This video hosted by Ben Uyeda very clearly explains what you will need to consider if you are going to build a prefabricated shipping container home in California. In particular, Ben does a great job of explaining the type of concrete foundation that was best suited to meet his needs and the requirements of the San Bernardino, California building department.
This is also a very good guide for general design and engineering principles for building with shipping containers nearly anywhere in the world.
Building a Shipping Container Home | EP01Permits and Foundation Design
In Episode 1 we will go over the basic considerations for buying shipping containers, explain how we got building permits for a shipping container house and show how we constructed the concrete foundations.
