FAQs
Shipping container questions, answered
The things that come up on the phone most weeks, written out here in the same words we would use if you rang and asked.
Working out what you need
How do I know whether to get a 20ft or a 40ft?
Measure the ground before you measure the load. A 20ft wants roughly seven metres of level clear space to sit on and a straight approach to reach it. A 40ft is better value per cubic metre but takes a great deal more room to place — think about where the truck has to stop, not only where the box ends up. On a tight block, two 20fts dropped in separate spots often beat one 40ft that will not fit anywhere useful.
Is a high cube worth the extra?
If anything is going on the walls, over your head or up on a mezzanine, yes. A high cube stands a foot taller — 2.9m against 2.59m on the outside — and that foot is what lets you line and insulate the inside and still walk about upright. For plain pallet and gear storage, standard height is usually the sensible buy and the cheaper one.
Should I buy or hire?
Hire suits a job with an end date on it: a build, a renovation, a season, a shutdown. Buying suits anything open-ended, because somewhere past a year or two of continuous hire the arithmetic stops favouring hire — and you will be told that rather than left on a billing cycle.
How much actually fits in one?
About ten Australian standard pallets on the floor of a 20ft and roughly twenty-one in a 40ft, single stacked. In household terms a 20ft takes a typical three-bedroom house at a squeeze and a 40ft takes it without argument. Describe what is going in and which size you need usually answers itself.
Condition, grade and what those words mean
What do the grades actually mean?
New, or single-trip, has made one loaded voyage and looks close to factory. Cargo-worthy is a used unit still certified fit to carry freight at sea — sound structure, sealing doors, solid floor — and cosmetically whatever a decade of weather and paint has left behind. As-is is sold on its faults: it might have a hole, a soft patch of floor or doors that need persuading, and the price reflects exactly that.
Which grades are sold watertight?
New and cargo-worthy units are wind and watertight, and that gets checked before one goes out. As-is units are not sold watertight, and that is the difference you are paying less for. If the contents have to stay dry, do not buy as-is on price alone — say what is going inside and we will point you at the right grade.
There is rust on it. Is that a problem?
Usually not. These are built from weathering steel, which grows its own oxide skin and then largely stops eating itself. What matters is whether the rust has gone all the way through, whether it is sitting in a roof panel where water ponds after every storm, and whether the bottom rail has been chewed out by years of standing flat in wet grass. Staining on a side panel is cosmetic and always will be.
Will a container keep my things safe in a flood?
No, and anyone who says otherwise is selling something. A sound container keeps rain off from above and that is where the claim stops. Floodwater comes in at the door seals, and an empty container will lift and travel. On a block that goes under, the only real answers are height above the flood line and being able to shift the contents out in time.
Getting it onto your place
What does the truck need to get in?
For a 20ft on a tilt-tray, picture a straight run of about twenty metres, three and a half metres of width at the tightest pinch and four and a half metres of clear air overhead. A 40ft wants nearer thirty metres and more width again. And bear in mind the truck has to leave as well, which down a long single-width drive means reversing the entire length of it.
Do I need to do anything to the ground first?
Get it level and get something solid under the four corner castings — hardwood sleepers, concrete pads or well-compacted road base. The whole weight travels through those four points, so ground that felt like concrete after a dry fortnight can let one corner sink after a wet one, and a box that is out of square is a box whose doors fight you every single time you open them.
What does delivery cost?
It is worked out per address alongside the container, because that is the only honest way to answer it. Distance counts, but what the truck has to do at your end usually counts for more. Send one photo from the street looking in, one along the approach and one of the spot it has to land on, and you will get a firm figure instead of a range.
Can it be delivered with my gear already inside?
Only where that was the arrangement from the outset. A loaded container is a different weight, a different restraint job and often a different truck altogether, and it is not something to spring on a driver at seven in the morning. Raise it at the quote and it is straightforward.
Ordering, paying and approvals
Can I look at the container before it is delivered?
Yes. Come out to 51–55 Bromley Street, Cornubia QLD 4130 and ring beforehand so the unit is standing clear rather than buried. If you are nowhere near there, ask for photographs of the actual container on request and they come through before delivery.
When does it get paid for?
Before it leaves the yard. That is what allows a specific unit to be held under your name instead of going to whoever rings next, and it is exactly why we are glad to have you inspect it or to photograph it for you first.
What is the shortest hire?
A month is the usual minimum and there is room to move where it makes sense to. The unit stays ours to maintain, delivery and collection are quoted the same way they would be on a sale, and if the hire is quietly turning into a purchase we will say so.
Do I need council approval to put one on my block?
It turns on your council, how long it is staying, whether it can be seen from the road and what it is being used for, and it genuinely differs from shire to shire. Some treat it as a temporary structure and want nothing at all; others want a siting application; newer estates often carry a covenant tighter than anything the council asks. One call to your own council settles it, and it is a much better call to make before delivery day than after it.
Living with it afterwards
Why is it wet inside when it has not rained?
Condensation. Warm damp air gets in through the day, the steel gives up its heat overnight, and the moisture comes back out on the ceiling and runs down the walls. It is worse near the coast and worse again if damp things went in and the doors got shut on them. Vents help, keeping the load up off the floor helps, and lining with insulation solves it properly.
Can I shift it later?
Yes — the thing was designed to be picked up and put down repeatedly. What decides whether that is easy is whether a truck can still get to it once you have built a deck, run a fence or planted a garden around it. Worth two minutes of thought on the day it lands rather than four years later.
How do I keep it secure?
A lockbox welded over the padlock is the best single thing you can add, because it shrouds the shackle and leaves bolt cutters nothing to bite on. After that it is placement: put the doors up against a wall, a fence or another container so they physically cannot swing open even if somebody defeats the lock.
Get a price
Ask us the one that is not here
Ring it through or type it in — both land with somebody who knows the answer. 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