What is the Cost of a 40ft Shipping Container?

40ft shipping containers are a great option for storing goods securely, but how much is a 40ft container going to cost in the UK?

On this page, we look at pricing of buying secure, good quality 40ft shipping containers for storing goods in the UK and help with providing you with the information needed to ensure you get your money’s worth when getting a good quality container to meet your needs.

You can view our current lowest price on this link of 40ft shipping containers for sale in the UK today.

How much will a 40ft shipping container cost in the UK?

Below is a table of historical pricing since 2011 along with the average pricing and current pricing

40ft shipping container	Historical high	Historical low	Historical average	Current average*
Used 40ft Shipping Container	£2700	£1000	£1550	£1500
Refurbished 40ft Shipping Container	£3250	£1430	£2320	£2300
One trip 40ft shipping container	£4500	£2800	£3650	£2800

Please be aware that the table above is intended to only be a guide. These prices are derived from our larger depot and port locations. More regional areas (i.e. Scotland, Belfast, Bristol) may have a premium charge. Pricing above is all + VAT and do not include haulage to your site. *Current average price based on sales figures June 2025.

These guide prices are based on both standard height and high cube containers and are not correct for more specialist containers (i.e. side opening containers, tunnels, etc.).

Prices for shipping containers can vary over time in any direction depending on market factors such as supply and demand.

On top of this, there are a few factors that will affect pricing for our 40ft containers:

• Container pricing will vary from location to location (an example of this is that our Felixstowe yard is next to a port thus we don’t have to move these very far to store keeping pricing down a bit more compared to our Birmingham depot which is landlocked)
• Range, type and height of the container you are after
• Delivery price will also vary from postcode to postcode – the further away you are from our depots, the more the haulage cost will be.

40ft Shipping Container Options

We offer 3 main ranges of 40ft shipping containers with both standard height and high cube units for sale in the UK. Everything we offer is professionally checked and (if needed) repaired in our depots before they are collected for delivery, so you are guaranteed a wind & watertight, structurally sound shipping container regardless of the range you choose. To give you peace of mind, we offer a 12-month guarantee with everything we sell.

So, with all this being said, we offer 3 common ranges of shipping containers available in the UK:

40ft Used Shipping Containers in the UK

Used containers come directly to us straight from the ports or another industry source. All our containers are checked and repaired in our depots before delivery. These depot checks ensure a level of consistent quality.

We guarantee these Wind & Watertight for 12 months (as we do with all our shipping containers), however we will never be able to guarantee cosmetics and will more than likely come with dinks, dents and surface rust. They will come in whatever colour livery the previous owner used.

These containers are ideal for storage where you don’t care whether the container looks smart or not. With minimal maintenance of your container, we expect these to last up to around 10 years+.

If you need a neat and smart container or if you need to have it as a certain colour, we will advise against a used container as it will almost be a “luck of the draw” with how the container will look.

40ft Refurbished Shipping Containers in the UK

A refurbished container is just a used quality container give a standard external repaint in a dark RAL colour and we will also fit a lockbox (for added security) as standard.

It will be much neater than a used container, however you will still see visible dinks and dents and will not be a good as a one-trip container making this a great “mid-range” option. We can offer most dark RAL colours on our RAL colour chart. If you are after a lighter colour this will come at a premium cost as we will need to apply another coating to the container.

40ft One-Trip Shipping Containers in the UK

One trip shipping containers are as close to a brand-new container as you can get in the UK. All shipping containers are made in China and will have done a single trip before arriving in our depots. Once in our yards, we will professionally check these containers. We will always filter out any units that have received major damage during shipping.

Minor imperfections are to be expected (i.e. minor dents, some paint scrapes around the frame and forklift tracks inside). This is typically from handling and transport and should be expected with any one-trip shipping container.

All our containers are checked over professionally in all our UK depots. If they have major damages, we will not sell these as a normal one-trip shipping container.

One trip shipping containers have a great long term value. If they are sat static on site and are used occasionally, a 20+ year lifespan is more than easy to achieve. These containers are smarter looking than our other ranges with only having minor dents and scratches. They will also maintain a higher resale value should you decide you no longer need it in some years time.

How much will delivery cost for a 40ft shipping container?

Delivery prices will vary significantly depending on a wide range of factors:

• Distance from the nearest depot
• Do you need us to offload, or do you have facilities to move the container yourself?
  • A truck with a crane is typically a bit more expensive than trucks without.
• How long will we need to spend on-site to manoeuvre?
• Will a banksman be needed?
• Is delivery risky, tricky or awkward? Please make us aware if you have any concerns with access.
• Will the driver be required to take part in a site induction?
• Will you need anything on-site moved? We will need to know in advance as we usually charge per lift on-site. If we are not notified in advanced, we may not be prepared to do the work on the day and may need to charge another haulage cost to go back to do it on a later date.

All of the above can impact your delivery costs and artic trucks are expensive to run. The longer we take to go to site and are on site for, the higher the cost of delivery will be.

In general, 40ft container are most often delivered on Hiab Articulated Trucks and will start at around £300 + VAT  if you are local to one of our depots. This price can be as high (or even higher) than £1000 if you are near land ends, John O’Groats or other remote areas. Delivery can also cost significantly more when delivering to islands that require a ferry due to costs and the ferry timetables.

Looking to buy a 40ft shipping container in the UK?

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).