Various types of Shipping Container Flooring The selection of appropriate flooring material for shipping containers is an important thing for both the safety of cargo as well as resistance against shocks, temperature and humidity fluctuations, and water or oil spills. Shipping container flooring of Bamboo: According to the annual report of Container Owner’s Association (COA), use of bamboo for flooring of shipping instead of the traditional hardwood plywood flooring of shipping containers, has been increased up to 40% from the last few years. Actually, bamboo proves to be more efficient and useful in terms of economic and environmental operations. It is described as easily available and cheaper flooring material compared to plywood shipping container flooring. A hardwood tree takes up to twenty years to grow to full maturity while a bamboo tree can be harvested after five to six years of plantation. The major Bamboo flooring manufacturers are: Jiangxi Dechang Bamboo Board Company, China, Nantong New Atlantic Forests Industries, FHBC (Fuijin Heqichang Bamboo China). Average moisture content of bamboo is less than 12%, density is more than 0.75g/cm3, high toughness, scratch resistance are the properties of bamboo flooring of shipping containers. Shipping container flooring of Hardwood: Plywood is actually hardwood containing the face and back of veneers or layers of hardwood glued together to prepare a structure that is stronger than solid wood. The use of Plywood or hardwood for the flooring of shipping containers is not new. Plywood is manufactured in the United States of America, Europe, and available in different sizes and with different compositions. Commonly used plywood shipping container flooring are discussed one by one: Hardwood plywood: made up of at least six to seven layers of wood veneers. It provides a strong flooring structure that is suitable for the containers carrying heavy machinery and objects every day. It is now customized to be used for almost every kind of cargo either solid, liquid, or gaseous. Actually, hardwood has a long life span for that reason, the majority of shipping container flooring manufacturers prefer it. Softwood plywood: in some cases, the built in flooring of shipping containers is not enough cargo shipment like sensitive and dangerous goods. In that case, temporary flooring is practiced by using softwood plywood made up of Cedar, redwood, or pine. Marine plywood: mostly used for flooring of shipping containers designed to carry liquid objects. The reasons are its features. Marine plywood is waterproof, moisture repellent, and protective fine flooring with no voids or shrinkage. The hardwood used in manufacturing marine wood is Douglas fir wood or Western Larch. Sheathing plywood: used sometimes for increasing the strength of shipping container flooring. In combination with either vinyl or aluminum flooring of a shipping containers, sheathing or structural flooring makes a much stronger floor. Shipping container flooring of composite: The above discussed flooring materials for a shipping container flooring is inexpensive but difficult to maintain. They need repairing and replacement after every few months. The modern shipping container owners prefer composite flooring so that maintenance costs and operations get minimized. Glass reinforced composite shipping flooring (GRC): CMIC and ECO Co. Ltd. Has designed this diversified flooring material made up of polymer matrix laminated with fibers (usually fiberglass, basalt, carbon, or aramid). Glass reinforced composite flooring is resistant to damage, deforming or shocks due to its specific orientations (fiber parallel to the exerted force) in manufacturing of GRC. Strengthening material Matrix material Quality Improvement Inorganic materials UP, semi-crystalline thermoplastic. Strength, ellipsoid shrinkage, Wood fibers Polyethylene, PLA Tensile modulus, strength Glass strands Polyester, epoxide, or POM Heat resistance, strength, elasticity Carbon fiber EP, PUA etc. Electrical and tensile strength. Laser welded steel flooring of shipping containers: Steel is good for the flooring of shipping containers because of its high strength and excellent wear resistance properties. Its strength enables it to carry huge machinery loads without wearing and impacts. It may be of two types: A closed steel sandwich flooring: consists of three parts, a bottom plate, a V-core, and a top plate. The top and bottom plates are laser welded and jointed with the core through a lap joint. Open steel sandwich flooring: consists of V-core and top plate. Laser welding of the top plate has proved to increase the weight carrying capacity up to 10%. Vinyl shipping container flooring: Vinyl flooring is waterproof and best suited for the flooring of the containers used for carrying the liquid cargo (acid, oil, chemicals, etc.). Easy to maintain and clean, vinyl flooring is now widely practiced for the flooring of shipping containers. References: Aro, M. D., Brashaw, B. K., & Donahue, P. K. (2014). Mechanical and physical properties of thermally modified plywood and oriented strand board panels. Forest Products Journal, 64(7-8), 281-289. Li, W., Zhang, Z., Zhou, G., Leng, W., & Mei, C. (2020). Understanding the interaction between bonding strength and strain distribution of plywood. International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives, 98, 102506. Wong, E. K. H., Tan, C. S., & Ling, P. C. H. (2018). Feasibility of using ISO shipping container to build low cost house in Malaysia. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(2.29), 933-939. Elrayies, G. M. (2017). 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