterprise, then upon finding out it's common as Sam, decided to use a different Star Trek ship name?
I have seen a few shows where people have built houses from containers & one built a hotel, but there was a lot of work modifying the containers for reasonable comfortable living & just insulating them was a nightmare. As a single unit shed, shelter or site office, they work quite well, but anything larger seems to be a real pain in the ass to retro fit into a livable home & even then you have council regulations & neighbours objections, but in theory it's an interesting idea.
The TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) of a container ship is a theoretical maximum. Max TEU can only be achieved if all the containers are loaded light enough to not exceed the gross tonnage of the ship. If all the containers are loaded to max weight, the total TEU of a ship goes down quite a bit.
Side-Side Project idea: the computer system that keeps track of where all the containers are on a specific ship and to which port they need to be delivered so that they are always easily accessible. Also, maybe a little bit about skills and stresses of being the crane operator.
@D🔧Y Maybe I wasn't clear: the megaproject would be the process of designing the software for tracking the containers. A separate idea was to talk about the stresses of being a crane operator.
The longshoremen fighting like Don Quixote against the development is like the coal-miners complaining nowadays. Or the seamstresses when the sewing machine was invented. A video on disruptive inventions that sent huge amounts of people looking for new jobs would be very interesting, so to document that we always find a way to employ more people in more industries, making more money in the process, and creating a better world overall despite the angst and reactionary impulses in the short run.
it's time to let the shipping Industry go Nuclear. You will be quite suprised how much less pollution will be let out just by replacing the engines of the 50 largest ships. Also the U.S Navy have been using nuclear propulsion nonsubmersible ships since Enterprise left the dock and entered service in 1954 with no major incident involving the propulsion. Russia/sovjet to in some extent but with a less stellar record especially in Icebreakers.
I think the issue is all ship scalable nuclear reactors are from military contractors & contain classified information. Meaning only government owned (or operated) ships could really get these reactors. Not to mention, you really can't cheap out on crew like you normally do, because *mobile nuclear reactor.* The shipping industry is as capitalistic as it gets (see Panama's massive maritime [tax avoiding] fleet), so trying to insert a government regulated ship into that industry is doomed to cost overrun failure. So possible, and definitely beneficial, but held back by regulation.
Who pays to have the container constructed? What is the average lifespan of containers (1 trip or more). And most importantly has anyone ever shipped them selves in a container and had a two week dance party inside?
A container is inspected on every end. If needed, a container can be used over and over... All wooden floors are removed, the container is sandblasted, then sprayed with high power hoses with a cleaner (like going through a car wash), the the container is inspected for any holes, which are welded and grinded, then all support beams are double welded, the doors and locks are inspected and, if needed, repaired, then, new wooden floors are installed. The end user gets a very clean container before using again.
I heard a story one time about a merchant marine in the 50s and the freighters at the time would be in port for days getting loaded and he would go into town a have a blast he hated shipping containers cause the ships got loaded so much faster.
YES! Awesome! (suggested this like a year ago 😁) nothing has changed international trade like these steel boxes! i really hoped for a Megaprojects on these tho!, seen how big of a deal they truly are! As Hamburger, its always impressive to see these container carrying giants floating thru our harbour!
It would have been nice to have mentioned how the shipping container doomed the nuclear powered cargo ship. Only one such vessel was built, the NS Savannah. Unfortunately she came along around 2 to 3 years too soon. Savannah was a soon to be obsolete break bulk ship, the old cargo slings, crates, bags, and barrels style. The idea was that time and money would be saved at every port of call by not having to refuel. But along came the shipping container and ships the same size as Savannah could carry more freight. Any advantages of not needing refueling went away. Her cargo space was further limited by the luxury accommodations for a few passengers. In similar fashion to the giant Great Lakes ore ships (such as the Edmund Fitzgerald) it was (theoretically) possible to book passage on the ship, or (as with the Lakes freighters) the cabins could be used by company executives. With CONEX ships easily beating the port times of NS Savannah, she was retired well before a refueling of the reactor would've been required.
Don't forget that while yes, one container ship having an accident has a huge impact, but containers are so much safer and simpler that overall, the number of tons involved in accidents is dramatically less. The volume would be there regardless of the container. The containers made it safe and affordable. You could argue this increased the volume, but the need still existed. Taking the pandemic as an example: people had to have those goods or they would starve or die of lack of critical goods. There's even evidence that the boredom led to increases in suicides in some areas and cultures. Before shipping containers, it was simply expected that you'd lose large percentages of your goods when traveling over long distances. Siberia and Russia still have this issue with losing half their grain over the long haul (or at least, did when I last studied Russian and trans-Siberian transport; hopefully less by now) because they didn't use containers. So shipping containers have been a huge boon on the environment, not harmed it.
I can see by the stats that most folk aren't as interested in shipping containers. Before lockdown occurred, countries like India and Pakistan became very aware that waste was being shipped to them in large amounts. They increased inspections, costs and paperwork in an effort to curb the culture. This had a knock on effect in many industries but the recycling industry was exposed for what it was. Just shipping the problem to poorer countries. Probably part of the reason our general costs are increasing. We are actually having to recycle it ourselves
Missed one of the best things about the containers. The only one that knows what is in them is the shipper and receiver. There is no packing list for what is in them that the people who move them can see. Is it full of TVs or full of rubber chickens? Nobody in the movement chain knows for sure.
Not entirely true. The carrier must know what they're carrying. (esp. hazardous material) 'tho few _drivers_ care... they just want the weights to be correct. (shippers do, however, lie!) I've seen the systems in use at a few ship yards, and they do have a list of what's in every container. Sure, the crane operator doesn't know what they're moving -- they move thousands of containers a day. The longshoremen don't know what they're tying down. (historically, they're the very ones you never want to know.) The crew on the ship won't know, either. The captain may have that inventory, but there's thousands of containers onboard; unless there's a problem, no one's going to look.
@@jfbeam I see hundreds of them a day at work. Hazmat do have to have bills of lading and placards but the overwhelming majority are only known by the container number by the chain. Those with the clearance do get access to the data base for full packing lists but unless something goes wrong they will never look it up. I know where I work they have to contact the shipping company give them the container number then the shipping company gets it from somewhere. Sucks when a train derails with 300 of them and you never know if something dangerous is spilling out on the side of the tracks. Best one was full of dog food in August in a swamp.
I really thought you would cover the 1,000s of shipping containers (on railcars-trains) that are currently being robbed blind, while sitting outside a major California rail yard. ....that stuff that took 4 months to get to your country, just got stolen or tossed out on the ground. Restart that Amazon order.
They're refilled with other goods and shipped back. They guys across the street from my shop used to do that. They'd fill otherwise empty containers returning to China with cars, furniture, an entire school :-), etc. (the containers come off somewhere in Africa where the contents are unloaded.)
This is a great example of why blue collar worker unions need their powers to be limited. Change is good, and dying practices and industries should never be put on financial life support by governments. Let them die, and let the workers get new jobs. Simple.
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No they are stacked like Duplo, you don't get to advance onto the Lego stacking until your kids are old enough Simon. :)
OGBB!
Please do Operation Noa the Cherbourg project.
I spent a few days as a passenger on a small (800 TEU) freighter that sailed from Rotterdam to Hull and back. From my cabin, I had an excellent view of the loading and discarge of the containers. The voyage itself was really fun and I learned a lot about the vessel herself and how she operated.
Yes, going passenger on a cargo ship is an excellent way of traveling and far more accessible than most people realise.
I lived in a CLU or Containerized Living Unit while deployed. They were stacked three high with stairs and catwalks connecting them. A lot better than a tent in the heat as they had AC and some had running water.
Speaking of shipping containers what about the humble pallet (and or forklift) and which one came first. both extremely relevant to the shipping container.
To answer a few questions about container use -- containers must be almost perfect to use on ships / if the corner is broken in any way the container will probably be recycled instead of fixed -- and possible contamination from different sides of the pond and different chemicals: A container is inspected on every end. If needed, a container can be used over and over... All wooden floors are removed, the container is sandblasted, then sprayed with high power hoses with a cleaner (like going through a car wash), the the container is inspected for any holes, which are welded and grinded, then all support beams are double welded, the doors and locks are inspected and, if needed, repaired, then, new wooden floors are installed. The end user gets a very clean container before using again. --- if repairs are not worth the cost of a new container, then the container would be sold for reuse for regular companies or for recycling.
The inspection isn't unique to "from overseas." They do the same thing for loads from Canada that came in on the rail. Can't tell you how many times I've had a load cancel on me because the container hadn't been cleared by customs yet from the CN yard in Harvey, IL.......
@@OkieOtaku Oh yes!! I totally agree. It's a mess out there.
Then there are the containers which come from places where there's not enough of a market to ship things back to. They get containers manufactured as close as possible delivered, filled with stuff, then shipped off. Since the container isn't going back and there's usually a glut of containers where it arrived, it may get sold off as a 'one trip'. They're nice and clean, usually with no damage beyond a few paint scuffs. They might even have some sort of hardwood floor if softwoods are in short supply where they were made.
One trip containers are the best ones for building houses, using as sheds, or for other non-shipping purposes.
Then there are several lesser grades as the containers get damaged. For the most part they're acceptable for seagoing use as long as they're "wind and water tight". In other words wind isn't going to blow loose contents out of holes and rain and sea spray won't get inside to damage the contents. The lowest grade is no longer acceptable for any sort of shipping. They either get scrapped or sold of to people who want the lowest price container they can get to use for a shed for storing things that need to have the rain and sun kept off, though they may have some rust holes in the sides, damaged floor boards, and bent door hinges and/or latches.
I am seriously impressed with the above and below mentioned comments with the amount of information given.👍
Shipping containers are super interesting but afrw years ago I ran across an article about what pallets did to shipping. Absolutely insane and interesting. Not only faster to load and unload rail cars but even to the point where Ikea designs products to fit ideally on a pallet.
That would make a great video!
That very top one is 53'. The blue one is 40'. Size according to the chart is, Red 2 20' , blue 40', gray 45' ,white 48' dark gray 53'. Super cubes or high cubes are 9'6" tall.
17 year truck driver just about hauled it all.
And if you like me look at the comments mostly after watching the video you can find the reffered image at 7:55
What youll find is colours normally mean nothing, each container company or container manufacturer has there own colour
You somehow missed one of the biggest reasons for the mass adoption of shipping containers. Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft, Theft. I read that it was not uncommon before the era of shipping containers for up to half of products being shipped to somehow mysteriously disappear along the way to their destination.
Well this is still a thing, I heard of a container beeing missing in the port of Rotterdam and over the weeks after loads of people had new Nike trainers.
2:55 - Chapter 1 - History
6:15 - Mid roll ads
7:35 - Chapter 2 - How it works
11:45 - Chapter 3 - Impact
- Chapter 4 -
- Chapter 5 -
- Chapter 6 -
Nitpick: the arrow when Simon says "30 feet" is pointing at a 53-foot box, the 40-foot is the blue one second from the bottom (and the resd, a pair of 20-footers).
For even more detail, I recommend the book "The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger" by Marc Levinson. It's basically the same outline as this video, but goes into detail about all the things Simon spent one sentence on. Like how the contents of a container full of bath toys and another of shoes that fell overboard are helping scientists chart ocean currents.
YEs, just finished The Box. Excellent book.
Hi Simon
It would be cool if you would make make a video about the Gautrain. The train project aimed to open for the 2010 FIFA world cup in South Africa. The train links Pretoria and Johannesburg. Its an amazing piece of engineering as a lot of the tracks run on bridges.
Absolutely love your channels! Keep it up
A video about people turning shipping containers into homes would be good. Or just tiny homes in general.
You could build a home of the same size for about the same money. Buying the container, shipping it will cost 10k. then you still need to frame and insulate the inside.
The outside of one of the stadiums that will be used for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has actual shipping containers built into its design! It will then be dismantled once the tournament ends. Kudos to the organizers for their innovation and for using a temporary venue, which should be utilized more often.
Im a painting contractor and we just did a whole little division of these containers about 2 an a half years ago. They were double stacked and might would be ok for one person but a couple....it would be prison at home! And don't get me started on the rent smh. Great content Simon and Co.
Well, if a couple should live in a container, they'd each bring thier own box, park it across from one another and build a porch connecting their spaces.
It's not as bad as you might think. I lived on a houseboat with less interior space than most shipping containers with my ex for five years (and the living situation didn't have anything to do with the breakup haha.)
It takes a certain sort of relationship to tolerate the complete lack of privacy but if you have that it's not bad at all. I'd describe it as "cozy." When we moved off the houseboat we actually found ourselves almost always staying in the same room because we'd become used to and comfortable with it.
@@extendoduck lmao my wife hates it when I come in the bathroom to ask her something as shes using it lol so I understand what you mean by lack of privacy. But these containers after all was said and done, you know like appliances,shower, and sheetrock was all done... You almost had to turn side ways to go up the stairs to the second floor where the prison shower was right beside the bed lol 1450$ a month. ummm, how about noooo!
@@joeyr7294 Huh, sounds like the space was used less efficiently than on my boat then. For example the shower/bathroom on the boat was a waterproofed room the size of a phone booth with a drain in the floor and a showerhead in the ceiling. The sink doubled as a grab handle and the toilet doubled as a shower seat. Very efficient use of space though not the most comfortable thing in the world.
$1450/mo is LUDICROUSLY high though for that amount of space! Where in the world is this?
@@extendoduck Wilmington NC
Can we please have a follow up to this with either a mega project or side project on the largest cargo ship containers!
I was talking to my husband about these a while back and he just cringed. He said there's no way he'd want to convert one into a home after having to live in them while deployed with the Army.
"Impact" - Something along the lines of **BOOOOOMMMMMMM** methinks, they're hefty things when dropped... :P
My dad worked for Sealand for nearly 40 years, so it's nice to learn a bit more about it. Thanks for the intro to the modern world.
Simon never did examine the effects of severely lowered theft at the ports, one of the main reasons the longshoremen were unhappy with them.
I'd really love to see a video about the Port of NY/NJ. Now that's a megaproject!
Love your topics Simon!
Thank you for the explanation😊
Another interesting subject, I'm thinking at what happened year at the Suez canal to see the disadvantages of that invention.
I love seeing your videos, you are so interesting to see
DHL and Air Freight should come next! Since we're already on the topic of logistics.
A neat use of containers is moving house interstate. Instead of removalists trucking your house contents to a warehouse, reloading onto a semi, driving it interstate and reversing the process at the other end, some removalists simply have a container on their truck, which they load and drive to the nearest railhead. The container goes interstate by train (much cheaper, better for the environment) and just gets put onto a removalist truck at the other end for delivery. Less manual handling also reduces the risk of damage.
The twist lock is the key to why the shipping container became the standard. There were a few container like standards at the time but they weren't as easy to stack and secure.
Be aware of the tremendous negatives of shipping containers as houses. 1)What was in the container? Toxic substances or waste? 2)Hard to control temps 3)Electrical set up is a costly nightmare. 4)Interior insulation could easily cause condensation and mildew on the metal walls.
To answer a few questions about container use -- containers must be almost perfect to use on ships / if the corner is broken in any way the container will probably be recycled instead of fixed -- and possible contamination from different sides of the pond and different chemicals: A container is inspected on every end. If needed, a container can be used over and over... All wooden floors are removed, the container is sandblasted, then sprayed with high power hoses with a cleaner (like going through a car wash), the the container is inspected for any holes, which are welded and grinded, then all support beams are double welded, the doors and locks are inspected and, if needed, repaired, then, new wooden floors are installed. The end user gets a very clean container before using again. --- if repairs are not worth the cost of a new container, then the container would be sold for reuse for regular companies or for recycling.
@@amandajones661 your description of containers that people buy is not always the case...not by a long shot. Many people get "as is" containers and repair them and clean them. They don't know what's been inside them. And even "professionally cleaned" containers can have lingering amount of toxins in them.
@@horrormike I do agree with you on the "as is" side. The professional home building side or container reuse side should follow the same procedures I outlined. I can't control what people do in their own backyards.
@@horrormike I would disagree about your statement about professional cleaning not getting all the toxins out, but I'm more than open to the discussion of you can give me an example of a situation you can pinpoint this happened.
@@amandajones661 That is true but people see containers as "salvage" much like used furniture or appliances. They dream big of buying one cheap and rehabbing it themselves. A big risk.
1:13 GOD LEVEL SARCASM!!! His face after that sentence🤣🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭
Why does this feel like the longest commercial that i decided to watch and enjoyed watching?
Shipping containers are a questionable base for housing (for storage or similar stuff, they are good though), thermal isolation is tricky enough in normal homes. On top of that, any holes you cut into it will weaken the structure, so stacking can be problematic, unless you reinforce them again.
And the problem with reinforcing is, at that point it's more effective to just build a metal shed... which completely ruins the cheapness part. And it's not like steel containers are hard to recycle, so the environment factor is also negligible.
Most of the vertical strength is in the corner posts that are always 40 feet apart, except (obviously) for the 20 foot containers. There are types of containers with tops and sides that aren't load bearing at all, and some with no top, sides, or ends. Those are just strong frames with the corner lock points, used for weatherproof items that need the few extra inches of width or height taken up by the corrugations in the metal.
It's not rocket science, but there are strict regulations on how to load containers, then how those containers get loaded onto ships, airplanes, and trains. It's all about weight distribution and also how weight will react once a ship, plane, or train starts swaying.
And yet people ignore those rules and mis-load containers all the time. Loads shifting is a big, common problem.
@@jfbeam I totally agree.
I got to live in a converted 10x10 shipping container in Afghanistan from '06-'07. Had an AC, small window, bed and lockers. It was my home away from home.
Another way shipping containers lower costs. In a standard cargo ship, it might take a week to load the cargo. Then the ship might sail from say the US to Amsterdam, which takes about 6-8 days. Then it would take another week to unload the ship. Thus, this ship would be sailing only 1/3 of it's life, and spending 2/3 of it tied up at dock.
By comparison, a container ship of similar size would take 12 hours to load, 6-8 days of sailing, and 12 hours to unload. So that, instead of sailing 1 day for 2 days loading and unloading, it sails for 8 days and only spends one day total
loading and unloading.
i never progressed with all my goals in quarantine
thanks for making me remember it
Other, future, "out-of-box" impacts of shipping containers. Bet you didn't expect us to catch that one.
Simon, what do you think about Residential Housing built using these "Shipping LEGO" bits?
Not all to sure about the Environmental Impact given deterioration, but saves Trees...
They don't deteriorate any more than a regularly built house would. Proper maintenance, they can last over 100 years
They're not small, and they will be affected by the environment. If you decided to make one into a house? 1 you'll definitely try and insulate it. 2. You'd need to power it with a generator, or electrical hookup. 3 no sewage or waste disposal.
You have a box to live in, but you have to overcome so many things to validate using it.
Saves trees? Not really. Houses built using these... require much modification. Modification often using wood.
Most non-container ships now are bulk cargo types, mainly used for hauling grain though they can haul other loose product like sand, soil, concrete, coal, or ore chunks. Then there are the tanker ships which haul oil, liquefied natural gas, and other products that are most efficient to carry in bulk and can be pumped, augered, or conveyed rapidly into and out of the ship.
Fun Fact: There is a bulk freighter named Kobayashi Maru, currently flagged in the Marshall Islands. There are also several ships less imaginatively named Enterprise, of various types. I have to wonder if the owners of the ship are Trekkies and if their first thought was to name it Enterprise, then upon finding out it's common as Sam, decided to use a different Star Trek ship name?
last time I was this early, simon only had 10 channels
Can you do a part 2? I want to know more
I have seen a few shows where people have built houses from containers & one built a hotel, but there was a lot of work modifying the containers for reasonable comfortable living & just insulating them was a nightmare. As a single unit shed, shelter or site office, they work quite well, but anything larger seems to be a real pain in the ass to retro fit into a livable home & even then you have council regulations & neighbours objections, but in theory it's an interesting idea.
The TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) of a container ship is a theoretical maximum. Max TEU can only be achieved if all the containers are loaded light enough to not exceed the gross tonnage of the ship. If all the containers are loaded to max weight, the total TEU of a ship goes down quite a bit.
Good video 👍
Side-Side Project idea: the computer system that keeps track of where all the containers are on a specific ship and to which port they need to be delivered so that they are always easily accessible.
Also, maybe a little bit about skills and stresses of being the crane operator.
@D🔧Y Maybe I wasn't clear: the megaproject would be the process of designing the software for tracking the containers. A separate idea was to talk about the stresses of being a crane operator.
It's interesting to see how this treatment compares to the one from It Could Happen Here in the episode on "Why Our Supply Chains Suck"
The longshoremen fighting like Don Quixote against the development is like the coal-miners complaining nowadays. Or the seamstresses when the sewing machine was invented. A video on disruptive inventions that sent huge amounts of people looking for new jobs would be very interesting, so to document that we always find a way to employ more people in more industries, making more money in the process, and creating a better world overall despite the angst and reactionary impulses in the short run.
Has Simon got a new air fryer??🤔🤣
maybe Philips is the real sponsor of this video 😉
it's time to let the shipping Industry go Nuclear.
You will be quite suprised how much less pollution will be let out just by replacing the engines of the 50 largest ships.
Also the U.S Navy have been using nuclear propulsion nonsubmersible ships since Enterprise left the dock and entered service in 1954 with no major incident involving the propulsion.
Russia/sovjet to in some extent but with a less stellar record especially in Icebreakers.
I think the issue is all ship scalable nuclear reactors are from military contractors & contain classified information. Meaning only government owned (or operated) ships could really get these reactors. Not to mention, you really can't cheap out on crew like you normally do, because *mobile nuclear reactor.* The shipping industry is as capitalistic as it gets (see Panama's massive maritime [tax avoiding] fleet), so trying to insert a government regulated ship into that industry is doomed to cost overrun failure.
So possible, and definitely beneficial, but held back by regulation.
Who pays to have the container constructed? What is the average lifespan of containers (1 trip or more). And most importantly has anyone ever shipped them selves in a container and had a two week dance party inside?
A container is inspected on every end. If needed, a container can be used over and over... All wooden floors are removed, the container is sandblasted, then sprayed with high power hoses with a cleaner (like going through a car wash), the the container is inspected for any holes, which are welded and grinded, then all support beams are double welded, the doors and locks are inspected and, if needed, repaired, then, new wooden floors are installed. The end user gets a very clean container before using again.
@@amandajones661 thank you for that great answer!
LOL McLeen...silly Simon.
There is a shipping container mall in Christchurch, NZ built after the 2011 earthquake.
I heard a story one time about a merchant marine in the 50s and the freighters at the time would be in port for days getting loaded and he would go into town a have a blast he hated shipping containers cause the ships got loaded so much faster.
The hardest part of two weeks to flatten the curve, is the first two years.
If anyone follows Simon's podcasts, there's 3 new ones up
Need a shipping container just to watch all of Simon's videos.
I thought you were going to talk about the trade imbalance, and that excess shipping containers in North America are used for other purposes.
YES! Awesome! (suggested this like a year ago 😁)
nothing has changed international trade like these steel boxes!
i really hoped for a Megaprojects on these tho!, seen how big of a deal they truly are!
As Hamburger, its always impressive to see these container carrying giants floating thru our harbour!
2.5 minutes in and he finally gets on topic.
It would have been nice to have mentioned how the shipping container doomed the nuclear powered cargo ship. Only one such vessel was built, the NS Savannah. Unfortunately she came along around 2 to 3 years too soon. Savannah was a soon to be obsolete break bulk ship, the old cargo slings, crates, bags, and barrels style.
The idea was that time and money would be saved at every port of call by not having to refuel. But along came the shipping container and ships the same size as Savannah could carry more freight. Any advantages of not needing refueling went away. Her cargo space was further limited by the luxury accommodations for a few passengers. In similar fashion to the giant Great Lakes ore ships (such as the Edmund Fitzgerald) it was (theoretically) possible to book passage on the ship, or (as with the Lakes freighters) the cabins could be used by company executives.
With CONEX ships easily beating the port times of NS Savannah, she was retired well before a refueling of the reactor would've been required.
Arghh.. surfshark? We need a post Valentines update on how well Under Lucky Stars went with your wife!
Closure Factboy 😜
“Pallet wide” containers go wider than 8’
Based on the title, I had excepted the last part (Maybe a part 2) on the fact they are turned into homes and other buildings.
Comercial ends at 7:28
with the container came the standard EU pallet :)
yeet on yeet off
Don't forget that while yes, one container ship having an accident has a huge impact, but containers are so much safer and simpler that overall, the number of tons involved in accidents is dramatically less. The volume would be there regardless of the container. The containers made it safe and affordable. You could argue this increased the volume, but the need still existed. Taking the pandemic as an example: people had to have those goods or they would starve or die of lack of critical goods. There's even evidence that the boredom led to increases in suicides in some areas and cultures.
Before shipping containers, it was simply expected that you'd lose large percentages of your goods when traveling over long distances. Siberia and Russia still have this issue with losing half their grain over the long haul (or at least, did when I last studied Russian and trans-Siberian transport; hopefully less by now) because they didn't use containers. So shipping containers have been a huge boon on the environment, not harmed it.
Used to work with a guy who saw what happens when you mistake two 30ft containers for a 60ft. That was a lot of almond rocca.
What fate almond rocca?
I can see by the stats that most folk aren't as interested in shipping containers.
Before lockdown occurred, countries like India and Pakistan became very aware that waste was being shipped to them in large amounts. They increased inspections, costs and paperwork in an effort to curb the culture.
This had a knock on effect in many industries but the recycling industry was exposed for what it was. Just shipping the problem to poorer countries.
Probably part of the reason our general costs are increasing. We are actually having to recycle it ourselves
4:51 Barrraaaals! ;-)
malcolm mclean was a feckin rock star!
That’s certainly a lot of flatulent Japanese if they all ate those beans. =)
Nowadays, the containers are also being converted into "ready-made" swimming pools.
A Connex box as I call them. Can be a home, weapons dump or get your crappy Chinese made things to your hands.
My two best friends from highschool are McLeans airs.
Live in the pod, eat the bugs
How many times did Simon say sack
Missed one of the best things about the containers. The only one that knows what is in them is the shipper and receiver. There is no packing list for what is in them that the people who move them can see. Is it full of TVs or full of rubber chickens? Nobody in the movement chain knows for sure.
Not entirely true. The carrier must know what they're carrying. (esp. hazardous material) 'tho few _drivers_ care... they just want the weights to be correct. (shippers do, however, lie!)
I've seen the systems in use at a few ship yards, and they do have a list of what's in every container. Sure, the crane operator doesn't know what they're moving -- they move thousands of containers a day. The longshoremen don't know what they're tying down. (historically, they're the very ones you never want to know.) The crew on the ship won't know, either. The captain may have that inventory, but there's thousands of containers onboard; unless there's a problem, no one's going to look.
@@jfbeam I see hundreds of them a day at work. Hazmat do have to have bills of lading and placards but the overwhelming majority are only known by the container number by the chain. Those with the clearance do get access to the data base for full packing lists but unless something goes wrong they will never look it up. I know where I work they have to contact the shipping company give them the container number then the shipping company gets it from somewhere. Sucks when a train derails with 300 of them and you never know if something dangerous is spilling out on the side of the tracks. Best one was full of dog food in August in a swamp.
At the upper lengths, there's the 53 footers that are widely used in North America
I really thought you would cover the 1,000s of shipping containers (on railcars-trains) that are currently being robbed blind, while sitting outside a major California rail yard. ....that stuff that took 4 months to get to your country, just got stolen or tossed out on the ground. Restart that Amazon order.
Deployment to Iraq in 2005, and 2009, shipping containers became living quarters.
👍👍👍👍👍😀
I asked for this and I got it.
Liquid ethanol, as opposed to what?
Suggestion: barcodes
Certainly revolutionised stock taking
Who else thinks Simon must have recently acquired an air fryer?
Mr. Malcolm did some McLean work back then.
Would they fit in a starship?
Give me convenience or give me death.
der tuk ur jeeeeeeewwb!~
Simon, i don't want to be nagging, but, casual criminalist notebook/diary.
Is it ready yet?
They are a terrible idea! Can't be properly insulated. Your heating and A/C bill will be expensive
Day to day routines of life...
Google “container home Hamilton Ontario”. There is a cool one here in my city.
My mans said "Evergiven" lol.
SHIPPING OUT COMMENTS NOW!
How do the containers get back to the 'goods' country to be refilled? No one wants to travel with an empty load cos it's not economical.
They're refilled with other goods and shipped back. They guys across the street from my shop used to do that. They'd fill otherwise empty containers returning to China with cars, furniture, an entire school :-), etc. (the containers come off somewhere in Africa where the contents are unloaded.)
@@jfbeam Yeah. But (I'm in the UK) we export far fewer goods to China, for argument's sake. So we must have loads of empty containers somewhere.
It really bothers me that it's not in Metric >.
Was there really the need for all the c 19 rubbish at the start Simon?
Internet shopping did exist before 2020!
Obviously, he was just having fun and setting the scene for the video. Relax.
his leg is crossed...
This is a great example of why blue collar worker unions need their powers to be limited. Change is good, and dying practices and industries should never be put on financial life support by governments. Let them die, and let the workers get new jobs.
Simple.
The trouble being a serious deficit of unskilled labor required by developed countries.