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.
Emerald, QLD
Shipping containers Emerald
Emerald is the most workable of our inland runs, and the reason is two hundred and seventy kilometres of sealed Capricorn Highway between it and our Rockhampton depot. That is one solid day rather than a fortnight of waiting for freight to line up. What it does not solve is the ground. Central Highlands cracking clay behaves the same as it does anywhere else on the black soil: superb when dry, hopeless when wet, and it will move a container out of square inside a year if the thing is sitting straight on the dirt.
- Delivered from
- our Rockhampton depot, run west up the Capricorn Highway through Duaringa and Blackwater
- Typical lead time
- Usually 4–8 business days, depending on the Capricorn Highway run
- Usual truck
- Tilt-tray for 10ft and 20ft; crane truck for 40ft and for tight yards, gemfield claims and shed surrounds
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 local picture, briefly.
What people order them for locally
Around Emerald we deliver containers for chemical, drum and spray storage on the irrigation blocks around Lake Maraboon and the Nogoa, packing shed gear and bin storage for the citrus, grape and melon growers on the Emerald irrigation area, spare parts and tooling for contractors servicing the mines at Blackwater, Gregory and Capella, secure lock-ups on small claims and camps through Rubyvale, Sapphire and Anakie, hay, lick and fencing gear on the grazing country toward Springsure and Capella, and site storage for builders and trades working the Emerald residential streets.
The access problem in this district
Emerald town is an easy delivery. The streets are wide, there is room for a rigid truck to stand, and the industrial area toward the highway is laid out for heavy vehicles. Out on the irrigation blocks it is generally good going too, because those places are built around getting machinery in and out. What you get instead are channels, headland drains, siphon pipe along the rows and overhead spans to pump sheds, all of which sit in awkward places for a truck with the bed up. The other thing about irrigation country is that the soil is heavy cracking clay, so the surface that carried a spray rig on Monday can be a genuine problem on Friday after a storm, and the Nogoa catchment can push water across low-lying blocks well after the rain has moved on. The Gemfields are a different job altogether. Rubyvale, Sapphire, Anakie and the tracks running off them are unsealed, narrow, rutted and dusty, with tight turnarounds and blocks that are small, uneven and often surrounded by spoil heaps and old workings. A 20ft goes onto most claims. A 40ft frequently does not, and the honest answer on a lot of those blocks is a 10ft or 20ft placed where the truck can safely reach rather than where you would ideally like it. Bulldust in the dry and slick clay in the wet apply out there as well. On the mine and contractor side, the constraint is not the road, it is the gate: inductions, PPE, a booked delivery window, a register and often an escort to the laydown area. Tell us at the booking which of these three worlds we are delivering into and the day sorts itself out.
Grade moves the price more than size does, and it is what decides whether a unit is sold watertight — the full rundown is on the grades page.
The range
Containers we deliver to Emerald
Priced with delivery to your address - one call, one number.
20ft Shipping Containers
There is about seven metres of straight, reasonably level ground for it to sit on, and you would rather not discover in half a year that the bigger box was the answer.
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.
Emerald
Two hundred and seventy kilometres up the Capricorn
Emerald is served out of our Rockhampton depot, and that is what makes it different to the far western towns. The Capricorn Highway is sealed the whole way, it carries heavy vehicles constantly, and the run through Duaringa, Blackwater and Comet is a normal working day rather than an expedition. That is why a four to eight business day window is realistic for Emerald when Longreach is measured in weeks, and it is why we can be more flexible about a hard date here. It also means a second movement is not a catastrophe. If a unit has to be swapped or shifted, that is a day's run rather than a fortnight of waiting on freight, and it changes how flexible anybody can afford to be when something does not go to plan.
Inspection is worth mentioning, because it comes up a lot. Stock sits at the Rockhampton depot as well as at our Cornubia yard, and inspection at Rockhampton is by arrangement rather than a walk-in. Ring 1300 467 776 first and we will sort out a time and make sure the unit you are interested in is where you can actually look at it. If a day on the road to the coast is not worth it, which for most Emerald buyers it is not, photographs of the specific unit are available on request and go out before delivery, covering the corners, both ends, the roof and the floor inside. Depot stock moves around, so ring before you make the drive rather than after you arrive.
On the ground
The Gemfields, and storage on a claim
A container is close to the ideal structure for a small claim out at Rubyvale, Sapphire or Anakie. It locks properly, it keeps red dust off gear that dust would otherwise destroy, it does not need a slab or an approval process before it can be useful, and it can be lifted out and taken with you if the claim changes hands. Plenty of them out there are doing exactly that job for wash plants, pumps, hand tools, fuel drums and everything else that would otherwise live under a tarp. It is also real security for gear that spends long stretches unattended, which on a small claim matters more than most other considerations. A lockbox fitted over the handle before the container goes out is worth the small cost, because a padlock sitting exposed on a quiet block is an invitation.
The limitation is getting the truck there. The tracks off the main roads are narrow, rutted and short on turning room, the blocks themselves are small and rarely level, and spoil heaps and old workings take up the space a truck would want to use. A 20ft is the practical maximum on most claims and a 10ft is often the smarter answer, since it can go where a longer unit simply cannot. Before you order, walk the approach as if you were driving a rigid truck down it, look for where a twelve-metre vehicle would turn around, and take a couple of photos. Send those with the enquiry and we can tell you what will fit rather than sending a truck out there to find out.
Worth knowing
Cracking clay and the wet
Central Highlands black soil does exactly what black soil does everywhere. It cracks open through the dry and it takes up water and swells in the wet, and neither happens evenly across a block. Put a container straight onto it and each corner casting punches in a little further than its neighbour, the frame goes out of square and the doors start needing a shoulder. That is the single most common complaint about a badly placed container anywhere on this soil type, it costs almost nothing to prevent and it is a real job to fix afterwards. Irrigation blocks are the worst of it, because ground that is wetted and dried to a schedule will move on that schedule too, year after year.
The fix is four sleepers or concrete pads under the castings, bedded in and checked level both ways and across the diagonals. Leave the underside open so air can move and water gets away instead of ponding beneath the floor, and where the site falls, face the doors uphill so they are not being lifted every time. If the block sits low on an irrigation flat or down near the Nogoa, take the highest usable ground over the flattest and get the floor well up. Elevation is the only thing that genuinely protects what is inside. A container is not a barrier against rising water and should never be sold to you as one: once water is at the door sill it is through the seals, and an empty box with the doors shut carries enough buoyancy to lift and travel.
What delivery to Emerald costs
Delivery is quoted with the container. It moves with the distance, the truck the site needs and how hard the last thirty metres are, so we price it per job rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for half the addresses here.
Tell us the job rather than the product. What goes in, where it sits and how the truck gets there decides the rest.
Nearby towns we cover
We also deliver to Blackwater, Capella, Springsure, Rubyvale, Clermont and the surrounding district. If your town is not on the list, ring — it almost certainly still works.
Common questions
Buying a container in Emerald
What is the wait for a container in Emerald?
Four to eight business days is normal. Emerald is served from our Rockhampton depot, about two hundred and seventy kilometres east on the Capricorn Highway, which is sealed the whole way and carries heavy vehicles daily. That makes Emerald a far more predictable run than the towns further west. Crane bookings, a fit-out like vents or a lockbox, and wet weather on black soil are the usual reasons a date moves. Tell us if you have a fixed deadline.
Can you get a container onto a claim at Rubyvale or Sapphire?
Usually, with the right size. The tracks out there are narrow, rutted and short on turning room, and the blocks are small, uneven and often ringed with spoil heaps and old workings. A 20ft is the practical maximum on most claims and a 10ft is frequently the better choice because it goes where a longer unit cannot. Send a photo down the track, and another taken from the spot itself with the surrounds in frame, and we can tell you what will fit before a truck leaves Rockhampton.
Is a container safe storage on a low block near the Nogoa?
As a store, yes. As protection from rising water, no, and nobody should tell you otherwise. Once water is at the level of the door sill it is past the seals, and an empty container with the doors shut has enough buoyancy to lift and move. Elevation is what saves the contents. Take the highest usable ground on the block rather than the most convenient, stay off the path water takes when it runs across the site, and set the unit up on pads so the floor sits well up. Done that way it is excellent long-term storage.
Can you deliver into a mine site or a contractor yard near Blackwater or Capella?
Yes, provided the site requirements come to us before the truck leaves. An induction, PPE, a register at the gate, a booked window and somebody to lead the truck in are all standard and all easy to organise ahead of time. None of them can be organised with a driver already sitting at the boom at seven in the morning. Send through the site contact, what is required and the window you have been given, and it becomes a straightforward job.
Get a price
Tell us where it is going and what it is for
We deliver to Emerald and the surrounding district. Tell us what is going in it and what the access is like, and you will get a price with the cartage worked out. Every enquiry answered within one business day.
Or skip the form and ring us — 1300 467 776, Mon-Fri 7:30am-5pm, Sat 8am-12pm