Shipping containers Adelaide
Adelaide is a smaller container market than the eastern capitals, which shows up as less choice rather than higher prices. Delivery is easy across the plains and genuinely difficult once you start up the escarpment.
- Postcode5000
- Comes fromPort Adelaide and Outer Harbor
- Typical lead timeUsually 3–6 business days, longer for anything not held locally
- Usual vehicleTilt-tray across the plains; crane truck in the Hills and the inner suburbs
- Used 20ft from$2,200 ex GST
What Adelaide actually uses them for
Adelaide enquiries usually turn out to be trade and site storage through the northern and southern growth areas at Munno Para, Angle Vale, Mount Barker and Aldinga, equipment storage on the industrial land at Wingfield, Regency Park and Lonsdale, vineyard and machinery storage through McLaren Vale, the Adelaide Hills and out to the Barossa, and household storage during the steady stream of inner-suburban rebuilds. Whatever the job, the sequence does not change: grade, then size, then how the truck gets in. Ten minutes on the phone covers all three.
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10ft$4,350used, from
$6,400new, from -
20ft$2,200used, from
$3,300new, from -
40ft$2,600used, from
$5,500new, from
Prices shown are a guide and exclude GST. Grade, condition and stock all move them. Freight to Adelaide goes into the same figure — one price, nothing added later.
Grade changes 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.
Adelaide access, honestly
The Adelaide plains are as easy as delivery gets — flat, gridded, wide streets, room to line up almost anywhere. Two things complicate it. The first is the Hills. Stirling, Aldgate, Crafers, Lobethal, Gumeracha and the roads through to the Barossa are narrow, steep and heavily treed, with low branches over the carriageway and driveways that leave the road at an angle a long vehicle cannot take. A 20ft on a tilt-tray manages most of it; a 40ft on a side loader manages very little of it. The second is soil. Large parts of Adelaide sit on highly reactive clay — among the most reactive in the country — which moves seasonally and will put a container out of level within a year if it is set straight onto graded dirt. Pads under the corners are not optional here, they are the difference between doors that work and doors that do not.
A smaller market, and what that means for your order
Adelaide holds less container stock than Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. In practice that rarely affects the price of a standard cargo-worthy 20ft, because those move through every port. It affects everything else: 10ft units, high cubes, particular colours, side-opening units and anything else out of the ordinary can mean waiting for stock to come across from the east.
The practical advice is to ring earlier than you would in an eastern capital, and to be flexible on colour and cosmetic condition if the date matters more than the look. We will tell you plainly whether what you have asked for is standing at Port Adelaide or three weeks away on a truck.
The Hills run
Deliveries up the escarpment are a size question before they are a price question. The freeway is fine; the last few kilometres are not. Roads like the run through Piccadilly, up to Summertown, or out through Lenswood are narrow with hard camber and overhanging canopy, and a long vehicle simply cannot make some of those corners.
If a Hills job needs 40ft of floor space, two 20ft units are usually the sensible answer. They travel on a cheaper truck, they can be placed independently, and they get to addresses a 40ft never will.
Adelaide — common questions
Do you deliver into the Adelaide Hills?
Yes — Stirling, Aldgate, Bridgewater, Lobethal, Woodside, Gumeracha and out through the Barossa. Size is the constraint rather than distance. A 20ft on a tilt-tray gets to nearly all of it; a 40ft on a side loader gets to very little of it because of corner radii and overhanging canopy. Give us the exact address and we will tell you what can physically reach it.
Why does my Adelaide container need to sit on pads?
Because a lot of Adelaide is built on highly reactive clay that swells and shrinks with the seasons. A container placed directly on graded soil will move as the ground moves, and the first symptom is doors that will not close properly. Four concrete blocks, pavers or sleeper offcuts under the corner castings, levelled at delivery, prevents almost all of it.
Is stock more limited in Adelaide?
For standard sizes, no — cargo-worthy 20ft and 40ft move through Port Adelaide constantly. For anything unusual, yes. 10ft units, high cubes and specific colours are more often sourced from the eastern states, which adds time rather than a large amount of money. Ring earlier than you would in Sydney or Melbourne if the date is fixed.
Other places we deliver
Get a delivered price for Adelaide
Tell us what is going in it and where it is going — you get one number, not a range.
Or skip the form — 1300 263 976