Shipping Containers Used for Sale: The Modern Day Building Blocks

It is now common to see the sign: “ Shipping Containers Used for Sale ” as hundreds of thousands of abandoned shipping containers strewn across ports, trucking yards and railroad freight centers around the world .

What use can one make of these abandoned containers? Their uses are legion. Here are just a few of the uses that have been made of these used containers:

- High tech data centers. Both Microsoft and Sun Systems have advertised their portable data centers housed in used shipping containers.

- Construction offices. They’re just the right size for a couple of drafting tables and they are easy to move on and off a construction site.

- Portable art exhibits. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art and other museums are using shipping containers to store and make available for display various community art projects. They are especially popular for outreach to children.

- Museums

- Artist studios

- General purpose offices

- Medical clinics

- Emergency housing

- Cabins and hunting lodges

- Affordable housing

- Upscale housing

- Swimming pools

- Aquatic habitats

- Youth centers

- Shopping centers

- Bars and restaurants

- Snack stands

- Portable restrooms

- Emergency supply depots

- Military training and administration centers

- Military field hospitals

- Military strategic deployment

- Military barracks

- Student housing

- Apartment buildings and condos

- Live/work space

- Classrooms

- Farmers market

- Flea markets

- Septic tanks

- Rocket launchers

Here are some great sites to stimulate the imagination on shipping container uses: sourcejuice.com, containercity.com , notcot.com , firmitas.org.

The uses are so limitless that for many years to come it will be common to see on websites and in newspapers ads that read: “ Shipping Containers Used for Sale .”