BUYING SHIPPING CONTAINERS FAQs

Used Shipping Containers are anywhere from 10-15 years old, and will be ex-shipping lines. This means they will have travelled and been handled in different ports across the world, leading to signs of wear and tear e.g. dents, scrapes, surface rust and patch repairs. These containers are good if you are working on a tight budget, or if aesthetics aren’t as important. However, in order to improve the external appearance, all of our used containers under 20ft all come with a free repaint as standard! New Shipping Containers have only been used once to transport the shipping container from the country of manufacture to the World. Although these shipping containers are considered “new” in the shipping industry, they are also referred to as “Once-Used” due to their one transportation journey. As they will have been filled with cargo to get here and handled once in port, minor scrapes and the odd dent may be visible. Both used and new containers are structurally sound. Any signs of wear and tear are purely cosmetic.

Delivery of a shipping container is very different to the delivery of a parcel. The delivery vehicles range from 39ft long rigid lorries with hiab cranes, to 65ft long articulated lorries. As you can imagine, they require significant space and suitable site access! For more details, check out our Delivery Options page.

For full dimensions of our containers, please visit our Shipping Container Dimensions Charts

Delivery of a shipping container is unlike the delivery of your usual parcel! In order to provide a smooth delivery, we only use vehicles with hiab cranes to deliver our containers. As standard, we use Artic lorries (approx. 65ft long) or a Wagon and Drag (a 39ft long Rigid lorry with an additional 20ft long trailer behind), which enables us to pair up deliveries in order to keep your transport cost as effective as possible! We are able to provide dedicated deliveries on small vehicles upon request if your site can’t accommodate the standard vehicle. Ask one of our sales team for advice if you’re unsure of your site access! For an easy delivery, we ask that your site has a suitable turning circle for the vehicle to turn around and drive back out head on after delivery, and a minimum entry width of 10ft. You will also need complete hard standing ground. These vehicles, especially when loaded, are extremely heavy. If they attempt to cross soft ground such as grass, gravel or shale, they are likely to get stuck and you would incur costs in dragging them back out!

Often our customers want to further customise their containers based on their specific requirements. We offer a wide range of optional extras designed to enahance all our shipping containers for a variety of different purposes. You can find out more about our range of optional extras here

One of the most common questions regarding shipping containers is “Do I need planning permission?”. Planning permission requirements can differ depending on your local authority, so we would always recommend double checking with them first if you’re uncertain! However, in our experience, some of our popular optional extras can help in gaining permission such as timber cladding, a sloping roof and even a simple repaint to blend the container into its surroundings.

We’re committed to quality, so all of our shipping containers come with a 12 month watertight guarantee. For more details, check out our Terms and Conditions.