Cities Are Finding Creative Uses For ‘Sea Cans’ All Up And Down The B.C. Coast

One company that repurposes shipping containers says there is ‘higher demand than ever before.’

Shipping containers have become increasingly popular for non-shipping purposes, such as for storage, housing, and commercial uses. This is due to their durability, affordability, and ease of transport.
Shipping containers have become increasingly popular for non-shipping purposes, such as for storage, housing, and commercial uses. This is due to their durability, affordability, and ease of transport. Photo Credit: bigphoto | gettyimages.ca

A new waterfront market in Prince Rupert will soon offer tourists and locals a shopping experience with a decidedly maritime and port theme. Vendors there will be sheltered in refurbished shipping containers, sometimes dubbed “sea cans.”

The city is still accepting vendor applications from artisans, small businesses, and other vendors for the Cow Bay Container Market, scheduled to open May 3 and continue at least through cruise ship season.

And it says the use of sea cans points “to Prince Rupert’s role as an economic driver in international trade.”

Waterfront site layout of the Cow Bay Container Market. Design by Atmospheric Perspective, in partnership with Tourism Prince Rupert. Source: Visit Prince Rupert.

This is but the latest use of a building material that’s become more and more widespread up and down the Coast. 

Indeed, re-purposing shipping containers has become a niche business all on its own, with several companies in B.C. now advertising sales or renovations of the structures for homes, cabins, offices, or storage space.

“Container homes are in higher demand than ever before.” 

Targetbox

Sea cans are prized for their versatility. 

At the Prince Rupert market, the containers have finished interiors, ventilation, lighting, and electrical outlets, notes the city, and include a personal access door, a large window across the entire front of the unit, and the shipping container doors on the other side.

Each unit has a “fully customizable modular retail display system, including a point of sale counter and display shelves.” Source: Visit Prince Rupert.

“Shipping containers are weather-resistant, affordable, and strong,” notes the website for Targetbox, one of many companies in B.C. that specializes in repurposed shipping container sales. “Container homes are in higher demand than ever before.” 

As well as markets, and unusual homes and offices, shipping containers are now being used to create temporary housing for the unhoused.

Housing the unhoused was the goal of an experimental village of 30 container homes erected on borrowed city land in Victoria.

“It showcased that it is possible to have these types of tiny villages within neighbourhoods.”

Sylvia Ceacero, executive director of Alliance to End Homelessness in the Capital Region

Victoria’s Caledonia Tiny Homes Village was jointly created by several Victoria organizations, with government funding, to provide transitional housing for people experiencing houselessness. 

Citizens and local businesses of Victoria came together to raise more than $500,000 to fund the capital expenses for 30 transitional housing units built from repurposed shipping containers. Located at 940 Caledonia Ave., this tiny home community provides safe, warm and secure conditions for some of our community’s most vulnerable currently sheltering outside, unhoused. Source: Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness.

The experiment helped create stability for residents, and some are now moving into more permanent housing, said Sylvia Ceacero, executive director of Alliance to End Homelessness in the Capital Region. 

“It showcased that it is possible to have these types of tiny villages within neighbourhoods,” she told West Coast Now.

Though the Victoria container homes are now being sold, the experiment inspired Port Alberni’s new village of tiny homes, which West Coast Now reported on last year.

There seems no limit on the uses for old sea cans. In fact, they are becoming so commonly used that shipping container architecture is increasingly recognized as a form of design. 

Its name: “cargotecture.”

Cargotecture, or the use of repurposed shipping containers for building structures, offers flexibility for both residential and industrial applications. Source: Case mici modulare Lali Homes on Facebook.

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