How are shipping containers used in disaster relief efforts?

If you’re working with a disaster relief agency or charity, you’ll know how important shipping containers are to provide essential aid to victims of hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods, and other crisis situations—especially when there are water and electricity outages as a result. 

But it’s not only standard shipping containers agencies use. Agencies are also deploying highly specialized (and expensive) containers to construct their base camps.

These custom shipping containers transform into sleeping quarters, cafeterias, command centers, mobile labs, refrigerated food storage, medical centers, mobile power generation units, and more. These units require a gentle loading/unloading process and precise placement. 

But moving shipping containers around uneven, dangerous terrain, where there may be severe blockages and hazards presents a wide range of challenges for the disaster relief agency itself and the operators of shipping container relocation systems. 

What if there was an easier, safer, and more effective way to pick up, load, and relocate standard and specialized shipping containers carrying vital supplies in harsh environments? 

Keep reading to understand how ContainGo’s patented Mobilizer Trailer and Flat Rack can provide that life-saving solution. 

The issues aid organizations face when disaster strikes

First, let’s establish exactly what kind of challenges you’re facing when moving shipping containers in harsh conditions: 

• Maximizing space by placing containers precisely
• Navigating heavy machinery or heavy trucks on off-road uneven terrain
• Offloading supplies quickly and safely 
• Not having a lot of forward clearance space
• Not having large forklifts or cranes on site to load and unload containers
• Not having access to non-owned trucks to mobilize containers 

How ContainGo’s Mobilizer Trailer helps

The ContainGo® Mobilizer Trailer offers an ingenious shipping container relocation solution for disaster relief, emergency management, and response agencies and can be used by agencies that already have one-ton pickups in their fleets. 

See how our groundbreaking technology helps below:

Shorter clearance

Typically, you need as much as 120 feet of forward clearance to load and unload a 20’ shipping container, presenting a huge challenge when maneuvering around areas of destruction, which often have obstacles from fallen trees/buildings. 

Using an innovative side shift mechanism, lift arm, and trolley system, ContainGo’s Mobilizer Trailer can pick up and relocate shipping containers with as little as 25 feet of forward clearance—making it perfect for challenging disaster zones. 

Precise placement

Whether you need containers to shelter victims, supply medical aid, or deploy essential supplies, with ContainGo, you can place everything you need in shipping containers within an inch of the target location. 

The ability to place shipping containers closer together allows you to maximize the space you have, allowing for more supplies, aid, and equipment to be delivered—potentially saving more lives as a result!

Light machinery

Traditionally, you would need heavy-duty machinery, like a crane or heavy forklift to maneuver shipping containers around the disaster site. 

But when you already have a lot of equipment taking up space, the last thing you want to do is try and navigate a massive piece of heavy machinery around the site. 

But with ContainGo, you only need a one-ton pickup truck, making it much easier and faster to access disaster locations and help those in need. Many government agencies have one-ton trucks in their fleets.

How ContainGo’s Flat Rack helps

Our optional Flat Rack enables disaster relief agencies to easily load and offload equipment, materials, and life-saving supplies by gently lowering the rack down to the ground. Discover the benefits of our Flat Rack, when combined with our Mobilizer Trailer below:

Fast

It takes about 10 minutes to unload a loaded Flat Rack from the trailer to the ground.

The operator can load materials, equipment or supplies on the Flat Rack and deliver to the emergency site placing the flat rack and supplies just six inches off the ground for easy, safe access.

Then they can go to load another flat rack to deliver it to another area. In disaster situations, not having to hop on and off a trailer bed or wait for it to be unloaded before the driver can pick up another is far less time-consuming. 

Safe

Our Flat Rack system is much safer for relief workers and other disaster aid personnel, as they can simply offload the rack while it’s sitting on the ground, rather than climb up on top of a trailer that’s lifted off the ground.

Flexible

ContainGo’s Flat Rack offers disaster agencies a higher degree of flexibility for supply drop-offs, collection points, and staging areas, taking up the same footprint as a 20’ shipping container. 

The benefits of ContainGo for disaster relief

• Deploy supplies to the site quicker
• Easily access more tricky areas 
• Only need to source one operator
• Make supplies easier to access
• Place supplies closer together 
• Offer a safer container process
  
  

Want to improve your disaster relief efforts and save even more lives? 

If you’re looking for a way to minimize risk, maximize time efficiency, and save more lives, ContainGo’s Mobilizer Trailer and Flat Rack are an ideal solution. 

Used by emergency response organizations all across the USA, ContainGo’s shipping relocation technologies have secured over 13 patents in nine countries and are revolutionizing the way we help people in times of disaster. 

To learn more about the ContainGo® Mobilizer Trailer and Flat Rack and how they can help your disaster relief organization, get in touch today!