containers – Shanghai Metal Corporation

AN ECO-FRIENDLY AND CREATIVE CONCEPT: STARBUCKS SHIPPING CONTAINER STORES

Who ever thought shipping container can turn into a cool coffee shop? Starbucks did it! Starbucks succeed to get attention with their innovative concept of drive-thru shipping container stores.

On December 13, 2011, the first Starbucks shipping container was built in Tukwila, Washington. This concept came out from Puget Sound, the busiest shipping port in Washington. When Starbucks design team were thinking about an eco-friendly store idea, they looked at the Puget Sound and found an idea to reuse shipping containers as a sustainable store.

Starbucks uses shipping container to deliver coffee, tea, and other materials all across the world, so it seems fitting that they decided to use shipping containers to build their stores. By using unused shipping containers, Starbucks help to reduce their waste because after 20-25 years of lifespan, it will become scrap. This new concept turns out to be the breakthrough for Starbucks popularity. Many customers give very good response about this Starbucks’ new store. It’s not only an innovative idea, but also environmental and economical friendly.

However, it’s a little hard for Starbucks to arrange the equipments in the 40-foot shipping container stores because it is not a big space and also they can’t modify the dimensions. They need to figure it out exactly where all the equipment needs to go, so the six employees in there don’t end up bumping into one another.

Starbuck’s design team using this shipping container stores as their eco-friendly store ideas. They expect to achieve LEED certification. This shipping container stores have met the LEED standards: water efficient irrigation, energy performance optimization, use of green power, construction waste management, recycled content, low-emitting materials, and overall innovation and design.

Today, Starbucks have built a few of shipping container stores all over US:

Tukwila, Washington, the first Starbucks’ shipping container store.
Denver, Colorado
Portland, Oregon
Salt Lake City, Utah, opened September 2014
Chicago
Ballard, Seattle, opened February 2, 2014

It’s not only Starbucks that used shipping containers to build their stores. There is also a few unique shipping container restaurants all over the world:

Smoky Park Supper Club, Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Till the Cows Come Home, Berlin, Germany

Ska Brewing’s World Headquarters & Tasting Room, Durango, Colorado, USA

Shipping containers are flexible for different uses. Look at Starbucks that succeed make a cool shipping container coffee shop. Some of unique restaurants also made from shipping container. These Starbucks stores and a few of shipping container restaurants are only a few example of the innovative idea of shipping containers.

Based in China, Shanghai Metal Corporation is one of the leading businesses in the manufacturing of metalworking industry. We can produce and export shipping containers and other metal products and service. We prioritize the efficient of manufacturing and environmental sustainability.

Want to know more about our company? Please visit our website and you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Feel free to download our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Source: Containerhomeplans, Inhabitat, Starbucksmelody

SMC at the 2015 Intermodal Asia Exhibition

On Tuesday 24 SMC Shanghai Metal Corporation attended the second Intermodal Asia Exhibition 2015 held in Shanghai. Wondering what the exhibition is about? Launched in Europe, the Intermodal Asia Exhibition is a new platform for Asia shipping and container industry. It is a great chance for professionals and companies to come together and exchange ideas and industries about the shipping and container market. As Mr Mai Bo Liang, Chairman of the CCIA and President of CIMC, stated, “it is the perfect opportunity for professionals fro throughout the world to come together to network, do business and encourage the healthy and sustainable development of modern intermodal transport.”

Within a globalized world, where interactions and business between countries is growing exponentially, the three-day exhibition was the event that SMC Shanghai Metal Corporation could not miss. As you may know, China is rapidly growing in the market becoming the leading country in the business of containers and shipping. This is also do to the great emphasis that the government is giving to this market. New projects, such as “The New Silk Road Economic Region” and “21 Century Maritime Silk Road” will make China becoming the core of world commerce.

Untitled design (8) — SMC Sales Assistant checking the conferences program

Not only the 2015 Intermodal Asia Exhibition was for suppliers the chance to promote their products and activities, but also a chance to know more about this evolving market. Three conference theaters (The Strategy Theater, The Innovation Theater and the brand new Technology Theater) offered the visitors the opportunity to attend numerous presentations and debates gave by industry leaders such as European Shippers’ Council Acting Secretary General Joost Sitskoorn who discussed about the “Wider Economic Perspective and Intermodal Market Update in the Spotlight.”

Untitled design (6) — Conference at the Strategy Theater

Untitled design (10) — SMC International Interns

Untitled design (13) — SMC International Interns

Untitled design — SMC International Interns

Untitled design (2) — SMC Containers Department Manager and Sales Assistant

Remember! Shanghai Metal Corporation provides you with a great selection of containers. Visit our website and do not hesitate to contact us.

Scan the QR code below and stay informed about our latest updates:

Stefano// SMC Editor

The History of Containers – When It All Began

Today, Shanghai Metal Corporation brings you back in time. Are you ready to take-off? Please fasten your seat belt, sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight. This is the story of containers.

The first stop of this journey is 1936 in Hoboken, New Jersey. The idea of containers, considered by many as “revolutionary”, must be attributed to Malcom McLean. As often is the case, the greatest ideas come in times of crisis. The Economist has described McLean’s early life as follows.

“He was a farmer’s son, one of seven children. His first business transaction was selling eggs for his mother, taking a small commission. But in the 1930s, the time of the Great Depression, farming was one of the worst-hit industries. Mr McLean got a job at a petrol station and saved enough money to buy a secondhand lorry, calling himself, grandly, the McLean Trucking Company. He did well enough to buy five more lorries, hired drivers for them, but continued to drive himself“.

Malcom-Mclean-History — from http://www.intra-plus.com

By observing how the loads of cotton were moved by the trucks of his company to the hold of the ship, McLean thought of using a fixed size “metal box” that could contain the voluminous material making the operations easier. Few years later, this insight would have proved to be revolutionary. Indeed, the “new container”, in addition to speed up the operations of loading and unloading, contributed to decrease transportation costs and to avoid the thefts committed in ports.

primer-container-historia-malcom-mclean — from investorsconundrum.com

According to The Economicst, the Ideal X was the first cargo ship transporting containers. It was an elderly oil tanker “whose deck had been strengthened to accommodate 58 well-filled boxes each some 30ft (9 metres) long”. It was on April 26, 1956, when the Ideal X left Newark for Port Hudson.

According to Internazionale.it, McLean spent $0.16 per ton loaded, while the average cost of goods shipped at that time was $83 per ton. Moreover, from 1966 to 1983 the percentage of countries that used them has risen from 1 to 90 percent. The Economist claims that McLean was celebrated as the “man of the century” and the inventor of “the greatest advance in packaging since the paper bag”. Moreover, former United States President Bill Clinton said that containerisation helped to “fuel the world’s economy”.

Remember! Shanghai Metal Corporation provides you with a great selection of container houses. Visit our website and do not hesitate to contact us.

Scan the QR code below and stay informed about our latest updates:

Stefano// SMC Editor

The 2014 World’s Busiest Container Ports. The winner is…

Wondering which are the busiest container ports across the planet? And which is the world’s leading port city for 2014? This article will provide you with the answer. The list was made public a few weeks ago and, not surprisingly, eight of the top ten ports are Chinese. Moreover, according to Medi Telegraph, 14 is the number of the ports that, in 2014, have handled more than 10 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit), two more than 2013 (Kaohsiung and Dalian). In this chart the only non-Asian ports are Dubai and Rotterdam.

Here is the chart.

The winner is again Shanghai.

	Port	Country	Volume Million TEU	2014/2013
1	Shanghai	China	35.28	+5%
2	Singapore	Singapore	33.90	+4.1%
3	Shenzhen	China	24.03	+3.3%
4	Hong Kong	China	22.30	+0.1%
5	Ningbo	China	19.45	+12%
6	Busan	South Korea	18.65	+5.5%
7	Qindao	China	16.62	+7%
8	Guangzhou	China	16.16	+6%
9	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	15.24	+11.8%
10	Tianjin	China	14.05	+8.1%

Following, Rotterdam 12.30 million TEUs (+ 5.8%), Port Kelang 10, 94 million TEUs (+ 5.8%), Kaohsiung 10.59 million TEUs (+ 6.5%), Dalian 10.59 million TEUs (+ 2%). The Chinese ports alone have handled a total of 179 million TEUs, 6% more than the previous year. (from themeditelegraph.com)

shanghai-port-cargo2 — ‘Shanghai Port’ from chinarushonline.com

For the fifth consecutive time Shanghai is confirmed as the busiest port for containers in the world. Indeed, in 2010, Singapore lost its crown as leading world’s port remaining so far one step behind in Shanghai.

0x600 — ‘The Port of Singapore’ from forbes.com

Congrats Shaghai and… guess what! Shanghai Metal Corporation based in the city with the busiest world’s container port, provides you with a great selection of containers. Visit our website for more details and do not hesitate to contact us.

Scan the QR code below and stay informed about our latest updates:

Stefano// SMC Editor

The coolest student-dorm is made of CONTAINERS!

No doubts! The coolest dormitory of all time is located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Why this student-dorm is so unique? Because is made from old silos and shipping containers! The project was recently realized by the full service management company Citiq Property Services (PTY) Ltd. Here is how the company displayed this amazing idea.

“Citiq recently purchased two sets of the disused grain silos in Newtown, Johannesburg. Through creative design and leading edge architecture, the plans are to develop energy-efficient buildings that are both contemporary in design and contribute to the urban regeneration of Newtown. Conversion of Mill Junction, the first set of silos, to student accommodation started at the beginning of 2013 and was completed in early 2014, just in time for the new student intake.”

(from citiqproperty.co.za)

Mill-Junction-07 — from http://www.domusweb.it/en

As it was stated by DomusWeb website, the five silos used to build the dormitory were abandoned and grain was once stored there. Recycled containers were then placed, one on top of the other or one next to the other, both on the side and on top of the five silos. The dormitory can today host about 400 students enrolled in different school or universities thanks to the strategic location of the dormitory. This is for sure one of the most extraordinary example of how shipping containers can be used in a very fashionable way for a worthy purpose.

If you wonder how a single/double room looks like FastCoexist website provides you with the answer! How you can see from the pictures below, living in a container house/room looks exactly the same of sleeping in a ‘tradition’ house.

Not only! This amazing dorm partially made from recycled shipping containers offers numerous common areas to students such as game and computer rooms, libraries, gym and kitchens, and even a climbing wall!!

Wondering container-house might be the perfect solution for you and your family? Shanghai Metal Corporation provides you with a great selection of container houses. Visit our website and do not hesitate to contact us.

Scan the QR code below and stay informed about our latest updates:

Stefano// SMC Editor

The Quik House Container

Adam Kalkin is ‘an artist, an architect and many other things’. Among these other things Kalkin is also the creator of a project called Quik House. By assembling recycled shipping containers, this architect has developed the idea of a prefabricated kit house.

Here is what Kalkin has stated about his mission when interviewed by the CNN.

I use architecture as a vehicle for experimentation and discovering. The container is a proper skill object. When you recontextualize It, putting it in a residential context-use it for architecture proper, you both destroy the original context and create a new context. This is a form of upcycling […]. You get a beautiful dialogue from the old and the new and between one set of ideas and another and it creates a certain kind of vitality which really resonates with me.

adam-kalkin-container-house-3 — from http://www.blessthisstuff.com

4b5a2dfc82ad5 — from http://www.blessthisstuff.com

The project seems to meet three main expectations of today’s market. First, the coast. The price of the Quik House is very low compared to traditional houses. According to the Quik House website the estimated finishing cost for a basic Quik House composed by 6 modified shipping containers is around $184,000 (plus shipping). Second, a modern and unique design. For instance, customers could ask for local graffiti artists to decorate their new house. Third, eco-friendship. The use of second hand containers guarantees the involvement of Kalkin’s company in the recycling process which has a very positive impact on environment protection.

Shanghai Metal Corporation provides you with a great selection of container houses. Visit our website and do not hesitate to contact us.

Scan the QR code below and stay informed about our latest updates:

Stefano// SMC Editor

The Dumpster Project – Leaving in a Container

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset — image via en.wikipedia.org

Have you ever heard of ‘the Dumpster Project’? It is a project created by environmental studies professor and dean at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas, Dr. Jeff Wilson. On February 4, 2015, Professor Wilson has moved to a dumpster container where he plans to stay for about one year. In his words, the Dumpster Project is ‘an experiment to test the absolute limit if you can be happy and healthy in a very small space’. Not only. According to the project website the purpose of this experiment is to experience an eco-friendly lifestyle that could bring benefits to a planet where the population is steadily increasing and living space decreases more and more year after year. In this regard, while the average dimensions of an American home are about 2,480 square feet, minster Wilson’s brand new house is 33 square feet big.

It is true that Professor Wilson will be living in a container for a year, but what is also true is that this container is modern and fully furnished. Indeed, it features solar panels to generate electricity, high efficiency toilets, a weather station, air conditioning, a sloping roof, locks and a mailbox. Of course, Wilson is not suggesting everyone to live this way, but it is proving that it is possible to live in smaller spaces. Moreover, through the Dumpster Project, his main goal is to encourage debates on sustainable way of living.

Dumpster-Project-1-Facebook-630x420 — image via wgrd.com

You don’t need to be so radical. Living in a container house can be much more comfortable and unique than you ever thought. At SMC we also deal with container houses. Visit our website and do not hesitate to make contact us.

Scan the QR code below and stay informed about our latest updates:

Stefano// SMC Editor

Metal industry driving force behind fast growth in dry bulk shipping demand.

According to MarketReportsOnline.com the demand for steel in 2015 will grow at a tremendously fast pace. This fast paced growth will consequently send the dry bulk shipping sector a boost that will drive up the demand growth for that industry. In the research report of 56 pages published by MarketReportsOnline.com it states that Iron ore and coal will be the driving forces behind the anticipated growing demand for dry bulk shipping.

The dry bulk shipping industry is predicted to have a much better year in 2015. Growth rates for the first quarter of this year are expected to be higher than they were in 2014. The global dry bulk shipping industry holds an essential place in maritime transport, carrying large volumes of unpacked products. These products are carried in 20 feet bulk containers, that can carry up to 192 tons of bulk goods.

The latest innovation on these containers, like the one designed by Shanghai Metal Corporation, offer fast and efficient ways to load the bulk goods via the roof and unload through the latch on the bottom of the front door.

Scan the QR code below or follow us on these social media outlets.

By Youssef el Issaoui//SMC Editor

Credits: SMC website, Google Images

Container Success

Container architecture is becoming more and more popular by the day,as more people are intrigued by the unique design and appearance of container homes, apartments, offices and other living spaces.

At SMC we offer best quality shipping containers of international standard. Containers, as one of our best selling products, have seen increasing demand and popularity as they are convenient to use as a building system, easy to set up, and can even be cost effective, when compared with conventional building systems. Shipping container uses go as far as one’s imagination and creativity can go. They can be used as tuck shops, convenient office space,basement or bunker, garages and other spaces.

We offer containers in different sizes and variations, therefore there is a container suitable for all your needs. These variations range from the standard container, reefer containers, open-top container, open-side container as well as other special feature containers such as the flat rack container, platform container etc.

Our containers are manufactured in a way that quality and maximum strength are ensured, with rust protection, wind and water proof guaranteed.

Stay up to date with our latest updates by scanning the QR code below to download our latest application; or follow us on these social media sites:

Lebo Seopane// SMC Editor

Credits: SMC website, Google images

Cows As an Inspiration for Shipping Container Restaurant

Nowadays shipping containers have been becoming a great boom in numerous architectural applications. Shipping containers can turn into beautiful houses, bars, clubs, schools, gardens where you can enjoy your beer, but also into amazing restaurants. One of the examples is this very special vegetarian restaurant called Till The Cows Come Home.

The image of cows coming down from their pastures in the mountains at the end of the summer served as an inspiration for the restaurant’s name. Till the cows come home, they take time for the food.

This Berlin-based slow food kitchen is set in 40-foot-long cargo container designed by Natalie Viaux who used Norwegian birch wood with copper details. The outside of the container has been painted a vibrant green. A view of a expansive outdoor terrace, that which features a mural of cows grazing in alpine pastures, is provided with its five-meter-long window. They use a selection of products sourced from regional sustainable and biological farming for their recipes.

So if you are in Berlin, don’t miss this sustainable restaurant and try their biological specialties!

Shanghai Metal Corporation as a manufacturer of shipping containers can make your dreams come true. Just visit our website, search for more information or send us inquiry. English speaking stuff will help you to find the most suitable product for you. Follow us also in Social Media platforms and learn more about company and company products.

Silvia M.//SMC Editor

Read more articles written by this author here.

Credits : ttcch.de, inhabitat.com