Are Folding Containers the Future of Shipping? 188
swellconvivialguy writes "Earlier this year Maersk ordered 20 super-size container ships—each to have '16 percent larger capacity than today's largest container vessel, Emma Maersk.' But instead of embracing the bigger/more-is-better mentality, Staxxon, a NJ-based startup, has engineered a folding steel container (it folds like a toddler's playpen), which is designed to make shipping more efficient by 'reducing the number of container ship movements.' No one has yet succeeded in the marketplace with a collapsible container, but Staxxon has made a point of learning from the mistakes of others."
Other folding container designs (Score:4, Informative)
While this company's idea is interesting, it is still two years away from even being approved for commercial use. There are at least two competitors with easier, simpler to use technology:
Indian Shipping Company
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV-R5jlf6bQ&feature=related [youtube.com]
Dutch variant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHlTrOVv9gs&feature=related [youtube.com]
The problem, so many shipping containers just pilling up unused in the Western world, and forcing the creation of countless new containers in Asia, is certainly worth solving. But so many companies have tried and failed before. For my money, the Indian or Dutch version seems that more likely to win out. India has far lower steel costs, and is at the centre of shipping between Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia.
Re:Or perhaps we could sell things to asia ... (Score:4, Informative)
But this goes back to suburbanization which occurred mostly post-WWII. America has the geography, but there is no reason to have a large portion of the population spread out across most of it, Just like Canada is HUGE, but 90% of the population lives 100 miles from the US border (for various reasons, much of it temperature). Have it as farm land or what not.
I mean, it's probably too late now, way too much of our economy is still invested in the idea of ever-increasing real-estate... but think for a moment if America remained more urbanized. We'd have better mass transit, and our demand for fuel would be lower, which in turn wouldn't have us station our armed forces in outposts throughout the world so much to ensure steady supply (more than world peace). An armed force, which btw, is uses the same amount of oil as a decent sized nation just by itself.
When politicians talk about us "maintaining our way of life", I wonder how much of that is maintaining our freedoms, or if they simply mean that Suzy Homemaker can commute her SUV an hour each day 20 miles to and fro from work? Nationally, It's an expensive lifestyle to keep, yet people don't see that.
As far as houses go, good insulation adds maybe 5% to the overall cost (something that contractors often skimp on as it cuts into their margin) but would save the homeowner that amount many times over. And planning would go down close to 0 if it became the norm.