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.
Launceston, TAS
Shipping containers Launceston
Every container that reaches Launceston has crossed Bass Strait on a sailing, and no amount of goodwill from us shortens that. Miss a cut-off in Melbourne and you wait for the next slot; in the weeks either side of Christmas the boats are full of other people's freight and everything stretches. So we quote Launceston in weeks and we mean it. What we can control is the part after the wharf — the grade you actually receive, the road leg across from the coast, and whether the truck we send can physically get up your drive.
- Delivered from
- Launceston stock is loaded at the Melbourne terminals and crosses Bass Strait on a scheduled sailing into Devonport, then comes across by road — there is no Tasmanian yard behind that and we will not invent one.
- Typical lead time
- Usually 2–4 weeks — the sailing sets the clock, not the truck
- Usual truck
- Tilt-tray for 10ft and 20ft where the drive is straight and clear; crane truck for 40ft and for the short steep drives through Trevallyn, West Launceston and East Launceston
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.
First, the things that are specific to here.
What people here put in them
Around Launceston we deliver containers for storage while a Newstead or East Launceston federation house is restumped and rewired, dry lock-up on the farms through Longford, Cressy and Evandale where growers want gear behind a locked door, vineyard and cellar hardware along the Tamar at Rowella and Pipers River, workshop and contractor storage for the trades servicing Bell Bay and the forestry country, site boxes for builders working the Invermay and Inveresk blocks, and simple dry storage for households in Riverside and Prospect Vale with more than a single garage will hold.
The access problem in this district
Launceston is an old city built across hills, and that shows up in the driveways. Trevallyn, West Launceston, East Launceston, Kings Meadows and Newstead have short, steep, often curved drives coming off crowned streets, brick or rendered walls hard against the boundary, and mature deciduous street trees whose canopies sit exactly where a raised tilt bed wants to be. A tilt-tray needs a straight run, a reasonable gradient and clear air above it, and a fair proportion of Launceston blocks give it none of the three. That is why we use a crane truck here more often than in most cities — it lifts the container over the fence or the wall from the street rather than needing to reverse up the drive. It costs more and it is frequently the only thing that works, so it is a conversation for the quote, not the morning. The flat parts have their own character. Invermay and Inveresk sit low behind levee protection, and while access there is easy, siting deserves thought. Mowbray, Newnham and out towards the airport at Western Junction are straightforward. On the rural blocks through Longford, Cressy, Evandale and up the Tamar the constraints turn agricultural: gates on a bend, gravel tracks, farm bridges over the creeks and paddocks that are genuinely wet from May to September. Tasmanian winter is not a metaphor. Ground that carries a tractor in February will not carry a rigid truck with a container on it in July, and the safest thing we can do is put it on the nearest firm ground and let you move it in spring. Finally, plan for the weather to move a date. A big blow across the Strait can delay a sailing, and everything behind it shuffles by a day or two. We will tell you as soon as we know rather than letting you find out when the truck does not arrive.
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 Launceston
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.
Launceston
The sailing, and what we can honestly promise
This is the difference between Tasmania and everywhere else we deliver, and it is worth spelling out rather than burying. Your container is bought and released in Melbourne, booked onto a sailing, shipped across Bass Strait into Devonport, then carried by road to Launceston. Each of those steps has its own timetable and the shipping one is not ours to control. Space on the boats is finite, cut-offs are firm, and demand spikes hard around Christmas, Easter and the start of harvest.
So the honest window for Launceston is two to four weeks from a locked-in order, and we would rather give you that number than a cheerful one that falls over. Two things make it go smoothly. First, commit early — a container that misses a cut-off by a day waits for the next sailing, not the next truck. Second, order everything at once if you need more than one; splitting an order across sailings is how people end up with one container on site and one still on the mainland. We will not quote you a shipping figure on a website, but we will give you a total delivered price with the container when we quote the job.
On the ground
Steep, narrow and built before trucks
The older Launceston suburbs were laid out for horses and then adapted for cars, and never once for a rigid truck with six metres hanging off the back. Practically that means three things worth checking before you order. How steep is the drive and does it change grade at the kerb, because a tilt bed grounds out on a crest long before the container is clear. How wide is the entry between the walls or gateposts, measured rather than eyeballed. And what is over the top — power lines, a verandah, a big elm or oak that has been there a hundred years.
Where any of those is marginal, a crane truck is the answer. It sits in the street and places the container over the obstacle, which turns a lot of impossible Launceston blocks into straightforward ones. It needs a bit of street space and sometimes a bit of notice for the neighbours, but it beats discovering the problem with a driver idling outside. Two photos settle it nearly every time: one from the middle of the street showing the frontage and the overhead lines, and one from the drive looking towards where the container is going.
Worth knowing
Cold, damp and the condensation problem
The single most common complaint we hear about containers in Tasmania is water inside them, and the single most common cause is condensation rather than a leak. It works like this: relatively warm, moist air is closed in, the steel roof cools below dew point overnight, and the moisture in that air ends up on the underside of the roof and running down the walls. In a Launceston winter, with fog sitting in the Tamar valley and cold clear nights behind it, the conditions are close to ideal for it. Cargo-worthy and new units are checked wind and watertight before they leave, so if you are seeing water in a unit of that grade it is nearly always this.
Prevention is cheap. Get the unit up on hardwood sleepers or concrete pads under the corner castings so air moves underneath and the floor is not drawing damp out of the ground — which also stops the underside rusting from below, which matters more in a wet climate. Keep the factory vents clear and add a couple more if you can. Leave an air gap between what you are storing and the walls so air can circulate rather than sit. And put anything that really hates moisture on a pallet with a passive dehumidifier next to it. Do those four things and a container is as good a dry store as you will find in this climate.
What delivery to Launceston 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.
A two-minute conversation about the site usually saves a second delivery fee later.
Also delivered nearby
We also deliver to Legana, Longford, Evandale, Westbury, George Town and the surrounding district. If your town is not on the list, ring — it almost certainly still works.
Common questions
Buying a container in Launceston
Why does a container take longer to reach Launceston than the mainland?
Because it comes across Bass Strait on a ship. Your unit is released in Melbourne, booked onto a sailing into Devonport, then carried by road to Launceston. Sailing space is finite, cut-offs are firm, and demand peaks around Christmas, Easter and harvest. Two to four weeks from a locked-in order is the honest range, and a container that misses a cut-off waits for the next sailing rather than the next truck. Commit as early as you can, and if you need more than one, order them together so they travel on the same boat.
My container has water inside it. Is it leaking?
Almost certainly not, if it is a cargo-worthy or new unit — those are checked wind and watertight before they go out. What you are seeing is condensation, and Launceston's cold nights and valley fog make it a reliable winter event. Warm moist air is sealed in, the roof drops below dew point, and the water ends up on the inside. Raise the unit on sleepers or pads so air moves underneath, keep the vents clear and add more, leave a gap between your gear and the walls, and use a passive dehumidifier for anything sensitive.
Can you get a truck up a steep Trevallyn or West Launceston driveway?
Sometimes with a tilt-tray, often only with a crane truck. A tilt bed needs a straight run, a gradient that does not change sharply at the kerb, and clear height above — and a lot of Launceston drives fail at least one of those, usually the overhead trees or power lines. A crane truck stays in the street and lifts the container over the wall or fence instead. Send us a photo from the middle of the street showing the frontage and the lines, and one looking up the drive, and we will tell you which truck is coming before anything is booked.
Can I come and look at the container before it ships?
Not in Tasmania — we have no yard here and we are not going to imply otherwise. What we can do is send photos of the actual unit on request before delivery, including the floor, the doors and the corners, so you know what you are getting rather than a stock image. If you want the certainty of a fully sound unit rather than something with character, say so at the quote and we will scope the grade accordingly — the grades page sets out what each one means.
Get a price
Talk it through with someone who has done it
We deliver to Launceston 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