What’s in a Price?
1) Location. Containers are not generally available from shipping lines in every city. There are specific cities where shipping lines have containers. These are cities that are serviced by rail and trucking centers. When you are looking for a container, we match you up to the closest “container city”. Depending on which city that is, the price will vary. For example, a container coming out of Long Beach, CA is going to be much cheaper than a container coming out of Kansas City. There are more containers in Long Beach than Kansas City, so the price varies.
2) Size. Containers come in different sizes. The price varies depending on which size you want. For information on the most common sizes, click here.
3) Condition. Containers come in different conditions. The industry categories include one-trip (“new”), IICL, cargo-worthy, wind- and water-tight and “as is”. For a full description of these categories, click here. Some suppliers use A, B, C grades, but those are subjective and will vary from supplier to supplier.
4) Market conditions. Container pricing fluctuates due to changes in the market. We have seen quicker price changes in the past 2 years.
5) Delivery. Most customers want the container brought out to them. We offer both ground-level and flat-bed delivery. Depending where you are located in relation to where the containers are, the prices will vary.
Since there are so many factors at play, container vendors need to know a little bit of information (usually a zip code or city/state, size, condition, delivery preferences as well as any special requests) from you to give you the most accurate pricing.