10 Fun Facts About Shipping Containers

Did you know that the world is reliant on shipping containers to transport roughly 95 per cent of the world’s cargo? This is because it’s the cheapest, most efficient way to transport goods in our increasingly global community.

This reliance on shipping containers does mean there are a lot of containers in circulation, but there’s also shipping and self-storage containers popping up in the unlikeliest of places.

Don’t believe us? Check out these 10 fun facts about shipping containers!

1. There are currently 17 million shipping containers in circulation around the world, five million of which are in active transit.
2. In total, it’s estimated that there are approximately 530 million shipping containers in the world. This figure includes self-storage shipping containers, shipping container modifications, and of course, shipping containers that have been sitting at the back of a warehouse for the last 20 years.
3. Approximately 97 per cent of the world’s shipping containers are manufactured in China, due to low labour costs.
4. When properly maintained, a shipping container has an average life expectancy of 30 years.
5. Shipping containers weren’t invented until the 1950s, when Malcolm McLean invented the precursor to what is now the modern shipping container.
6. Approximately 10,000 shipping containers are lost at sea every year the equivalent to one per hour.
7. Every shipping container has a unique ID number, similar to the number plate on a car. This means they can be tracked regardless of where they are in the world.
8. In Australia, there’s a modern house built entirely out of recycled shipping containers – 31 to be exact.
9. There’s also a residential student community in Amsterdam that’s made out of removable, converted shipping containers with 1,034 modules in total. The students living in the campus have access to housing, common areas, cafes, and laundries.
10. If all of the containers in the world were laid out end to end, they would go around the circumference of the world more than twice.

If you want to get in on the shipping container modification craze, or to learn more about alternative uses for self-storage shipping containers, contact U-Move Australia today!