diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/354-remove-dead-code.yml b/changelogs/fragments/354-remove-dead-code.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d2addf5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/354-remove-dead-code.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - "docker_container - remove unused code that will cause problems with Python 3.13 (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.docker/pull/354)."
diff --git a/plugins/modules/docker_container.py b/plugins/modules/docker_container.py
index 5002a1c2..6f310477 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/docker_container.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/docker_container.py
@@ -1209,7 +1209,6 @@ status:
 '''
 
 import os
-import pipes
 import re
 import shlex
 import traceback
@@ -1249,14 +1248,6 @@ except Exception:
     pass
 
 
-def shell_join(parts):
-    if getattr(shlex, 'quote', None):
-        quote = shlex.quote
-    else:
-        quote = pipes.quote
-    return ' '.join([quote(part) for part in parts])
-
-
 REQUIRES_CONVERSION_TO_BYTES = [
     'kernel_memory',
     'memory',