Shipping container hire
From $27 a week for a 20ft, ex GST. Hire suits anything with an end date on it — a build, a fit-out, a shutdown, a harvest, a move that has gone sideways.
The arithmetic, stated plainly
A 20ft hires from $27 a week. A used cargo-worthy 20ft buys from $2,200. On those numbers alone the crossover is somewhere around eighteen months to two years.
Under a year, hire. Over two years, buy. In between, it is about whether you want to own a container.
The correction most people forget is at both ends. Buying means paying cartage once and then owning the disposal problem. Hiring means paying cartage twice — delivery and collection — and owning nothing. Ask for the collection charge at the start, not at the end.
What hire is genuinely good for
- Projects with a date on them. A build, a fit-out, a renovation, an event, a shutdown, a season.
- Cash flow. Weekly hire is an operating cost. A purchase is capital. For some businesses that is the entire decision.
- Genuine uncertainty. When you do not know whether it is three months or three years, hire and convert later if it turns permanent.
- Not wanting the disposal job. Getting rid of a container you no longer need is real work. Hire makes it somebody else's.
Hire questions
How much is container hire?
A 20ft hires from $27 a week, ex GST, plus delivery and collection. Rates on other sizes depend on availability rather than sitting on a standing price list, so ring and ask.
Is there a minimum hire period?
There is usually a minimum term, and it is short. What matters more to the total cost is the delivery and the collection, which are each a real cartage charge — on a short hire they can outweigh the weekly rate, so ask for both figures up front rather than just the weekly.
When is hiring better than buying?
Under a year, almost always. Over two years, almost never. In between it depends less on the arithmetic than on whether you want to own a container at the end, and whether you want the job of getting rid of it.
Can I buy the container at the end of a hire?
Often, yes, and it can be the sensible outcome when a temporary need turns permanent. Ask at the time rather than assuming — it depends on the unit and on how long it has been out.
What condition does it have to come back in?
Fair wear and tear is expected. What is not is damage, holes cut for services, or a container returned full. Ask what the damage schedule looks like at the start; a hire company that will not tell you is one to be careful with.
Get a hire rate
Tell us how long and where, and you get the weekly rate, the delivery and the collection in one answer. Every enquiry answered within one business day.
Or skip the form — 1300 263 976