Good Thinking

Lightweight Unit One gives shipping containers the high-tech treatment

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Aeler co-CEO David Baur, with one of his company's Unit One shipping containers
EPFL
Aeler co-CEO David Baur, with one of his company's Unit One shipping containers
EPFL
The Unit One meets industry size standards, so it can be shipped along with traditional containers using existing facilities
Aeler

It's easy to think of shipping containers as simple metal boxes, that can't be significantly improved. The Unit One container, however, is claimed to be lighter, stronger and more energy-efficient than others, plus it uses multiple sensors to monitor its cargo.

David Baur first came up with the idea for the Unit One when he was an engineering student at Switzerland's École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Along with Naik Londono, he's now co-CEO of Aeler, a spin-off company that has commercialized the technology.

Whereas conventional shipping containers have metal walls that are corrugated for strength, the 20-ft (6-m) Unit One features flat, smooth, insulated walls made of a high-strength yet lightweight fiberglass/resin composite. Because the Unit One is so light, it's reportedly able to carry 11% more dry cargo than a regular container (without exceeding total weight limits), and 17% more liquid than a traditional container equipped with a Flexitank bladder – and unlike some shipping containers, it does so without bulging.

The insulation, meanwhile, helps keep the inside of the Unit One from getting too hot when sitting out in the sun during the day, and from getting too cold when the temperature drops at night. As a result, the container's cooling and heating systems don't need to run as often, plus there's less chance of cargo-damaging condensation forming inside.

The Unit One meets industry size standards, so it can be shipped along with traditional containers using existing facilities
Aeler

Utilizing an online portal, clients can check on the status of their load(s) at any time. This is made possible by internet-connected sensors inside the container, which continuously monitor parameters such as temperature, air pressure, humidity, impacts, VOC (volatile organic compound) gases, luminosity, door openings, and GPS coordinates. All of this data is updated once every five to 10 minutes.

According to Aeler, because fewer containers are required to transport a given amount of cargo, widespread use of the Unit One could reduce maritime shipping carbon emissions by approximately 20%. Thanks to their lighter weight and their more aerodynamic walls, they could also lower the fuel consumption of transport trucks by 4%.

Over 60 Unit One containers are already in use by various clients. They are available as a service, wherein users pick them up at one Aeler depot then return them to another, once the shipment is complete.

Sources: EPFL, Aeler

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7 comments
paul314
How much more do they cost, and can they be repurposed when their shipping life is over?
Robt
Aside from upfront cost, I’d like to know if and how they’ve been tested in the hurly-burly of loading / offloading through multiple shipping cycles
TechGazer
They sound a lot less recyclable than metal ones. Given the number of steel ones produced, I expect there's already a system for crushing or cutting them for shipping and handling to a steel plant. As I understand it, fibre/resin products are a disposal nightmare, and effectively non-recyclable. They might be better for conversion to micro-homes, but that's only a tiny percentage of shipping container usage.

If the governments wisely put an end-of-life-disposal tax on these containers, they won't be viable.
Rustgecko
I worked in international trade for 30 years and frankly, weight is less of a problem than volume. The article says it carries 11% more dry cargo - invented figure - that depends totally on the weight/volume of the product. Shipping containers are cheap. I guess there will be a niche market for this in refrigerated units, but they aren't simple boxes already.
TpPa
Ban them now, we do NOT need more non recyclable items for our land fills
BlueOak
But how many punches to the gut can those plastic walls take from the pointy steel corner of another fully loaded shipping container? And can the wall simply be pounded/pulled straight or a gash welded without any extra materials? This is the real world of a shipping container. No place for a dainty plastic box.

And yah, what is the cost difference?
Gregg Eshelman
A lighter weight container would have no effect on transport fuel efficiency if it's loaded up with enough more stuff to make it weigh the same as an all steel container. That is unless you do some math 'magic' comparing fuel used per weight unit of cargo over the same distance. The truck will still get 9 MPG.

How does this container perform in a train derailment, truck crash, or container ship incident with stacks of containers tipped over? Have they done drop tests, empty and loaded?

Steel is used because it bends rather than breaks. Composites that are made to be rigid tend to break when stressed to the point where steel would bend.