Swap body containers: What they are and what they can be used for
Swap body containers: What they are and what they can be used for
If you know that you are going to need shipping containers, there are certainly a lot for you to choose from; this makes it difficult to pick exactly what you need, especially if you don’t actually know very much about shipping containers. With this in mind, we’re going to tell you some more about one of the most popular containers that is available to you: the swap body container.
This blog post will tell you what a swap body container is, what a swap body container can be used for, and whether a swap body container is a cost-effective option for your business.
What is a swap body container?
Although we can this model of shipping container a swap body container, you might have heard them referred to as a variety of different terms; here’s just a few: swop body container, exchangeable container, or interchangeable unit.
The swap body container is one of the most popular containers for transporting goods. Used both on road and rails, they’re the ideal option for transferring goods via both these methods. You might notice that we’ve not mentioned transportation via the seas. That’s because swap body containers cannot be easily stacked, so other shipping containers (primarily the intermodal container) is generally the preferred option for shipping via the seas.
Due to the design of this type of container, fuel costs are lower; swap bodies minimise empty weight, so there is less ‘dead weight’ carried. This results in lower fuel consumption, and therefore cheaper transportation of goods.
What can a swap body container be used for?
The primary use for swap body containers is shipping goods. Virtually anything can be shipped in a swap body container. They’re one of the bigger shipping containers that are easily available to you, so it’s best if you are transporting lots of goods. This also makes up for the fact that the containers aren’t easily stacked.
You can rely on swap body containers for transporting goods that are particularly valuable to you. That’s because they’re known to be significantly more secure than other shipping container solutions. Whilst other types of shipping container might be the better option for transporting other goods, it is more important to pay a bit more for the extra protection that’s offered by swap body containers, particularly if you are transporting something that’s very important to your business; save yourself the stress of potentially losing something important with a swap body container.
Swap body containers: a cost-effective solution?
Despite the large range of benefits to swap body containers, there are also a couple of disadvantages. As we’ve previously mentioned in this blog post, they’re not the best option for shipping via the sea (although it is possible). If a lot of your shipping is done via this method, swap body containers might not be ideal for you. Also, swap body containers are slightly more expensive than a container from the intermodal line.
With the two points above in mind, are these containers still a cost-effective solution for your business? The simple answer is yes, but you have to take a close look at your business before making a final decision.
We say yes as we’re sure swap body containers can still be cost-effective. How? They’re bigger than the average shipping container. This means that despite paying a little bit more, you’re going to need less of them. This means that you will get the extra money that you have spent back, depending on how much shipping you do. In addition to that, swap bodies are more secure than the other options that are easily available to you. If you want to keep something secure, it’s worth paying a bit extra to ensure that safety.