Review of discussions on the viability of using shipping containers for emergency housing in Haiti

1. The Use of Retired Shipping Containers as Housing
This document is intended as a summary of a general discussion thread :
Shipping Container Housing http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/49244#comment513740
Which appears in Global Spec's CR4 discussion group, regarding the uses of retired shipping
containers to provide temporary replacement housing for the victims of the recent earthquake that
struck Haiti's capital, Port-Au-Prince. The concepts described are not specific to Haiti & could be
used in many similar situations.
(Note that the editors have taken the liberty of editing out some content that, in the opinion of the
editors, was superfluous; and modifying some entries of the original blog to correct grammatical and
spelling errors to improve readability. At the time this document was prepared, the blog was still
active, so there may be additional information that has yet to be incorporated.)
Introduction
On January 12, 2010, the capital of Haiti was struck by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, resulting in an
estimated 230,000 immediate deaths and upwards of 300,000 people requiring medical attention. Over
3,000,000 have been affected, and an estimated 250,000 residences & other buildings destroyed or
severely damaged. An estimated 1,200,000 people have been left homeless. Over $2 billion in aid has
been pledged to aid in the recovery of this disaster, including $42 Million for tents to provide
temporary shelter.
Providing tents for temporary shelter is a standard practice in such relief missions. It is questionable
whether this is the best option for Haiti. Haiti is subjected to frequent hurricanes, with the hurricane
season approaching in a matter of months. In fact, an aggravating circumstance that renders this relief
operation more difficult than others of similar magnitude is the fact that Haiti has not fully recovered
from a devastating hurricane that struck the island in 2004. Tents or temporary shelters fabricated from
tarps, scrap lumber and scrap sheet metal are going to provide very little protection against a hurricane,
and are likely to contribute to even more death and human suffering.
Members of CR4, the Engineering Discussion Group sponsored by GlobalSpec, have come together in
a “Think Tank” to develop ideas to address this situation, primarily the need for hurricane-proof shelter.
Our conclusions are that the most readily-available resource for providing sufficient hurricane shelters
for these 1,200,000 homeless people is modified retired shipping containers. When these ideas were
first presented to one of the aid groups leading in relief efforts, we received the response that this is
“unproven technology”. We hereby present this synopsis of the discussions from the group of
engineers to demonstrate not only that this is a very well-proven technology, but also a very viable
option for the situation that currently exists in Haiti and other similar situations that will occur in the
future in other locales.
The idea of shipping containers as housing has a great deal of merit and utility, and with minor
modifications they can be made habitable. Not all container units have to be modified to include toilets
and showers. It would make more economical and time-line sense to have a cluster of units specially
made for that purpose. Containers are very robust structurally with a frame that doesn't require the
walls unless you have fully loaded & stacked conditions.

2. The Use of Retired Shipping Containers as Housing
The Use of Retired Containers for Housing and Other Edifices
The idea of converting retired shipping containers to housing or other structural enclosures (work
shops, emergency medical facilities, emergency water treatment facilities, and other such uses) is not a
new concept. In fact, there is a fairly substantial existing industry offering this sort of conversion
commercially. Appendix A provides a brief list of Internet sites that address this use of retired shipping
containers (note that the list is not intended to be all-inclusive or in any way complete. The list was
developed from those sites referred by members of the engineering group, and is provided as a starting
guide to what information is available on the Internet). The concept being presented here is the
mobilization of these existing resources to address an emergency requirement, utilizing, as a
beginning, more than 7,000 shipping containers presently in and around the Port-Au-Prince area.
The Australian Army has outfitted containers as water treatment and hospital clinics as well as
Command and Control (communication) centers. You only have to talk to the US Army about using
shipping containers; over the years they have experimented with many ideas using containers. The US
Army, USAF, and USMC use containers in all theaters of operation as housing units and storage
facilities at various bases. The US military has the means to transport these containers to locations
anywhere they are needed once they arrive on the area. When it comes to making modifications to the
containers, the US Army Corp of Engineers has already done the research and experimentation. All the
necessary information is included the USACE Field Manual. Various modifications including cutting
small holes in the roof for Solar PV exhaust fans and windows on the side walls.
Clemson University researchers have been experimenting with ways to convert shipping containers into
emergency housing in the hurricane-prone Caribbean, where a surplus of the sturdy boxes often sits in
port yards. (See additional information and contact list in Appendix B of this document, specifically
describing the efforts at Clemson University. Note also that Clemson University has recently launched
a web site dealing with this issue: http://www.seed-haiti.net/).
(Editor's Note: Much of the existing industry engaged in converting shipping containers to housing
units, including the anecdotes from the “do-it-your-selfers” are considerably more “up-scale” than
would be required or desired for emergency housing. What is needed is a rapid deployment of
hurricane shelters for 1,200,000 people. With time, a good number of these shelters could be upgraded
to more viable housing than the traditional “shanty towns” constructed of scrap materials. Several
organizations, including the US Military, Clemson University, and an organization known as
GlobalCon Holdings Corporation are addressing this concept. The latter claims to be able to provide
facilities for a village of 50,000 residents in an area of about 32 hectares, completed in about 12 days.)
Some Accounts of Shipping Containers Adapted to Housing
I've seen shipping containers used as site offices. You could live in one if you had to. The best I saw
was a refrigerated container - perfect for the 40C + conditions in the desert. Another one was fitted
with a shower and toilet facilities.
A practical application of the concepts we are discussing, as demonstrated, by one members conversion
of a used shipping container for use as a hunting cabin:

3. The Use of Retired Shipping Containers as Housing
“My brother used a 40 foot sea-can which he purchased for $3000, and put $5,000 worth of labor,
materials, and relocation into it. Now he uses it as a 5 man hunting lodge... It runs on propane and
generator. Here in the oil patch in central Alberta, shipping containers get used for everything... but its
mostly trailers they use for sleeping quarters... simple bunk, but water, power, food, safety, and
Internet, the living was quite acceptable...The unit is just leveled with lumber. Sleepers were put in
with grommeted drill-screws through the walls I think. I think the insulation is pink bat. Interior was
finished before shipment. There are plywood bunks in the one end of the shack and he bought 4" foam,
and cut to size.”
For $16,900 Canadian, pretty good I'd say. I think the low for a Habitaflex home is about $69 grand.
(Note that Hibitaflex is one of the companies doing commercial conversion of shipping containers for
housing purposes)

4. The Use of Retired Shipping Containers as Housing
“Most of the shipping containers that I have bought for storage, have built in vents near the ceiling, so
they're not completely air tight. Someone living in one would put in windows and such. We could ship
goods to Haiti in them, we can then convert them, costs per container should be less than $2k just for
the conversion. These are structurally stable so 4-6 concrete blocks for leveling and its done. (Bolt 'em
down)”
In the fishing industry, such containers are often added on boats for additional housing. They are
referred to "Conexes" .
“Containers as housing can't be too bad considering containers are being touted as “up market”
accommodations. I've seen a development in London and it's jaw-droppingly good. Full marks for re-
cyclability. Full marks for innovation. Full marks for style:”
http://www.zen17279.zen.co.uk/CCthe_build.htm
Advantages of Retired Shipping Containers for Emergency Housing in Haiti
The use of shipping containers for shelters is a good choice for the long-term, whereas the use of tents
is a good choice in the near term. It's easier to air drop the tents into the areas that need them.
How long does it take to build a house? What resources are there for traditional building practices?
How many homes and businesses, markets and stores can be built using traditional materials and
traditional practices in three to six months, or even over 3 years? Land has to be cleared, foundations
poured, framing done, wiring done, sheetrock, plumbing & HVAC installed. Think of the air
compressors, nail guns, electric powered saws, hammers nails, bolts, concrete delivery trucks,
backhoes, ditchwitches, not to mention banking and finance...Sure enough, Shipping Container
Housing is not the only option, it is simply the best option we know of. We need to consider resources,
infrastructure, labor, time, and the magnitude of the needs. The Shipping Containers require less
Foundation, which right off puts them ahead of other ways to make a home.
They are strong.
They are relatively cheap.
They are available.
The methods for modifying them are understood, and it is a mature industry.
They meet or exceed codes.
They may even represent an industry down the road Haitians may eventually be able to export
converted housing units.
Converting used shipping containers for housing is a viable & economically attractive option. They are
clearly preferable to tents or plastic sheeting because they are Hurricane proof, vermin proof, theft
proof and 'Quake' proof. Unlike tents they can be multistory and could be walked across during the
rainy season avoiding the creation of mud tracks.
New containers currently cost $2,100 for a 20ft and $3,300 for a 40ft. 1.2 million people would require
100,000 containers. Less than 2.5 days worth of the USA's imports (25 million TEU (TEU= twenty

5. The Use of Retired Shipping Containers as Housing
foot equivalents, one 40ft container = 2 TEU)). Put another way, due to trade imbalances, every week
more than this number are returned empty to China... So there is no shortage of containers close at hand
in USA. 99% of all containers are built in China, whose factories can produce 5 million TEU a year.
100,000 could be built in a fortnight. Most Chinese factories are currently in mothballs, due to the
global downturn. It is not unreasonable to assume for each port 1,000 containers a day could be
delivered to container cities (providing these were close to the port of discharge). This would require a
fleet of 250 tractors with 10 x 30 ton cranes to unload and position at the container cities.
The UN could perhaps sponsor some kind of salvage scheme to encourage empty containers to be
diverted to Haiti in return for a discount on purchasing new replacements in China. Probably less than
$500 a container would be enough, $25 per person housed!
(Editor's Note: To evaluate the survivability of containers in hurricane conditions, we have the
experiences of the Ports of New Orleans and Houston as examples. A study of the effects of the
hurricanes on containers stored in this ports during the recent hurricanes would be most informative.)

6. The Use of Retired Shipping Containers as Housing
Appendix A- Web Sites Addressing the Use of Retired Shipping Containers for
Architectural Structures
A Comprehensive Overview From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_container_architecture
An Conversion Industry Website
http://www.shipping-container-housing.com/index.html
These units are being used in our far north at mine sites:
http://www.habitaflex.com/
Inter modal Shipping Containers for Use as Steel Buildings (by Paul Sawyer)
http://api.ning.com/files/2qFStEBFGr1CcxN1nebN9ATX0tFYeaXxzOkQk1BbxkUc9eTkXsoBeOw4o
APHg43aTlNqBEMqbg8qNahLfcEDtFuTlRWuN3*/CONTAINER_BLDGS_1ST_EDITION.pdf
Militaries around the world have made containers into wash huts, mess halls, hospitals, though of
course now they prefer to have special made buildings that take the same footprint as a container:
http://www.weatherhaven.com/military/products/expandable_container_shelters.asp
Some units have their own containers. The Army refers to its unit-owned family of containers as
Equipment Deployment _Storage System_ (EDSS) containers.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/container.htm#
Department of Defense Standard Family of Tactical Shelters (by JOCOTAS)
http://www.chem-bio.com/resource/1999/jocotas.pdf
10 brilliant boxy & sustainable shipping container Homes
http://www.logisticsallianceofcarolinas.com/documents/10-brilliant-boxy-and-sustain.pdf
Container Housing Project By Group 41
http://www.containernation.com/img/UtahPR.pdf
FA Ecotecture design study
http://www.ecohouse-plans.com/zoneFiles/04/04_Descrip_Shipping_Container_Homes.pdf
World Wide Trade Services website with floor plans
http://www.worldwidetradeservices.net/images/WWTS_Portable_Container_Units_2008.pdf
ISBU
http://www.isbu-info.org/
This site illustrates ISBU's can and do exceed most if not all building codes.
Shipping container houses
http://www.shippingcontainerhousedesign.com/containerhome_11201.html

7. The Use of Retired Shipping Containers as Housing
ISBU shipping container architecture
http://firmitas.org/
ISBU House plans and design
ISBU Bob Vila
http://www.isbu-info.org/bob_vila_video.htm
Strong Affordable Storm Ready Housing (by Bob Vila)
http://www.energyroofsandwalls.com/pdf/Container_Homes_Bob_Vila.pdf
Container Bay
http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/containerbayhome.htm
The latest Gizmag has an article on shipping containers.
http://www.gizmag.com/seed-project-shipping-container-sustainable-emergency-housing/13902/
Good container article and further down the page lots of related articles.
Converting shipping containers into living quarters, for the offshore oil industry:
www.livingquartertech.com

8. The Use of Retired Shipping Containers as Housing
APPENDIX B: CLEMSON UNIVERSITY PROGRAM
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Pernille Christensen, a research associate in the Richard H. Pennell Center for Real Estate and PhD.
student in planning, design and the built environment; associate professor Doug Hecker; and assistant
Professor Martha Skinner of Clemson's School of Architecture, collaborated on the SEED Project,
working to develop a method to convert the shipping containers into homes.
The original idea was inspired by housing crises that have followed large hurricanes in the Caribbean
and United States. However, Hecker said shipping containers would meet those needs in an earthquake
zone, too.
"Because of the shipping container's 'unibody' construction they are also very good in seismic zones
and exceed structural code in the United States and any country in the world," Hecker said. "They have
also been used in other countries as emergency shelters in the case of earthquakes. As the SEED Project
develops this will certainly be an area that we incorporate. With a few simple cuts at the port, a storage
container can be turned into something that is livable and opens to the site."
Faculty and students sought a way to put displaced people in emergency housing that could be sturdy
and safe on a permanent site. Putting families back on their own land quickly is key to the idea.
Families displaced by disaster often do not return to their permanent homes for years, if ever, but the
Clemson researchers are looking for strategies to implement the SEED Project as quickly as possible,
ideally having a modified container on site within three weeks.
"You get people back in their communities and it strengthens those communities," Christensen said.
"They work on their home, not a temporary shelter, and then they work with their neighbors to rebuild
the neighborhood. It leads to a healthier and safer community. And these are places often in dire need
of better housing."
Many Caribbean countries import more containers than they export, which leads to the surplus of
containers in those nations.
"The project has a double mission: to address the local need of providing adequate housing for people
in need while solving a global problem of recycling - giving purpose to empty containers that would
otherwise be discarded," Skinner said.
As part of this research, the group is studying the cycles of natural disasters by looking at the larger
picture through mapping and logistics to understand how containers move, available surpluses and
ultimately coordinating the cycles of natural disasters with the ebb and flow of container supplies
worldwide.
The SEED Project also includes plans for using another retired item, 55-gallon steel drums, as a way to
create a starter garden - from seed - on the roof of the container homes as a way to get food crops
started when the ground may be contaminated by storm water. Water also would be filtered through the

9. The Use of Retired Shipping Containers as Housing
drums before being used in a water pod comprised of shower, sink and composting toilet.
A prototype emergency container home is under way on the Clemson campus, and the project has been
awarded an Environmental Protection Agency P3 (People, Prosperity and the Planet) grant to make the
container part of the 2010 National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.,
in April. The research team plans to build a prototype in the Caribbean in the next year.
Source: Clemson University HTTP://www.clemson.edu/