What to check on a used container
Ten minutes, a torch and a list. You do not need to be a surveyor — you need to look at seven things in the right order.
The seven checks, in the order that finds problems fastest
Shut the doors and look for daylight
Get inside, pull both doors closed, let your eyes adjust for thirty seconds. Then look at the roof line, the four top corners, the seams down each side and the whole perimeter of the door frame. Any daylight is water.
Walk the floor
Twenty-eight millimetres of marine-grade plywood on steel cross-members. Feel for softness and spring, look for delamination, deep gouges, oil staining and discolouration. Push down hard with your heel in several places.
The door gasket
Run a hand around the rubber on both doors, looking for perishing, sections gone hard, and anywhere it has pulled away from the frame.
The locking bars
Work all four. They should turn without a fight and the cams should pull the door hard against the gasket at the end of travel. A bar that will not seat usually means the door end has been knocked and the frame is slightly out of square.
Corner castings and bottom rails
The eight steel blocks at the corners carry the whole weight and are what a crane picks up — cracks or serious distortion are a walk-away. Then run your eye along the bottom side rails, which is where water sits and where rust that matters starts.
Repairs
Nearly every used container has been repaired and that is fine. A good repair is fully welded around its perimeter and painted over. Silicone, sealant, rivets or a patch tacked at the corners is a repair done to get through a sale.
Smell it
Thirty seconds inside with the doors shut tells you what it last carried. A strong chemical smell, a persistent damp smell or something organic gone off will not come out and will transfer to whatever you store in it.
And the lock box
A lock box is a steel shroud welded over the padlock position on the right-hand door so bolt cutters cannot reach the shackle. Check it is there, check the padlock you intend to use fits inside it, and check the door still closes with the lock in place. It is the cheapest security on the container and the one most often overlooked at handover.
Inspection questions
What is the single most useful check?
Shut the doors, let your eyes adjust for thirty seconds, and look for daylight at the roof line, the corners, the seams and around the door frame. It takes half a minute and it finds more problems than everything else combined.
Is surface rust a problem?
On a used container, no — it is normal and cosmetic. What matters is rust that has gone through, flaked into layers, or opened a hole, and rust along the bottom side rails where water sits. That is a different conversation.
How do I check the floor?
Walk the whole length including the corners, feeling for softness and spring, and look for delamination, deep gouges, oil staining and discolouration where something wet has sat. Push down hard with your heel in a few places. A floor that flexes has taken water from below.
What if I cannot inspect it in person?
Most people never see the container before it arrives, which is exactly why photographs of the actual unit matter. Ask for the door end, the floor from inside, both sides, and a close shot of any repair. We send them on request, before delivery.
Ask for photos before it is loaded
We send photographs of your actual container on request, before delivery. Every enquiry answered within one business day.
Or skip the form — 1300 263 976