How a container delivery actually happens
Three vehicles, four measurements and one rule about which side a side loader works from. Read this before you decide on a size and you will not have a bad afternoon.
The four measurements that decide everything
Run-in length
A tilt-tray places a container by tipping its bed and sliding the unit off backwards while the truck creeps forward. A 20ft wants roughly 20 metres of straight, reasonably level space behind the spot. A 10ft wants about half that. A 40ft on a side loader wants around 30 metres.
Width at the pinch point
Not the average — the narrowest point anywhere between the road and the spot. About 4.3 metres of clear width for a tilt-tray. Gateposts, letterboxes, retaining walls and parked cars all count.
Headroom
Power and phone lines, tree limbs, carports, awnings, verandah eaves, shade sails. A tilt-tray's bed goes up at a steep angle before the container comes off, so mid-delivery clearance is far greater than the height of the container itself.
Ground bearing
Two separate questions: will the surface carry a loaded truck without rutting, and will the placement spot carry the container through four corner castings. People answer the first and forget the second.
Tilt-tray — the default, and the cheapest
A tilt-tray is a rigid truck with a hydraulic bed that tips backwards. The container slides off the back onto the ground as the truck drives forward from underneath it. It is the cheapest way to put a container down and it handles 10ft and 20ft units comfortably.
Suits: straight driveways, hardstand, farm tracks that are formed and dry, industrial yards, anywhere with length.
Does not suit: tight streets with cars parked both sides, backyards behind a house, steep short driveways that crest at the kerb, courtyards, anywhere the container has to go over something rather than through a gap.
Needs: about 20 metres of straight run for a 20ft, 4.3 metres of width, clear air overhead, and ground that will take a loaded rigid truck.
Crane truck (HIAB) — the one that gets in anywhere
A crane truck carries the container on its tray and lifts it off with a hydraulic knuckle boom. It does not need a run-in at all. It needs to stop beside the site, put its stabiliser legs down on ground that will hold them, and have clear air between the truck and the placement spot.
In older inner suburbs a crane truck is not the expensive option. It is the only option, and we quote it as the base case rather than as a surprise.
Suits: narrow streets, over a fence into a backyard, courtyards with no vehicle access, steep driveways, tight commercial sites, anywhere placement has to be precise.
The limit is reach and weight together. The further out the boom works, the less it can lift. An empty 20ft at about 2.2 tonne is comfortable at moderate reach. A 40ft at 3.8 tonne over a long reach is a much bigger machine and a much bigger day.
Needs: a legal place to stand, firm ground for four legs, and nothing in the air between the truck and the spot. That last one is why the most useful photograph you can send is taken standing at the spot looking straight up.
Side loader — how a 40ft normally arrives
A side loader is a trailer carrying two hydraulic cranes that lift the container off the trailer's own deck and set it down beside the vehicle. It is fast, efficient, and the standard way a 40ft gets placed.
It has one constraint that is worth more than everything else on this page: on nearly every side loader working in Australia, the container is lifted and placed off the right-hand side of the trailer — the driver's side.
That means the truck has to be able to approach so that your spot ends up on its right. On a straight driveway with the container going alongside it, that is usually fine. Where the only clear ground is on the left of the approach, the vehicle has to turn around, and a rig carrying a 40ft container needs a great deal of room to do that.
Needs: around 4 metres of clear working width on the placement side, about 30 metres of length, and ground firm enough to carry four stabiliser legs.
This is the single most common reason a 40ft becomes two 20ft units — and two 20ft units are frequently the better answer anyway, because they can be placed independently and arrive on a cheaper truck.
Empty and loaded are different deliveries
Everything above assumes an empty container. Relocating a container with your gear already in it is a different job: a 20ft loaded to a modest 8 tonne is four times the weight, which changes the vehicle, the ground requirement and the rating of the lifting gear.
If you are moving a loaded container, say so at the enquiry. It is not a variation on a delivery — it is a different quote, and the difference is not small.
The three photographs that answer nearly everything
You can settle almost all of this without anybody visiting the site:
From the street, looking at the entry
Gate, kerb, driveway, and whatever is parked near it on a normal day.
From the entry, looking down the approach
The whole run to the spot, so we can see the length and the pinch points.
Standing at the spot, looking straight up
The one nobody thinks of, and the one that most often changes the answer.
Send those three with your enquiry and you get a quote with the right vehicle in it the first time.
Where we deliver
Australia-wide, including regional and remote addresses. The pages below cover the cities we can be specific about — depots, realistic lead times and what the access is genuinely like:
Not on the list? That is normal and it is not a problem. Ring 1300 263 976 with the address and you will get a cartage figure, and an honest answer about the lead time rather than an optimistic one.
Delivery questions
How much room does a container delivery need?
For a 20ft on a tilt-tray, roughly 20 metres of straight run behind the placement spot, about 4.3 metres of clear width at the tightest point, and clear air above the spot. A crane truck needs far less run but needs somewhere to stand beside the site with room for its stabiliser legs.
What is the difference between a tilt-tray and a crane truck?
A tilt-tray tips its bed and slides the container off backwards, so it needs length. A crane truck lifts the container off with a hydraulic boom, so it needs reach and clear air but almost no run. The tilt-tray is cheaper; the crane truck gets containers into places nothing else will.
Which side does a side loader place the container?
On nearly every side loader working in Australia, the container is lifted and set down off the right-hand side of the trailer — the driver's side. It matters because the truck has to be able to approach so your spot ends up on its right, and a rig carrying a 40ft needs a great deal of room to turn around.
Can you deliver a container that already has things in it?
That is a different job and a different quote. A loaded container can weigh several times what an empty one does, which changes the vehicle, the ground requirement and the lifting gear. Tell us at the enquiry that it is loaded rather than at the booking.
What should I put under the container?
Four solid pads at the corner positions — concrete blocks, stacked pavers or short hardwood sleeper offcuts — roughly levelled. An empty 20ft is a bit over two tonne through four castings the size of a house brick, and on soft ground it will settle unevenly. An unevenly supported container is one whose doors stop closing.
What happens if the truck cannot get in on the day?
It is an expensive afternoon for everybody, which is why we would rather ask four questions and look at three photographs beforehand. If access is genuinely marginal we will say so and quote the vehicle that will work rather than the one that is cheapest to quote.
Send us three photos and get a real quote
The entry, the approach, and the sky above the spot. That is usually enough to confirm the vehicle before anyone books it. Every enquiry answered within one business day.
Or skip the form — 1300 263 976