Local Economy of Shipping Containers in Tampa

Tampa is a coastal shipping container depot location and transportation hub where intermodal Conex boxes are transported both by rail and road throughout the city. Tampa is geographically located on the Gulf Coast and its seaport and extensive network of both railroad freight routes and interstate highway system make Tampa a hub for container shipping in the USA. The Conex Depot Tampa container storage facility is located at ZIP 33605, just east of Hyde Park and south of the Florida Aquarium

Popular Shipping Containers Uses in Tampa

Buy Shipping Containers in Tampa. Buy a shipping container from Conex Depot, with all different sizes of both new and used cargo containers for sale. Conex Depot sells to both individuals and to businesses in the greater Tampa region and in 38 cities all over the USA. It’s easy to contact us and buy a used shipping container direct from Conex Depot in Tampa. You can save money and time shopping around by talking to one of our ConexDepot service representatives online.

Tampa shipping container projects and shipping container related businesses

Tampa shipping container restaurants. Sparkman Wharf – shipping container restaurants in Tampa. Tampa developers have redeveloped the site of the former Channelside Bay Plaza, located on the Garrison Channel in downtown Tampa. Sparkman Warf, is what is termed a “mixed use” complex – food and beverage vendors, retail shops and spaces – near Water Street. Built into converted cargo containers, developers Strategic Property Partners opened 10 new eateries in Sparkman Wharf. The Sparkman Wharf food hall is primarily built out of 18 empty Conex containers. The complex is comprised of 9 shipping container kitchens, a container bar serving alcohol, with 2 steel boxes used to create the tower entry way. Part of the design concept that reflect the culture and lifestyle in Tampa, are 6 containers that are stacked on top of the restaurants, which feature large scale murals painted by local artists from Pep Rally Studios.

Sparkman Wharf also features a dining garden area and an open outdoor lawn space for visitors to chat and enjoy people watching. The menus on offer are eclectic with the food vendors at the time of writing: Boat Run Oyster Company, BT in a Box will offer French-Vietnamese-style dishes, The Corners brings Detroit-style pizza, Edison’s Swigamajig – “modern-day quintessential seafood shack”, Flock & Stock = burgers, chicken sandwiches and tenders, and fries, Foundation Coffee, Gallito Taqueria – Mexican street food, Montados by Mise en Place – Spanish tapas, Whatever Pops serves house-made gelato, acai bowls, and ice pops. Thirsty visitors to Sparkman Wharf can quench their thirst at Fermented Reality — a German style open-air biergarten with 30 Florida craft beers on tap. In addition to the restaurants, Sparkman Wharf houses approximately 180,000 sq feet of loft-style office space and 65,000 sq feet of ground-level retail shops. The one-acre surrounding park serves as a community gathering space along the waterfront off Garrison Channel in downtown Tampa.

Shipping container home developments, Shipping container apartments in Tampa

Tampa Pastor and entrepreneur Joe Davis has an idea to help address Tampa’s affordable housing problems. Housing made from modified, empty cargo containers. Innovar Structures (“innovar” comes from the Spanish word for innovate), the company Davis co-founded, is “upcycling” those big, steel Conex boxes used to ship cargo overseas and turning them into living spaces. Each container is converted in the 55,000-square-foot Innovar factory located on the site of a former Winn-Dixie in Wauchula, about 60 miles northeast of Sarasota. Each steel box will have features like the windows, doors, interior walls, fixtures and other add-ons (like a rooftop deck) to make them habitable. While shipping container homes are not a new idea, most of the examples thus far have been “one-offs” that make for funky, novelty designs and / or environmental sustainable projects. Innovar is looking at a larger, different uses with a larger number of units produced for use as multifamily homes, RV parks, even use as workforce housing for large companies. Part of Davis’ mandate is to reduce Tampa’s affordable housing shortage. In operating youth shelters and his church in Sarasota, Davis encounters the issue in many cases. “These [shipping container homes] would be for working class poor,” Davis says. “People who can’t afford a decent place to live.”

A consideration for builders in Florida is that housing must match hurricane-proof standards – the steel containers are structural sound enough to withstand extreme weather conditions. The sea containers can be a single container – compact dwelling or multiple containers can be combined and stacked in a “Lego-like” set of stacks and arrangements for uses requiring larger square footage. Innovar hopes to turn out 20 renovated shipping container homes per month once operations are at full swing.

Tampa Railroad Conex container shipping routes

Florida’s rail system includes 2 Class I Railroads (CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Corporation), 1 Class II (Florida East Coast Railway). Freight and container cargo operations at Tampa’s seaport also depend upon dockside rail facilities. Uceta Rail Yard on Tampa’s east side services CSX as a main storage and intermodal freight transport hub.

Port of Tampa

The Port of Tampa is the largest seaport in Florida in throughput tonnage, making it one of the busiest container ports in North America. Petroleum and phosphate are the lead freight commodities. The port is located in Tampa, Florida near downtown Tampa’s Channel District on Tampa Bay, approximately 25 sea miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Containerized cargo shipping includes bulk and tanker ships, as well as roll-on/roll-off ships and container cargo ships.

Highway Interstate Access to the Port of Tampa – The nearest major highway to the port is the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, which runs along the northern edge of the port. Elevated, reversible lanes on the expressway run from Meridian Avenue (three blocks west of the cruise terminal) to Interstate 75 and the suburb of Brandon. Both the Tampa/Orlando I-4 and north/south I-75 corridors are directly connected to Port Tampa Bay via a dedicated truck ramp. The “I-4 Connector” project connects the Selmon Expressway with I-4.

Tampa main export businesses that use shipping containers

According to the ustradenumbers.com, Tampa’s main exports and imports are:
Exports: Misc. mineral or chemical fertilizers, Scrap iron, steel, Civilian aircraft, parts, Potassic fertilizers, Phosphates, Aluminum waste and scrap, Animal Fat & Oil & Fraction, Optical fibers, Taps, cocks and valves for pipes, tanks, Medical instruments

Imports: Flat-rolled iron, steel, Furniture, parts, Satellites, related equipment, Seats, excluding barber, dental, Ammonia, Gasoline, other fuels, Fruit and vegetable juices, not fortified, Halogenated derivatives of hydrocarbons, Portland, aluminous and slag cement, Refrigerators, freezers

Many of Tampa’s largest companies employ shipping containers in their business

Accusoft, Bloomin’ Brands, Blue Rock Partners, BlueGrace Logistics, Checkers and Rally’s, Cigar City Brewing, College Hunks Hauling Junk, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Florida Airlines, Innovaro, Lee Roy Selmon’s, Lykes Brothers Steamship Company, Majestic Athletic, The Mosaic Company, J. C. Newman Cigar Company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, Outback Steakhouse, Overseas Shipholding Group, Quality Distribution, Sweetbay Supermarket, Syniverse, Tampa Shipbuilding Company, Thompson Cigar, World of Beer, Wrestlicious

Using Cargo storage containers for self storage in Tampa

A very popular use for various sizes of steel shipping containers in Tampa is self storage.
Consumers usually either buy a used shipping container or rent one from a Tampa shipping container seller and store it on their property or rent a space to park the storage container. Conex Depot specializes in the sale of shipping and storage containers in the Metro Tampa area and can give you advice and pricing on the best size of shipping container for your personal storage or business storage needs. Whether you need a storage container for keeping inventory, securing construction materials, or storing furniture during a remodeling project, we have a number of storage solutions that will meet your needs.

Conex Depot offers all sizes and grades of shipping containers for sale in Tampa. Our sales team offer free project advice and the very best pricing on quality new and used shipping containers. Call now: (661) 412-2227.