How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Shipping Container in the UK?
18 March 2026
We are often asked ‘how much does it cost to hire a shipping container? This article will help to explain the various costs for different sized containers, hire durations and other factors which may determine the price.
Typical Weekly Hire Pricing
Prices are based on the minimum duration that you wish to hire a container for. The minimum hire period chargeable is just 4 weeks, and we break our hire pricing down into 4 categories:
- Minimum 4 Weeks
- Minimum 3 Months
- Minimum 6 Months
- Minimum 12 Months
The longer the hire period you commit to, the cheaper the weekly hire rate becomes. Our hire fleet consists of 8ft, 10ft, 20ft, and 40ft high cube containers, though we may have other types/styles available by request.
Example Hire Costs by Container Size
Hiring a container is often much cheaper than people expect.
8ft containers
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From £7.00 per week + VAT (minimum 12-month hire)
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£14.00 per week + VAT (minimum 4-week hire)
20ft containers
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From £8.00 per week + VAT (minimum 12-month hire)
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£16.00 per week + VAT (minimum 4-week hire)
For example, if you need a 20ft container for just 4 weeks in Suffolk, the hire cost would be £64.00 + VAT for the full four-week period.
40ft containers
- From £18.00 per week + VAT on longer-term hires (minimum 12 months)
That’s a significant amount of secure storage space for a very modest weekly cost.
Delivery and Collection Charges
When hiring a container, there will be a charge to deliver the container and one to collect it at the end of the hire. The cost for this depends on your distance from our closest depot. In Suffolk, for example, deliveries come from our Felixstowe depot. The closer you are to Felixstowe, the lower the delivery cost would be.
Example Delivery Costs (20ft Container)
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Delivery to Ipswich: approx. £250.00 + VAT
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Delivery to Bury St Edmunds: approx. £260.00 + VAT
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Delivery to Lowestoft: approx. £280.00 + VAT
The same fee applies for collection of the container. This charge is fixed when you take the container on hire, and prepaid so that all you need to do when you’ve finished with the container is give us a call and we’ll arrange a swift collection.
Delivery takes place on a lorry equipped with a HIAB crane which can self-offload the container and position it for you.
Are There Any Extra Costs?
We believe in keeping our pricing simple, and transparent, and for that reason you won’t find any hidden charges with our hire agreements. We don’t insist that you take out insurance or ‘damage repair protection’ and we don’t charge for steam cleaning the container on return.
Our rental agreement just asks that you keep the container in good clean order, insured and free from damages. Should you accidentally damage the container (this is rare), we can discuss with you the cheapest way to repair it and will re-bill these cost to you at cost to us.
