Picking The Right Shipping Container

Our Guide to Help You Choose the Right Shipping Container

Although in principle a shipping container is a familiar object, we understand that picking out the right container to suit your needs can get a little confusing. With a wide range of options to pick from, we've decided to simplify the basics and create a guide to help you choose the right shipping container for you.

Pick from once-used or used

Shipping containers come in two conditions: once-used or used.

Once-used shipping containers have literally only been used once and are considered 'new' in the industry. These units might have the odd dent or scrape from their one trip into the country, but are otherwise as new.

Used or second hand shipping containers can be anywhere from 10-15 years old, and are typically ex-hire from the shipping lines. This means, cosmetically, there is a significant difference, with scrapes, dents and rust evident. However, all of our used containers are repaired or refurbished before sale to ensure they are still structurally sound, and at a cost effective price. If the appearance matters, but you're working with tight budget constraints, we have a range of options to help improve the appearance.

What size?

Standard shipping containers come in two sizes: 20ft and 40ft. They also come with two different heights: 8ft6 (DV) or 9ft6 (HC/High Cube). However, all containers are the same uniform width of 8ft. At Containers Direct, we specialise in cut down containers, allowing you to pick the exact length you need to suit you. Unfortunately, we're limited on width and heights using standard units, however if you need something taller or wider, we also offer new build containers, completely customisable to your exact measurements.

What doors do you need?

Containers Direct offer 4 different door types on the majority of our units to ensure that your unit is perfectly suited to the job you need it to do. Our most popular options are the S1 door, an easy opening and newly fabricated door, along with the S2 door, which is the original container doors. We also offer our bespoke S3 style doors, personnel doors and even roller shutter doors.

Colour choices

We offer a repaint service for all of our used, and once-used, containers. We would usually recommend repainting a used container, as the exterior appearance is considerably improved by doing so, and as such we include a free repaint for all used/second hand containers below 19ft in length. We offer a wide range of colours as standard, however certain bright or light colours e.g. red, orange, yellow, white etc. will incur an additional charge. More details on the colours we provide can be found here.

Does your container need insulating or lining?

Shipping containers are unfortunately prone to condensation, especially given the fluctuating UK temperatures! This can be problematic, particularly if you're storing soft furnishings or paperwork in your container. We offer different methods to combat condensation: grafotherm, ply lining and insulation and melamine lining. Click the links below to find out more!

Electrical installations?

If you require lighting or heating in your container, either for long term storage or as part of an office conversion, we are able to fit basic electrics to your shipping container. This can include (as standard) lighting, plug sockets, heaters, a consumer unit and external IP44 hook-up.

Cladding

One of our most popular customisations is cladding the outside of your shipping container. This is something to keep in mind if you need your container to blend into rural surroundings, or if you want the security of a shipping container without the appearance of one!

Looking for something else?

We offer an extensive range of options to customise your container to suit your specific requirements. For anything you can't see on our site, please give us a call and a member of our Sales team would be happy to assist you in finding what you're looking for. For even more inspiration, take a look at our full range of case studies, or even just our Unmissable Examples!

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Contact our sales team for your no-obligation quote, including delivery!

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Testimonials

As a long established and reputable shipping container company, we want to instil confidence in our customers that we can deliver on our promises, and provide high quality products and service.

But don't just take our word for it, see for yourself what our past and present clients have to say about Containers Direct.

Read All Testimonials Here

"Really good process from start to finish." Soldado Limited
1st December 2025
order - a 4x Used 20ft Containers

"Our delivery was great and a big thank you to the wonderful delivery driver who was excellent at getting the lorry onto site and delivering the container quickly, efficiently and with a sense of humour! We will be needing another smaller container shortly and will be back in touch with you." West Byfleet Infant School
28th November 2025
order - a New 'Once-Used' 40ft Container

"The purchase of the flat pack container was very easy from start to delivery." Tom Passmore
27th Novemeber 2025
order - a 3m Flat Pack Store Container

"From start to finish Neil was excellent; his advice and patience were first class, returning all calls and contacting us when promised. This resulted in us getting exactly what we required, even down to cutting the lead time to suit our schedule. Many thanks to Neil and all the other staff members we dealt with, who were polite and helpful at all times." A J Roofing Limited
20th November 2025
order - a Used 10ft Container

"We are very pleased with our container. The guy who delivered it was brilliant, very skillful and professional. Many thanks" Mick
17th November 2025
order - a Used 10ft Container

"The product (flat pack container 4m) is excellent. I already have one that I bought 18 months ago which has been secure and kept everything stored in great condition. I needed another storage container so came straight back to you. The lead time was even quicker than the previous time which was great. The delivery was slightly tricky but the driver (Steve) was cheerful and helpful and managed the job safely , even in the pouring rain at the time. Overall, great product and delivery and very satisfied." Michael Spencer
12th November 2025
order - a 4m Flat Pack Container Store

Committed to Quality

We are ISOQAR Approved and certified to ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems, demonstrating our commitment to excellence. We are also members of MakeUK, who champion British manufacturing, and the Container Self Storage and Traders Association (CSTA), representing global operators and innovators. In addition, we are registered members of JOSCAR, the Joint Supply Chain Accreditation Register.