15 Cool Facts You May Not Know About Shipping Containers

Look at the products around you at home or in the office – the laptop or computer you use every day, your cell phone, your vehicle, clothing, and so on – essentially every product you touch has been made possible thanks to shipping. With the shipping industry fueling the world economy and containers touching so many parts of our lives without us even realizing it, the majority of people do not know much about it.

With the lengthy journeys that shipping containers make around the world, they come packed with some pretty cool stories and facts.

Here are 15 cool facts about shipping containers that you probably didn’t know:

1. Shipping containers caused a duck invasion!

In 1992, a container carrying 28,800 rubber ducks and other children’s toys fell off a ship and opened while on its way to the United States. Several ducks made their way back to shore, but there are still many out at sea! If you find one on the beach, it could be one of the escapees!

2. One 20ft shipping container can hold 75-87 cars’ worth of tires.

3. 15,000 20ft containers can house 745 million bananas.

4. If you unloaded all of the containers from the largest container freight vessel in the world, you’d end up with a train that is around 71 km long.

5. A 40ft shipping container can hold 8,000 shoeboxes, and a 20ft shipping containers can hold 3,500 shoeboxes.

6. A container ship travels the equivalent of three-quarters of the way to the moon and back in one year during its regular travel across the oceans.

7. If you were to stack all of the containers from one ship, they would reach nearly 7,500 Eiffel Towers!

8. The engine in a container ship is nearly 90 feet long and capable of 108,920 horsepower.

9. There is a container city in Mexico! In Cholula, the area uses several dozen containers to create a space that is home to shops, restaurants, and more.

Beyond modifying container structures for similar applications like retail and food take-out pop-ups, Secure-Rite’s Structures Team produced some awesome custom projects like escape rooms, wineries, and even a Kangaroo saloon!

10. You can store over 13,000 lbs. of food in a 20ft shipping container!

11. When shipped overseas, 10ft containers are connected to a second 10ft to create a 20ft. Each 10ft is packed like a Russian doll with smaller containers; a 6ft inside an 8ft inside the 10ft.

12. You can fit 170+ child car seats into a 20ft container.

13. 97% of the world’s shipping containers are made in China; their journey to North America spans over 10,000 kms.

14. The world’s largest container ship can carry 24,000 20ft shipping containers!

15. The first shipping container was made in 1956, and it was 8’ high and 8’ wide.

It was created by Malcolm McLean, who was involved in truck shipping before touching anything involving the ocean. While there have been slight changes and variations over the years, but the standard shipping container hasn’t changed much in basic design since the 1950’s.

The possibilities are boundless when it comes to shipping containers, what you can use them for and what you can convert them into. Secure-Rite strives to change the way the world views and uses shipping containers, and we hope that you think of these cool facts the next time you see a container!

If you are interested in acquiring a storage container, give us a call at 1.888.861.3955 to learn more about renting, buying, modifying, or leasing a container!