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.
Kalgoorlie, WA
Shipping containers Kalgoorlie
Six hundred kilometres of Great Eastern Highway separates the Goldfields from the nearest port, and that one fact shapes every container decision made in Kalgoorlie. Cartage is not a rounding error out here. The way to keep it sensible is to travel on a truck already heading east rather than sending one out for a single box, which means being a bit flexible about the day and very precise about the specification. Nobody wants the wrong container standing in a yard at Boulder with six hundred kilometres of highway between it and anywhere it could be swapped.
- Delivered from
- our Fremantle depot, carted east up the Great Eastern Highway through Southern Cross and Coolgardie
- Typical lead time
- Usually 7-12 business days from order to on the ground, and faster when a truck is already running east
- Usual truck
- Tilt-tray for 10ft and 20ft where the approach is firm; side loader or crane truck for 40ft and for anything lifted into a fenced compound
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 bit that is specific to here, first.
How this district uses them
Around Kalgoorlie we deliver containers for core trays and sample storage for exploration crews working the ground out toward Menzies, Leonora and Kambalda, consumable and tool stores on drill programs where the nearest hardware counter is hours away, parts and workshop storage across the Anzac Drive and Broadwood industrial blocks, dry lock-up for prospectors keeping detectors, dry blowers and jerry cans out of the red dust, crib rooms and site offices on short-life packages, and household storage while a Boulder miner's cottage gets underpinned and reroofed.
Getting it onto the block
Kalgoorlie is one of the rare Australian towns where the street layout works in a truck driver's favour. Hannan Street and the grid around it were set out wide enough to turn a camel team, and a rigid with six metres hanging off the back inherits the benefit. Most of the town centre, and the newer estates out at Somerville and Hannans, give a driver room to set up square and take his time. Boulder is tighter. The lanes behind Burt Street, the old cottages on narrow frontages and the rear laneways were never sized for a loaded truck, and the verges are soft red gravel that cuts up badly under a rear axle. Ground is the second question. Much of the Goldfields sits on calcrete and hard red gravel that carries a container beautifully and asks for almost nothing underneath it. What catches people out is transition ground: a pad graded last month and never compacted, fresh fill around a new shed, or the fringe of the salt country out toward Lake Lefroy where a summer storm turns the surface to grease for a day and then bakes it hard again. If the pad is new, say so, and we will bring timber. The third question is heat. Through summer the front half of the day is the working half. Steel that has been standing in the sun since dawn is too hot to put a hand on by eleven, sealant stops behaving, and nobody makes good decisions at forty-four degrees. A morning slot is not fussiness, it is how the job gets done properly. Three photos with your enquiry settle most of it: the street looking in, the length of the approach, and the spot itself. Send those and we will tell you which truck is coming and what day it can be there.
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 Kalgoorlie
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.
Kalgoorlie
Getting a container up the Great Eastern Highway
Every container that lands in Kalgoorlie has already done a long day on the road, and that changes how you should order. Two things make the difference between a sensible number and a silly one. The first is timing: a unit that can travel on a truck already scheduled east is a very different proposition to one that needs a truck sent out on its own account. The second is batching. Two or three containers going to the same job, or to the same street, share a run and share the cost of it. If you know you will need a second box in a month, it is worth saying so at the first enquiry.
The other thing that saves money out here is getting the specification right the first time. In Perth or Brisbane, swapping a wrong unit is an inconvenience. In Kalgoorlie it is a second linehaul. So we ask more questions than you might expect: what is going inside it, how long for, does it need a personnel door or extra vents, is it going onto a hardstand or onto dirt, will site want it painted. Ring 1300 467 776 with the address and the job and we will come back with the container and the cartage as one number, so there is nothing waiting on the invoice.
On the ground
Red dust, heat and what they do to a steel box
Goldfields dust is fine, it is relentless, and it gets into everything with a moving part. The two places it matters on a container are the door seals and the locking gear. Grit works its way into the rubber and along the cam rods, and a set of doors that opened sweetly in the yard becomes a two-person job after a windy fortnight. A wipe of the seals and a smear of grease on the cams and hinges a couple of times a year is the whole maintenance program, and it is the difference between a container that lasts thirty years and one that annoys you every time you open it. A lockbox is worth having as much for keeping dust out of the padlock as for security.
Heat is the other one. A closed steel box in a Kalgoorlie February gets a long way past the outside temperature, and while that does not hurt tools or steel stock, it is hard on anything with electronics, adhesives, aerosols or batteries in it. Vents help. So does whirlybird ventilation, a light-coloured roof, and leaving a hundred millimetres of air under the floor rather than sitting the box flat on the ground. Dry heat means condensation is less of an issue here than on the coast, but the cold clear nights in July still swing thirty degrees off the afternoon, and that is enough to sweat a poorly ventilated container.
Worth knowing
Mine sites, exploration camps and site access
A good share of Goldfields containers never see a residential street. They go to a mine gate, a camp or a drill pad, and those deliveries live or die on paperwork organised well before the truck leaves. Site access permits, driver inductions, gate hours, escort requirements, wash-down and speed limits on the haul road are all normal and all specific to the site. We need the site contact, the gate the truck is expected at, and what the site expects to do with the container when it arrives, because plenty of operations would rather offload with their own franna or telehandler than have a side loader working inside their fence line.
Out past the gate it is a different set of questions again. Exploration camps and remote pads are usually at the end of a graded track, and a graded track is fine for a light vehicle and marginal for a loaded truck. Corrugations, washouts after a storm, and soft sand through creek crossings are the usual culprits. Where a truck cannot safely reach the final spot, the sensible answer is to drop at the nearest hardstand and let the site shift it the last few kilometres with gear built for it. Tell us the truth about the track at the quote stage and we will plan for it rather than discovering it at three in the afternoon.
What delivery to Kalgoorlie costs
We price the cartage with the unit rather than off a rate card. Give us the address and the entry and you will get a real number.
Send three photos of the site with your enquiry and we can usually tell you the truck and the timing straight back.
Nearby towns we cover
We also deliver to Boulder, Coolgardie, Kambalda, Leonora, Norseman and the surrounding district. If your town is not on the list, ring — it almost certainly still works.
Common questions
Buying a container in Kalgoorlie
How long does a container take to get to Kalgoorlie?
Usually seven to twelve business days from order to on the ground. The container itself is rarely the hold-up. What sets the date is when a truck is next running east with room on the deck, and whether the unit needs anything fitted before it goes, like extra vents, a personnel door or a paint job. If you have a fixed date, a shutdown, a site start or a lease ending, tell us at the enquiry and we will work backwards from it. Ordering a fortnight early costs nothing and buys you the good end of that range.
Can you deliver straight to a mine site or exploration camp out past Leonora?
Yes, and we do it regularly, but the site controls how it happens. We need the site contact, the gate, the induction and permit requirements, and the site's preference on offloading, because many operations would rather use their own franna or telehandler than have our truck working inside the fence. Beyond the gate, the honest question is what the access track is like. Corrugations and soft creek crossings stop a loaded truck that a ute drives through without noticing. If the last leg is marginal we will drop at the nearest hardstand and let the site do the final shift.
Will things be safe stored in a container through a Kalgoorlie summer?
Tools, steel, drill consumables, furniture and general gear are fine. What struggles is anything with electronics, batteries, aerosols or adhesives in it, because a sealed steel box in February runs well above the outside temperature. Vents make a real difference, whirlybirds more so, and getting the floor off the ground on sleepers or pads lets air move underneath. A light roof colour helps too. If you are storing something genuinely heat-sensitive, tell us before you order and we will spec the ventilation properly rather than you retrofitting it in the dust later.
Can I look at the container before it comes east?
Stock for the Goldfields is picked up at our Fremantle depot, and inspection there is by arrangement rather than a walk-in, so ring 1300 467 776 first and we will organise a time and have the unit accessible. If a trip to the coast is not realistic, which for most Kalgoorlie buyers it is not, ask for photos of the actual unit on request and we will send them before delivery: corner castings, door end, roof, and a shot down the floor. You get to see the box you are buying, not a stock image of one like it.
Get a price
Get a price for your address
We deliver to Kalgoorlie 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