Shipping containers Perth
Perth is its own container market. Nothing gets road-freighted across the Nullarbor at a sensible price, so what is here is what is here — which makes stock and lead time the conversation rather than cartage.
- Postcode6000
- Comes fromFremantle and the Kewdale–Welshpool freight precinct
- Typical lead timeUsually 3–6 business days from local stock; considerably longer if it has to come from the east
- Usual vehicleTilt-tray on the suburban blocks; side loader for 40ft on hardstand
- Used 20ft from$2,200 ex GST
What we send into Perth
Most of what goes to Perth ends up as site and trade storage across the growth corridors at Baldivis, Ellenbrook, Alkimos and Byford, lockable equipment storage on the industrial land at Kewdale, Welshpool, Malaga and Bibra Lake, mining and resources gear staged out of the metro before it heads north, workshop and shed conversions on the larger suburban blocks, and household storage during renovation. Any of those we can price today. Tell us the use and the address and you get a delivered figure and a realistic date in the one call.
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10ft$4,350used, from
$6,400new, from -
20ft$2,200used, from
$3,300new, from -
40ft$2,600used, from
$5,500new, from
Ex GST guide prices. Stock turns over, so ring for the number that applies this week. The number we give you for Perth already covers putting it on the ground there.
Grade changes the price more than size does, and it is what decides whether a unit is sold watertight — the full rundown is on the grades page.
Getting a truck in around Perth
Perth is, on average, the easiest capital in Australia to deliver into. Post-war suburban blocks are wide, streets are generous, verges are level and side access is usually real rather than theoretical. Two things still catch people. The first is sand, which is most of the metropolitan area: the ground carries a truck perfectly well and then compresses under four corner castings, so a container placed straight onto a sand pad will settle and go out of level within months. Pads or sleepers under the corners are the fix and they cost almost nothing. The second is the older river-side and inner suburbs — Fremantle, South Perth, Subiaco, Mount Lawley, Claremont — where frontages are narrow, verge trees are mature and the answer swings to a crane truck.
The Nullarbor problem, stated plainly
Road freighting a shipping container from the eastern states to Perth costs more than a lot of used containers are worth. That single fact shapes the whole Perth market. It means the price of standard used stock is set by what arrives through Fremantle rather than by what is cheap in Sydney, and it means an unusual requirement is a genuine wait rather than a couple of extra days.
So the honest advice for Perth is to be early and to be flexible. If a standard cargo-worthy 20ft will do the job, you will be looked after quickly. If you want a 10ft in a particular colour with a clean floor, tell us the date you need it and we will tell you truthfully whether that is realistic.
Sand, and the one thing worth doing before the truck arrives
Most of Perth's suburban ground is sand under a thin crust of whatever was spread over it. It will hold a loaded tilt-tray without complaint, which is why people assume it will hold a container. The difference is area: the truck spreads its weight over a lot of tyre contact, and the container concentrates two tonne or more onto four steel castings the size of a house brick.
Have four solid pads at the corner positions before the truck turns up — concrete blocks, pavers stacked, or short hardwood sleepers. Level them roughly. It takes twenty minutes and it is the difference between a container that still closes properly in five years and one that does not last the first summer.
Perth — common questions
Do you actually deliver in Perth?
Yes. Perth stock comes through Fremantle and out of the Kewdale–Welshpool freight precinct, and delivery runs across the metro from Two Rocks to Mandurah. What we will not do is pretend a container can be trucked over from the east quickly and cheaply — it cannot, and any supplier telling you otherwise is going to be having an awkward conversation with you later.
How long will a container take in Perth?
Three to six business days for standard cargo-worthy stock held locally. Anything non-standard depends entirely on what is in the country and when the next vessel lands. We will give you a real date rather than an optimistic one, and if the answer is three weeks we will say three weeks.
What do I need to prepare on a sandy Perth block?
Four pads at the corner positions and a reasonably level spot. Sand carries a truck and does not carry a container's corner castings — the weight is concentrated into four small steel pads and it will sink unevenly. Concrete blocks, stacked pavers or sleeper offcuts under each corner is the whole job, and it is the difference between doors that keep working and doors that bind.
Elsewhere in the country
Container to Perth? One call does it
Size, grade, cartage and timing sorted in a single conversation. Every enquiry answered within one business day.
Or skip the form — 1300 263 976