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Regarding containers that ship themselves, aside from the piracy issue, and making sure that the full container plus accessories was still buoyant, I suspect there are economies of scale that make it more fuel-efficient to gather thousands of containers on a single boat. (Now, a robotic sailboat... hmmm.)

Some architects have designed houses made from recycled shipping containers: http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/shipping-con...

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Shipping containers are used for student housing where I live. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...

Economics of scale: probably. But maybe there are also other factors. For example it seems impossible to power a large container ship with solar cells, but maybe for a smaller container-ship it would become feasible? Some not so urgent goods could perhaps just drift in the currents, too? No idea, though...

I actually just had the other thought to call out a sort of X-Prize for the first autonomous robot ship that crosses the ocean. Or maybe it has already been done anyway.

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