Another great and innovative use for shipping containers appears to be getting looked at in Houston Texas.
In prior blogs pack n send has found uses on construction sites and malls in foreign countries. The Houston Chronicle on November 25, 2012 published an article about a potential alternative use for containers in Houston.
Why is this article important? The Port of Houston is expanding. The Panama Canal expansion will route more and more shipping containers to the Port of Houston. While Houston is a major port of export, used containers will still need to be repurposed or disposed of. If this container can be used for housing or to house shops, this is a win, win for both Houston and the environment.
The current planned is a master-planned “HIVE”. Nestor Topchy is anticipating using 148 shipping containers, with each container having a different purpose. There will also be forty four- three and four story buildings added to the hive that will be made out of shipping containers. Incredibly enough, these buildings will have apartments, both one and two bedrooms.
The anticipated business to reside on the bottom floor will look like any typical old time downtown area. Think restaurants, bakeries, art and architecture studios, grocery stores, farmers market, animal clinics and a laundromat. As a way not to waste the roofs, think New York City. Roof top gardens are anticipated. Look for these shipping containers to use solar power.
This is exciting for the shipping industry. Boxes are already being reused. When their useful shipping life is over, they are sent to recycling centers. Styrofoam peanuts are also reused. Think the Peanut hotline that lets individuals and business know where to drop off used shipping peanuts. Once these peanuts can no longer be used for shipping, they also are sent to recycling centers.
Now onto the shipping containers. They are much larger and more difficult to dispose of. Some of them are already being shipped to foreign countries to be used in housing. Finding an alternative use for these containers in the United States is a good environmentally friendly step.
At pack n send we load containers with household and business goods for shipping overseas. We have cars loaded for overseas shipping. While many of these containers are used and reused, shipped from country to country, seeing a futuristic plan for these used containers is quite an accomplishment.
The housing aspect of this plan may hold the most promise for the future. Shipping containers could be stacked and readied for use during natural disasters. They are easily shipped, and could be stacked and ready to use any where worldwide. Since they already load easily onto ships, they can be shipped to any port worldwide. It would be easy to move them in ahead of a storm and store them right outside of the anticipated storm area. It is a relatively inexpensive way to provide immediate housing after a natural disaster.
It will be interesting to watch this project progress in Houston, TX. While it may take a while to get permits, we are hopeful that the city of Houston and the Greater Houston Partnership will look at container building as not a onetime project, but a viable alternative housing plan for the future. What a great tourist attraction. Houston is usually on the cutting edge of new trends as well as has a visionary outlook for its future. The land to build and fit these containers is readily available in the Houston area.
Once Houston sets the bar, we hope other cities will follow suit and reuse these shipping containers in both private and public housing.
We pick up & deliver worldwide, as well as in our backyard.