Crane Equipped Shipping Container Deliveries
A shipping container is often a very big, very important purchase that can take a lot of planning. From finances, to permission from the local council, to clearing the space for a container, an often overlooked aspect of planning is figuring out how your container will be delivered to where it needs to go.
Shipping containers are, in essence, huge, heavy metal boxes that require special machinery and careful manoeuvring to put in place and cannot be easily moved once they’ve been set down. In this guide we try to detail as much information about how we deliver our shipping containers, our delivery trucks, how they work.
We will try to highlight the most common delivery questions and issues we come across, and give you help and advice on how to minimise any risks of a failed delivery to ensure your delivery goes as smoothly as possible.
What trucks do we use to deliver a shipping container?
We normally use a network of HIAB crane equipped trucks to deliver our shipping containers. These will commonly have a single crane arm behind the cab unit of the truck, and this crane will have reasonable flexibility to lift off either side of the truck. Hiabs typically cannot lift a container off the rear of the truck (some exceptions). Hiabs can also never lift a container off over the cab of the truck.
How far can the truck reach when lifting off a shipping container
Hiab trucks are very specialised vehicles and typically each haulier has his own hiabs custom built. This means nearly every different truck has a different capacity and reach. For this reason its near impossible for us to answer a general questions of ‘how far can your truck reach’ as every possible truck will give a different answer.
The trucks lifting capacity and reach will also vary with the weight of the shipping container they are lifting (and thus also the size of shipping container they are lifting off) as well as the angle the truck has to lift off at.
Typically the bigger trucks have bigger cranes and can lift further, but we also need to consider weather or not we can fit a bigger truck into your site.
How big are the trucks that deliver a shipping container?
This also varies a fair bit. Depending firstly on the size of container you need 40ft and 45ft containers will always be delivered on a very large articulated truck (as they physically won’t fit on a smaller truck). Artic trucks are around 65ft in length. A smaller shipping container may still come on a bigger truck so if you don’t have suitable access for a large articulated truck then please let us know.
6 and 8 wheeler rigid vehicles often deliver 10ft, 20ft and 30ft containers. These trucks will typically have a 25-30ft flatbed, and will come in near to 40ft long bumper to bumper.
Access to my site will be tricky, how do you know your truck can fit?
If you have any concerns over our truck being able to access the site there’s a few methods to help alleviate risks and one chargeable way to eliminate any risk at all.
Speak to other hauliers and lorry drivers who already come into your site
If you have trucks into your site on a regular basis, its these drivers who are likely amongst the best qualified to advise if a similar or slightly bigger truck can get into your site or not.
If any of these hauliers also have hiabs on the truck and know your site it may be wise to see if they can do the whole delivery for you. this is always gong to be safer than us sending out a different driver that doesn’t know your site – especially if you have concerns over access issues.
Send in some pictures
Sending videos or even a video walk-through of the access from a point you know access is fine, through the route you envisage our truck taking, through to the spot you want the container dropping off. This is very helpful for us in understanding the ‘challenge’ at hand and we can often advise weather a delivery will be OK or not without the need or cost of a site survey
Site surveyÂ
The majority of our hauliers will offer a site survey. There will be a charge for this, typically £100-£200 + VAT if they can send a driver in as and when they have someone passing. A full delivery price will apply if the survey is required at a specific time. Once checked over if we give you the nod that a delivery is OK, we take the risk over any failed delivery
Conditions apply, notably the site cannot change between our survey and arriving to deliver the container. (for example don’t go and add a load of bollards or lamp-posts into your site between our survey and doing the delivery please!). If we say something needs to be cleared or moved before we deliver then of course this work needs doing before we arrive on site.
Can your truck run over soft ground, grass, playing fields or similar?
Our hauliers are understandably nervous about running over any sort of soft ground as they risk they truck getting stuck. If at any point the driver feels he risks damage to his vehicle, or risks getting his truck stuck they have the right to refuse to continue with the delivery. If we can’t find another suitable spot to deliver the container on your site you would still be liable for failed delivery costs from the haulier.
The decision to continue will always be entirely at the drivers discretion. If the driver feels it is unsafe, or if he has a significant risk of getting stuck or damaging his truck they have the right to refuse to continue. As they will argue there was insufficient access provided for their truck a cancellation charge and return free may apply.
From here different hauliers across our network will offer slightly different services at this point. The majority of our larger hauliers will ask their driver if he is happy to continue. If they are happy to go ahead they will ask you to sign a disclaimer. Essentially it will say ‘if I get my truck stuck, or damage my truck whilst doing this delivery that I’m not happy with – I will forward all my bills and charges’.
If you are happy to sign the driver will continue with the delivery as best as they can given the difficult conditions.
You can still help mitigate potential problem. Booking a delivery during dry summer months is one obvious help, and if you have access to farm tractors or similar machinery that might be able to help pull a truck out of a spot if it did get stuck, this might at times make a driver much happier about trying a job he thinks is risky.
Can you deliver over a fence?
Lifting over obstacles like fences or walls is generally not a problem for hiab trucks. A lorry bed sits circa 6ft off the ground, so dropping straight over a 6ft fence shouldn’t be a problem.
You will need to consider depth of the obstacle. The cranes cannot stay at the same height while they stretch. If you are lifting over a fence and stretching across to reach a desired location, the hiab may not have the reach necessary.
It is always best to let us know in advance that the driver will be lifting over a fence/hedge/wall. If the delivery requires a hiab with an extra long reach, we can arrange this prior to sending out the container.
Can you deliver into a building?
We are often asked to deliver containers into barns, warehouse or other large structures. It is tricky, but not always a no. If you do want a container delivering inside a building, there is some things to consider.
Our hiabs will lift the container from the top of the corner posts. This means there needs to be suitable overhead clearance for the crane to extend 20 – 30ft in the air. If you are wanting the truck to drive into the structure you will also need to make sure the entrance is large enough for the truck to get through. A truck with a container on it’s back will be 14’6 (or 15’6 if a high cube). The truck itself will be a little over 8ft wide. The truck will need clearance for the stabilizers to come out too, about 4ft each side.
If your container needs to go inside a building, please let us know prior to delivery.
Can you deliver over a building?
A quick answer – no. Many customers have asked us if we can deliver a container over their house and into their garden. Hiab cranes are no where near long enough to be able to stretch the height or width of building.
We have helped in the delivery over a pub recently. In this case, we delivered the containers via a flat bed truck. The pub booked their own crane for the day. The crane then lifted the containers from the truck and into the garden.
Hiring a crane is not the best option for everyone as it can easily become a very expensive endeavour.
Budgetshippingcontainers.co.uk offer the UK’s largest online range of shipping containers for sale with a nationwide network of storage and conversion yards and crane equipped delivery vehicles.
If you need a shipping container feel free to browse our online range of shipping containers for sale. You can also call us on freephone 0808 1234 215 any time 9am – 5pm weekdays and our team will be happy to discuss your requirements. Alternatively, you can use our online shipping container quote form or request a telephone callback. In both cases we aim to get back to you within 1-2 working hours (may take longer for more detailed quotes).