South Carolina used 50 retired shipping containers to create two artificial reefs in 2005; the containers were prepared to provide shelter for marine life

A dented steel shipping container destined for scrap is now valued as an artificial reef in the ocean off the coast of South Carolina. It’s home to juvenile snapper and is covered in barnacles. While it may sound like a gimmick, it’s a very real way to help marine life. According to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Army National Guard provided 50 shipping containers to Hilton Head in late 2005, enhancing at least three existing reef sites, including the Fish America Reef. The containers were stripped of their doors and loose debris, then had holes cut into them to create a cave-like space for both divers and marine life. This is a small, low-key solution to a larger issue: the coastlines of America have seen a lack of natural hard-ground habitats, and someone needed to find a way to utilise all this steel.

The National Guard’s unlikely side hustle

As part of the Reef-Ex programme, South Carolina’s DNR and National Guard have worked together since 1997. By 2014, according to Army Times, the partnership had placed 587 armoured vehicles, 248 shipping containers and 35,000 tons of concrete off the coast, creating more than 1.1 million cubic feet of reef habitat in total, a separate tally from any single container or subway-car deployment. This is a free disposal solution for the National Guard, cheaper than concrete for the state, and, per the National Guard, the reefs are built to stay productive for roughly 150 years, a genuinely reassuring number for a generation that’s mostly seen headlines about dying reefs.

The military-industrial waste site has been turned into an underwater nursery. It helps explain why South Carolina uses a lot of recycled waste. Most of the continental shelf is covered in sand, so anything solid is a valuable asset. This includes old army tanks.

Why fish love your old cargo box

The holes cut into the shipping containers provide hiding spots for fish, creating a varied structure that attracts species such as grouper and amberjack, according to Robert Martore, who has run SCDNR’s artificial reef programme for decades. They’re durable, rust slowly, and have flat surfaces, meaning they’re easy to stack and transport. (A 2025 Post and Courier report on a new barge added to the Hilton Head Reef shows the containers already there are still doing that job today.)

A great example of how long these items can last is the subway car. According to Robert Martore, in Atlas Obscura, decommissioned New York City “Redbird” subway cars have also been sunk off South Carolina’s coast since 2001, as part of a wider East Coast programme that placed roughly 2,580 cars across six states. “About 90 percent of them remained intact and upright after 15 years,” Martore says, but a newer, stainless-steel model collapsed within months. This shows that not all scrap is the same; it depends heavily on the material and construction.

Not all green

While using metal in the ocean may seem like a green solution, the containers and vehicles need to be stripped of any fuel, paint, insulation, and toxic materials. Over the decades, regulations have been put in place due to issues in the past with hazardous materials on old military ships. Creating an artificial reef can take years to populate and, if not placed correctly or cleaned properly, can cause more harm. However, for a generation concerned about ocean health, there’s something satisfying about watching scrap steel become a reef. It isn’t a flashy climate pledge, just a slow, steady trade of junkyards for fish nurseries.