Shipping Container House Process
The process of shipping container houses mainly includes three core stages: factory prefabrication, container transportation, and on-site assembly.
Factory Prefabrication Stage
The core of modular construction is to break down a complete house into standardized modules and complete most of the construction processes in the factory. For example, China Construction Steel Structure Jiangsu Co., Ltd. divides an entire building into independent space units and completes over 80% of the processes in the workshop, including the welding of steel structure frames, the prefabrication of wall and roof panels, and the embedding of water and electricity pipelines. Some projects also adopt lightweight designs. For instance, the Nantong COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry project uses 6-millimeter steel plates bent into shape to replace traditional heavy square tubes, reducing steel consumption while improving structural stability. Factory operations significantly enhance the precision of product quality control, free workers from outdoor high-altitude work environments, and reduce building material waste (steel waste is only 3%-5%, compared to 8%-12% on traditional construction sites).
Container Transportation Stage
The prefabricated modules need to undergo spatial conversion design according to transportation requirements. For example, Yashun Light Steel produces 20-foot double-wing expandable containers for a project in Chile. During transportation, the side spaces are folded in for easy loading into containers, and upon arrival at the site, they are expanded to form approximately 36 square meters of usable area. Before loading, the appropriate container type (such as 20-foot/40-foot standard containers or special-sized containers) must be selected based on the nature of the goods, and a loading plan should be formulated to ensure cargo stability. During sea transportation, containers experience changes in temperature (possibly exceeding 50°C when crossing the equator), humidity (high humidity in coastal areas), and salt spray. Protective measures such as placing desiccants and using waterproof sealed bags are required for precision instruments or textiles. The voyage from major Chinese ports to the destination port usually takes 15-25 days, depending on the route and the number of port calls.
On-site Assembly Stage
After arriving at the destination, the modules only need to undergo a small number of processes, such as module connection and water and electricity connection, before they can be put into use. For example, a British merchant purchased 63 Chinese-made modular elderly care apartments, which only took two weeks to complete on-site hoisting and construction after arriving at the port; the MRDC Hotel project in Papua New Guinea shortened the overall delivery cycle from the traditional 14-18 months to 7 months through a modular solution. The on-site assembly stage generates almost no large-scale noise or construction waste, meeting the stringent requirements of the North American market for green construction. At the same time, it significantly reduces on-site construction volume (the traditional cast-in-place method requires 80-120 workers on site, while the modular solution only requires about 45 workers), and the overall construction cycle can be shortened by 60%-70%.
