At Great Lakes KWIK SPACE (GLKS) we get questions every day about what is necessary for successful delivery for your storage container or shipping container. Much like deciding on the size container you need or whether you should rent or buy your shipping container, it’s important to know what is necessary for an easy and successful delivery of your portable storage container.
To that end, we at Great Lakes KWIK SPACE have put together this delivery guide. Here are the three things that you need to know about what is necessary to deliver your shipping container or storage container.
Ensuring that the location where you wish to place your container is suitable is one of the most important things that you can do before ordering your shipping container.
One important aspect of this is making sure the surface where you plan to put your storage container is level with adequate drainage. Shipping containers sit in direct contact with the ground and a level surface with adequate drainage avoids problems with opening and closing the container doors or with a container that is sinking into the ground.
For this reason, we recommend that the container be placed upon blocks or railroad ties so it can be easily adjusted and made level.
A key aspect of ensuring that your container delivery is successful is making sure that our driver has enough space to maneuver at your location.
At GLKS, our drivers typically deliver storage containers in 20ft or 40ft tilt-bed trucks.
When delivering shipping containers or storage containers in these tilt-bed trucks, our drivers get into position, tilt the bed of the truck up until one end of the container touches the ground, and then drives out from underneath the container.
Watch this video produced by the National Portable Storage Association for a better idea of how this works.
Due to the nature of the delivery process, every delivery site MUST HAVE at least 15 ft of overhead clearance and at minimum 2X the length of the container in a straight line.
If you find that you do not have sufficient space for delivery, contact us. We may be able to help you by renting a crane, forklift, or casters to get the container into position.
When a shipping container is delivered, the driver sets one of the short ends of the container on the ground and drives out from underneath the container. The shipping container and delivery truck make one long straight line during this process.
Standard shipping containers come with cargo doors located on one of the short sides of the container. When the container is loaded on a truck for delivery, those doors can face either towards the driver or face out towards the back of the truck and the street.
As such, the direction that the doors face when loaded onto the truck for delivery determines how and where you will be able to access your container. Make sure that you understand how the container will be delivered and how you will need to have access to your shipping container when deciding which way you want the doors to face.
Before you spend any of your hard-earned money on a shipping container, it is important to research what regulations and restrictions are on the books in your municipality, county, or association that govern shipping containers or storage containers. Most allow them, but regulations vary between most municipalities and counties and your storage provider cannot be guaranteed to know them all. A quick phone call to your local regulatory office can save you a lot of trouble down the road.
As always, if you have any additional questions please contact us. We are happy to speak to you about your options. We at GLKS rent and sell shipping containers, storage containers, and storage trailers in sizes from 10ft to 53ft and our 25 years in the business means that we can help you with just about anything.
Give us a call at 800.966.1016 or get an online KWIK quote now. Our philosophy is simple…”We do what we say we will”.
