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20ft containers

20ft Shipping Containers for sale and hire

The default, and usually the correct default. The whole industry is built around this length — the deepest stock, the widest choice of grade, the lowest cost per cubic metre, and no drama at all getting a truck underneath one.

External
6.06m × 2.44m × 2.59m
Internal volume
33.2m³
Grades
New, cargo-worthy, as-is
Delivery
Quoted with the unit
Every enquiry answered within one business day.You hear back from a person, not an autoresponder. Enquiries that land on a weekend are answered the next business day.

The case for it

Where a 20ft earns its place

  • Week in and week out the cheapest container in the country measured per cubic metre. Supply runs deep enough that you get to choose a grade rather than accept whatever has turned up.
  • Goes on and off a standard tilt-tray. Wants around 20 metres of straight approach and 3.5 metres of width where the drive narrows, which most suburban and rural blocks can manage.
  • Sits inside most council rules for a temporary or secondary structure without argument. Ring your council anyway — the requirements genuinely vary from one shire to the next.

What actually goes in one

The contents of a three-bedroom house, packed with some thought. Or a complete trade fit-out — racking along one wall, a bench across the end, and enough floor left to walk in and pull one thing out without emptying the front half first.

The bit people wish they had known

The regret we hear most often comes from somebody who bought a twenty and wanted a forty. A pair of twenties costs noticeably more than one forty and arrives on two separate trucks. If there is any prospect of the job growing, get a price on the forty before you decide.

20ft Shipping Containers — dimensions and weights
External (L × W × H)6.06m × 2.44m × 2.59m
Internal (L × W × H)5.90m × 2.35m × 2.39m
Door opening (W × H)2.34m × 2.28m
Internal volume33.2m³
Tare weightapprox 2,200 kg

Grade matters more than anything else in a container quote. Grade is what decides whether the box keeps water out. Anything sold as cargo-worthy is inspected wind and watertight before release, and new single-trip units — one loaded voyage, unmarked paint, rubbers that have barely weathered — are sealed as well. As-is is the cheap end and carries no watertight claim at all: expect a previous repair, a floor section that has gone soft, or a gasket that no longer pulls up hard against the frame. We list those faults and photograph them on request, before delivery, so nothing turns up as a surprise when the truck does. If what goes inside has to stay dry, start at cargo-worthy.

Get a price — 20ft

Every 20ft is priced on the individual unit, the grade you settle on and the run to your address, and the number you get covers the container and the delivery together. Ring 1300 467 776 or send the form — answered within one business day.

Get a price for your address

Prices are quoted with the container and the delivery together, so the figure you get is the whole cost to your address rather than a headline that grows later. Ring 1300 467 776 or send the form and you will have a price for the exact unit within one business day.

Access

What a 20ft wants at your end

Around 20 metres of straight approach, 3.5 metres of width where the drive narrows, and 4.5 metres of clearance above while the tray is raised. Most blocks, suburban or rural, can find that much, which is part of why this length is the standard answer. What catches people is getting back out again: a long drive with no turning circle means the truck reverses the full length of it to the road.

Three photographs settle it: one taken standing at the street looking in, one along the run itself, and one of the ground the box has to sit on. Send them with the enquiry and you will be told which truck the job wants, and whether the drop is straightforward, before anybody talks money.

Delivery and access

Other lengths

If this one is not the fit

10ft Shipping Containers

Side access is pinched, the setback leaves nothing to manoeuvre in, or all that is needed is a lockable spot for the mower, an air compressor and a wall of hand tools.

40ft Shipping Containers

You have the space, the approach is genuinely open, and the aim is the largest amount of storage per dollar spent that anybody sells.

Questions

The 20ft, answered

What are the dimensions of a 20ft shipping container?

Outside, 6.06m × 2.44m × 2.59m. Inside, 5.90m × 2.35m × 2.39m, which gives 33.2m³ of usable room, through a door opening of 2.34m × 2.28m, at an empty weight of approx 2,200 kg. Those are ISO figures and they hold whoever built the box, so there is no point shopping on them. What does differ from one 20ft to the next is how sound the floor is and how hard the doors pull up against the seal, and that is a grade question rather than a dimensions one.

What fits in a 20ft container?

The contents of a three-bedroom house, packed with some thought. Or a complete trade fit-out — racking along one wall, a bench across the end, and enough floor left to walk in and pull one thing out without emptying the front half first.

How much does a 20ft shipping container cost?

It is priced on the grade — new single-trip, cargo-worthy used or as-is — and quoted for the exact unit with delivery to your address, in AUD ex GST. Where any individual 20ft lands comes down to its condition, to what is physically standing in the yard the week you ring, and to which yard it has to be released from. Cartage is worked out per address and quoted alongside the box rather than published, because the access at the far end shifts it as much as the distance does.

What does a 20ft container need for delivery?

Around 20 metres of straight approach, 3.5 metres of width where the drive narrows, and 4.5 metres of clearance above while the tray is raised. Most blocks, suburban or rural, can find that much, which is part of why this length is the standard answer. What catches people is getting back out again: a long drive with no turning circle means the truck reverses the full length of it to the road.

Can I hire a 20ft rather than buy one?

Yes. Hire earns its keep when the container has a finish date on it — a build, a fit-out, a harvest, a rebuild after storm damage. If it is still going to be sitting there in two years, buying is nearly always the cheaper end of the deal by a wide margin. Give us the period and both numbers get run for you.

Get a price

Price a 20ft to your address

Give us the delivery postcode and a description of the entrance, and the cartage comes back in the same number as the container. Every enquiry answered within one business day.

Tell us about the job

Four quick questions about the container, then how to reach you. Every enquiry answered within one business day.

1. Buying or hiring?

And how do we reach you?

You hear back from a person, not an autoresponder. Enquiries that land on a weekend are answered the next business day. Your details stay with us.

Or skip the form and ring us — 1300 467 776, Mon-Fri 7:30am-5pm, Sat 8am-12pm

Call 1300 467 776Get a price