Tuesday, January 23, 2024
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Standardized metal containers have been facilitating international trade since the 1950s, but thanks to the creativity of some entrepreneurs and that it’s become possible to reuse their materials, they can have a longer service life
By Tomás Muñoz M.
Thousands of ships sail around the world's oceans, carrying millions of maritime containers. According to Alphaliner, a website specialized in information related to this sector, about 30 million units are being transported at any given time of the day, although some estimates raise this figure to more than 50 million. We can understand why these huge figures exist if we remember that the international market lives in a world where physical barriers are no longer an issue. That's why today, everyone from multinational companies to small businesses and ordinary citizens can buy and sell products from just around the corner or on the other side of the globe at the click of a button.
Most of the goods being traded and shipped are stacked inside so-called intermodal shipping containers, also known as ISO containers because they comply with the International Organization for Standardization's 668 standard. The design was developed by U.S. entrepreneur Malcolm McLean and based on certain transportation methods used in World War II. As such, in the 1950s McLean revolutionized world trade thanks to these tanks or containers that not only protect goods from the weather, but also make it easier to manage small parts, making theft more difficult, providing stability, and also contributing to reducing transport times, among many other advantages.
The containers have a service life of about ten years, after which they are destroyed to recycle their materials and turn them into scrap. However, in recent decades, there has been a growing trend to use these containers for very different purposes, thus achieving the second "R" of the circular economy: reuse. Over the years, some uses that have become popular include housing, offices, swimming pools, schools, or even farming. There are companies in Spain that specialize in recovering containers so that they can give them a new lease on life. Remarkable examples can be found that put this into practice. Such is the case of Zona Base, a project that’s using 60 containers to erect a modern office building that will house Incubazul’s high-tech incubator, in the Cadiz Free Trade Zone.
The studio in charge of making this happen is Carquero Arquitectura, and the firm's leading architects pointed out that "the choice of this construction system is directly based on what’s known as the blue economy, that is, the economy that’s linked to the sustainable development of the sea," stated Carlos Quevedo. "For this reason," continued the expert, "we've been recovering sea containers since the beginning of the project. Due to the characteristics of this material, our first mission is to accept or reject each part after a thorough analysis to avoid major structural issues."
The building will be four stories high and will include offices, coworking spaces, training rooms, an outdoor meeting space, workshops, meeting rooms, apartments, a cafeteria, and administration offices. "Collaboration is a key part of all these activities. For this reason, the rich array of resources offered by this space will allow common elements to be moved around, with the aim of creating a network of connections," explained Quevedo. "At the same time, we wanted to create an energy-autonomous building. We see the project almost as an urban acupuncture initiative, because of all the synergies and social ecology it can bring about in terms of sustainability," he said.
Homes in La Palma for volcano victims
One of the companies that’s taking reusing shipping containers to the next level is MyBox Experience, a small Galician company that, in addition to housing, has undertaken projects as unique as a bus station, structures for vertical agriculture, music studios, and mobile spaces for different uses. During the pandemic, its containers were used to expand classrooms in some schools to ensure safety distances, and they’ve more recently been used as a structure to build the highest interconnected swimming pools in Europe, located in the Ohai resort in Nazaré, Portugal. "We adapt to any idea the client asks for," said David González Rey, co-founder of the firm.
They’re so skilled at adaptation that, with the metal containers rescued by David and his team, the Canary Islands Government was able to build one hundred homes in La Palma in record time to solve part of the emergency generated by the volcano eruption. "We were commissioned to build as quickly as possible and, given that a factory can churn out one house a day, we more than met the target. These are two- and three-bedroom homes that are currently providing people with very decent housing, as they’re good quality and comply with all the regulations," he said.
The next challenge MyBox Experience has received is to build a 15,000 m2 industrial building in Orense. "It’ll be the first site of its kind in the world. The building will be three stories high and will have a green roof and solar panels to make it more efficient. In addition, it will make use of rainwater and will be fully integrated into the natural environment. It’s a very unique project that we're really excited about," said the co-founder of the firm. He also pointed out that these types of orders "allow our values, even more so if possible, to materialize. Sustainability is part of our DNA, and that’s why, in addition to reusing containers, we always try to use eco-friendly materials in all our designs," he concluded.
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