Shipping containers, also known as intermodal containers, are large metal boxes meant to house goods as they are transported by land or by water. They commonly come in extent of 20 feet or 40 feet but there are containers as short as 8 feet or as long as 56. A typical container measures 8 feet in width and 8 feet to 9. 5 feet high shipping containers. You should be made of corrugated weathering steel and have doors at one end. Shipping containers have helped to advance commerce's globalization by making it possible to transport goods over long ranges and different transport modules without unloading and reloading. Because of the durability, intermodal containers lend themselves easily to recycling, and not necessarily for shipping. Used shipping containers for sale are not uncommon. Some well-worn units are retired by shipping companies, among others put up for sale after having a single use. One common reason individuals or businesses buy such containers are for storage. Their large capacities and capacity withstand weight and the elements make them ideally worthy of keeping furniture and other stored goods safe. The modular structure and durability of shipping containers also makes them great housing material. A great number of inventive building contractors and architects have put them to used residences ranging from single modified containers to larger homes made of several units to things consisting of small living spaces. Because they can be stacked on top of each other, such containers have been used as the main building material in unusual but quite practical hotels. Rest of the world London houses the very first shipping container hotel, made in '08 from eighty-six modified containers, at a cost about ten percent less than normal hotels and a speed of construction about 25 percent faster. Besides being used to create places to live in, intermodal containers have featured in the construction of offices and retail spaces like stores and a huge local mall in the Ukraine, not to mention a museum which is regularly taken apart traveling around the world. In Japan and Rotterdam, large modern sculptures are made out of shipping containers, and in London containers stacked three stories high form a happy, modern children's center where kids go to play.