BUDGET SHIPPING CONTAINERS
From, ex GST 20ft used $2,20020ft new $3,30040ft used $2,60040ft HC used $3,40010ft used $4,35020ft hire $27/wk Updated 03/08/2026
The range

Shipping containers for sale and hire

Four sizes, three grades, and one honest way to choose between them: work out the access first, then the grade, then the size. Every price on this page is a "from" figure, ex GST, set on 03/08/2026.

Shipping container guide prices by size and grade, ex GST, updated 03/08/2026
Size Internal L×W×H Capacity Used from* New from* Hire from*
10ft 2.83m × 2.35m × 2.39m 16m³ $4,350 $6,400 Ask
20ft 5.90m × 2.35m × 2.39m 33m³ $2,200 $3,300 $27/wk
40ft 12.03m × 2.35m × 2.39m 67m³ $2,600 $5,500 Ask
40ft High Cube 12.03m × 2.35m × 2.70m 76m³ $3,400 $5,500 Ask

* What "from" means. Every figure on this site is a "from" price: the starting point for that size in that grade, in Australian dollars, ex GST, ex depot. It is not a quote. Condition, availability at your nearest depot and the grade you actually need all move it, and delivery is quoted separately because it depends entirely on where the container is going.

Grades matter, and this is where a cheap container gets expensive. Cargo-worthy is the grade we check wind and watertight before it leaves the depot. As-is units are cheaper again and are not sold watertight — they may carry a patched repair, a soft spot in the floor or a door seal that no longer seats, and we will tell you exactly what is wrong with one before you buy it. New single-trip units are sealed and unmarked. If a container has to keep rain off what is inside it, buy cargo-worthy or better.

Sizes

Which size

10 Foot Shipping Containers

The small one, and — this catches everybody — the expensive one. A 10ft costs roughly double a 20ft because it is not a shipping size. It is cut down from a larger unit and the end rebuilt, so you are paying for a fabricator's hours, not for steel.

2.83m × 2.35m × 2.39m internal · 16m³ · used from $4,350 ex GST

20 Foot Shipping Containers

The one almost everybody should buy. Not because it is the best value per cubic metre — the 40ft is — but because every depot in the country holds 20fts in volume, a standard tilt-tray delivers one without any fuss, and it is the size everybody quotes, which makes it the size to compare prices on.

5.90m × 2.35m × 2.39m internal · 33m³ · used from $2,200 ex GST

40 Foot Shipping Containers

Twice the volume of a 20ft for a few hundred dollars more in used grade, which makes it the best value per cubic metre in the range by a distance. The catch is never the price. The catch is always the access.

12.03m × 2.35m × 2.39m internal · 67m³ · used from $2,600 ex GST

40ft High Cube Shipping Containers

A standard 40ft with an extra 300mm of internal height — 2.70m instead of 2.39m. It sounds marginal on paper and it is not marginal in practice, because that 300mm is the difference between racking that fits and racking that does not.

12.03m × 2.35m × 2.70m internal · 76m³ · used from $3,400 ex GST

Grades

Which grade

New Shipping Containers

Called single-trip rather than new, because they are built overseas and loaded once on the voyage out. That is as new as a shipping container gets in Australia — nobody manufactures them here.

Sold wind and watertight. A single-trip unit will usually have a few scuffs from that one voyage and from being handled at both ends.

Used Shipping Containers

Cargo-worthy is the grade that does the work. It means a unit still certified fit to carry freight at sea — structurally sound, doors operating, floor intact — and every cargo-worthy unit is checked wind and watertight before it leaves the depot.

Sold wind and watertight. It will look used, because it is.

As-Is Shipping Containers

The cheapest grade, and the one we are most careful about selling. As-is means the unit is sold with its faults, priced accordingly, and we tell you what those faults are before you buy rather than after it lands.

Not sold watertight. As-is units are not sold watertight.

Then there is the delivery

Every price above is ex depot. Getting the container to you is a separate, real cost that varies with the address, the access and the vehicle. We quote it with the container rather than after it.

How delivery is priced →

Get both numbers

The container price and the delivery price, quoted together against your address.

1 — The job

2 — You

We come back with a container price and a delivery price, usually the same day. Your details stay with us.

No-obligation quote

Not sure which combination you need?

Describe what is going inside and where it is going. That is a much faster conversation than a spec table, and it is free.

Or skip the form and ring — you will get the same two numbers faster.

Call 1300 639 282
1300 639 282Get a price