Shipping Container Painting

Product Description

Shipping container painting is a very common way to extend the life of a used shipping container. Repainting a shipping container also makes it look smarter and neater, especially on used / older container. It may also be necessary for a specific use or to match company colours or similar.

We offer shipping container painting in all our depots. Popular shades of blue and green are generally held in stock and a few other common colours. Any RAL colour code of paint you require can also be ordered in.

Note: Suppliers of marine grade paint only work to RAL colour codes, so if you have a different colour scheme code (e.g. BS colours) we would need to ask you to pick the matching RAL colour code. This removes any ambiguity for us in the middle leaving a colour ‘open to interpretation’ can mean unhappy customers so this is why we insist you tell us please! We also cannot offer metallic or pearlescent shades.

You can find more information on our Ultimate Guide to Repainting a Shipping Container.

Basic Repaints

The basic shipping container painting price involves a quick blow over only. This is the kind of repaint we include on our refurbished shipping containers. It’s our most cost-effective repaint option.

When repainting a used shipping container, surface rust is commonly not ground to a clean finish. It doesn’t really need rubbing down as the COR-TEN steel construction means any surface rust is in itself non porous so rubbing down the surface rust won’t make any significant different to the ageing of the container. (i.e. rust on shipping containers is a protective layer in its own right. Rubbing down this surface rust prior to a repaint won’t add additional life although it will improve the surface cosmetics). It also add so much labour time that its makes the cost not viable in many cases.

When repainting a one trip container this can offer a smart and clean finish. With a basic repaint we do repaint over the locking gear and door seals. If you want a smarter overall finish, especially when repainting a one trip container or having a container conversion project undertaken, we may recommend a premium repaint

This basic option is ideal if you want to hide the original colours, logos and markings on a storage container and make the appearance better overall.

Premium Repaints

We also offer a ‘premium’ repaint option where we mask off the door seals and locking rods before repainting. We will still paint over the shipping decals etc, but the masking does give a much smarter finish overall.

Premium repaints (or masked repaints) are a great option for repainting one trip containers or containers that are being converted.

If you are having side openers or tunnel containers will incur additional costs as there are more door gears and seals to mask over.

You can read more details on this in our blog post detailing the differences between our standard and premium repainting options.

Other Repaint Options

Clean and Prime

With used shipping containers can also spend more time preparing the surface before repainting. This additional work for the repaint does not add any additional lifespan or help the shipping container function better. However it does give a better cosmetic finish.

We can also add prime coats and base layers if you need exact shade matching for a specific purpose. As with anything, in such a competitive industry anything is possible but the more work involved then the higher the cost.

Shipper Legible

Unlike our basic and premium repaints, this option allows the container to still be shipped. With this option, we mask off the CSC plate and shipping decals/information.

We also have the option to remove the decals and repaint the whole container and then reapply the decals after the container has dried.

If you are refreshing your container, a simply masking over the information will give a nice tidy finish. If you are changing the colour entirely, you may choose to have the decals removed and reapplied for a more cohesive finish.

We can also mask off the door gears as we would a premium repaint.

Internal Repaint

This a much less common request but sometimes want to smarten up the inside of their used container. Internal repaints are also more common for conversion projects as they may choose other colours than white to work with their plans.

Dark vs Light Shades

Marine grade paint is designed to be applied without a primer and a single coat is priced as standard. Darker shades will routinely work better at coating the container. Dark colours also hide damage and dents better on use containers than lighter shades.

If you opt for a light RAL colour, this will generally be more expensive as it will either need to be primed or have more than one coat to properly cover the container.

If you are shopping for pure value, we typically recommend looking at a darker shade rather then a lighter shade. We also generally only stock darker shades of paint.

Top Tips:

• Surface rust is not rubbed down as a matter of course on used containers prior to a repaint
• We use marine grade paint, a very hard wearing and very durable paint finish. This will improve cosmetics on a used container and also add a little additional life.
• Masking up the locking rods and the door rubbers prior to a repaint will improve the cosmetic condition only.
• Darker shades of paint show up any dinks and dents less than lighter shades
• We over-spray the original container colour without an additional base coat. Base coats can be added at extra cost but we often suggest this isn’t necessary.
• Repainting a shipping container will add to the lead time – at best it will take a couple of days to repaint the container and let the paint dry – it may take up to 2 weeks if we need to order in a special paint colour for you. If the yards are busy it can take up to 4 weeks.
• We will repaint in the RAL colour specified. However, we do not guarantee perfect shade matching as there may be some minor offset when repainting over different original shipping container colours.
• We can only work with RAL colours, as marine grade paint only comes in RAL colours. If you have a different paint colour coding system, we will ask you to choose the RAL colour you feel is closest to your required shade.

*See our shipping container colours page detailing the popular and standard RAL colour codes, including example photos of the most popular paint shades in use on shipping containers.