Open top shipping containers are boxes with four walls, a floor and no roof. These differ from standard shipping containers that have three walls, doors at one end, a floor and a roof.
Thanks to the way they are designed, shipping containers typically don’t need a roof. They are only load bearing on the floors and four corners. Even standard shipping container roofs are only rated to take up to 200kg or so, so a man can stand on top for maintenance or perhaps at sea where something needs to get done.
Open top shipping containers can therefore be loaded from above using a crane or a conveyor. This might be a piece of heavy machinery or components, such as large truck tyres.
The difference between open top and hard top shipping containers is that the open top comes with fixings for a tarpaulin that can be put on top to keep the rain out. Hard top containers are more secure with a removable steel roof.
6 uses for open top shipping containers
Open top shipping containers aren’t just useful for transporting cargo, there are all sorts of ways of using – and re-using these types of containers:
1. Oversized goods
As long as the cargo meets the weight limit and fits within the width (2.35m) and length limit (5.89m or 12.05m), then in theory you can transport anything within reason.
2. Bulky goods
When awkward or bulky goods need to be moved, a 40ft open top container can be a perfect transportation method. These differ from bulk containers that have a system where the goods can be let out of the bottom on a chute.
3. Swimming pools
An open top shipping container can be very easily turned into a swimming pool. Even a six metre shipping container can be a great way to cool off in the Australian summer!
4. Pop-up events space
Shipping containers can be adapted in almost any way you can imagine. Perhaps the most money spent on any shipping container conversion is by PR teams for large companies looking to promote their brands. Where it comes to an open top or hard top shipping container, these give you more upward space than a traditional box.
5. Art gallery
Let the climate add atmosphere to your creation by using a 20ft open top shipping container as a gallery. You can adapt the roof in a variety of ways by making it higher, half length or whatever your fertile imagination says should meet the demands of your artwork or installation. This might be a cinema screen where light is controlled onto it but sun bathing the viewers… What about two containers stacked for an airy, double height space?
6. Restaurant or food kiosk
You can have a partial roof space to keep the kitchen/food prep area out of the elements but allow your guests to either be served or eat under the sky. Again, the tarpaulin we can supply can keep them dry should rain come in!
The possibilities are almost limitless…
From emergency shelters to schools and even apartment blocks, no one has quite found the limits to which shipping containers can be pushed just yet. There are different, special types of cargo containers for aircraft and space flight, and we don’t quite know how deep a container could go under the sea before being crushed into oblivion, but within these physical limits, we have yet to see something so nuts it baffles us just yet!
Whatever you want to do with an open top shipping container, how about giving us a shout at Gateway Container Sales to discuss buying or hiring one from us?
