Container transport cost in India

40 ft container transport cost per km

These are the only door-delivery rates for a container that were public and dated within the last twelve months when we checked: one shipping line’s inland haulage tariff, for 40 ft boxes from Mundra. Divided by their road distance, they give ₹74 to ₹93 per km, over 5 routes from 439 km upwards. For a first idea on another long route, multiply its distance by that band: Nhava Sheva to Hyderabad is 694 km by road, which gives ₹51,500 to ₹64,500 for a 40 ft box and ₹31,500 to ₹56,500 for a 20 ft one. That is an estimate, not a quote, and the band comes from one port’s long routes: other routes can cost more per km, such as Kolkata to Bihta, near Patna, at ₹1,29,481 for a 40 ft box in the table below.

Port to inland depot: 2026 trucking rates for 20 ft and 40 ft

The same shipping line published, for July to September 2026, what it charged to truck a box between a port and an inland container depot, for each size and by weight of cargo. A box bought empty travels in the lowest weight band, the one in the table. These are port-to-depot moves for the line’s own import and export boxes, not deliveries to a door, and you cannot book them for a box you bought; they serve as a yardstick for shorter routes:

• Short trips cost more per km. From Nhava Sheva to Pune, about 136 km to the city, a 20 ft box cost ₹23,532, about ₹170 per km, twice the rate of the long routes from Mundra: loading, waiting and the return trip weigh more when the distance is short.
• A 20 ft box costs less, but not half. On the 40 lines of the tariff, in both directions, that price both sizes, a 20 ft box cost a median 78% of a 40 ft one, and 61–87% on half of them; on some short routes, such as Nhava Sheva to Pune, the two cost about the same. The estimates on this site apply that middle range to 20 ft boxes.
• A high cube usually costs the same as a standard 40 ft box; on a few routes the tariff prices it a little above or below.

How much does it cost to transport a 20 ft container?

It depends on the distance and on who arranges the truck:

• From a dealer in your own city: most sellers quote the delivery as a lump sum with the box. We found no published rate for such local trips; ask for it in the quote, with the unloading.
• Up to a few hundred km: as a yardstick, the 2026 tariff above charged ₹23,532 for a 20 ft box from Nhava Sheva to Pune, and ₹28,890 from Chennai to Hoskote, near Bengaluru, about 300 km: port to depot, not to your door.
• Across the country: use the per-km band, for example ₹31,500 to ₹56,500 from Nhava Sheva to Hyderabad, as an estimate.

The delivered price estimate adds the box’s price to the trucking from the port or depot of your choice, and a quote request gets you the seller’s own delivered price, with the unloading you need.

A container on a trailer, or a “container truck”?

Many rates you will find online under “container transport” are for container trucks: lorries with a closed steel body, sold as 20 ft, 32 ft single-axle or 32 ft multi-axle, which carry goods, not a shipping container. Their rates per km do not apply to moving a box. A shipping container travels on a trailer, locked down at its corners; ask any transporter you call whether the rate is for a trailer carrying an ISO container.

Container trailer: which one carries a 20 ft or 40 ft box?

• Skeletal trailer: a frame with twist-locks that fit the corner castings of the box. An Indian trailer maker’s 40 ft skeletal trailer takes one 40 ft box, two 20 ft boxes, or one 20 ft box in the centre. The box has to be lifted off it, by crane or by a forklift built for containers.
• Flatbed trailer: a flat deck with twist-locks; same unloading as the skeletal trailer.
• Side-lifter: a trailer with its own cranes, which sets the box on the ground beside the road and needs no crane on site. Ask the seller whether one is available near you: it saves the crane hire.

A crane is hired by the hour or the day: CPWD’s Delhi schedule of rates 2023 prices a mobile crane at ₹5,050 for an 8-hour day with its operator and fuel, and Tamil Nadu’s schedule of rates 2024-25 a 10 tonne hydraulic crane at ₹600 an hour, before GST, the hirer’s margin and the trip to your site. Site preparation and unloading explains the four ways to set a box down and what each needs on your plot.

Road rules: weight, length and height

• Weight: under the axle-load notification of 2018, a tractor with a semi-trailer may weigh at most 55 tonnes with its load, and less with fewer axles: about 46 tonnes for two axles on the tractor and three on the trailer, by our reading of the axle limits. An empty box is far below that: about 2,230 kg for a 20 ft and 3,700 kg for a 40 ft.
• Length and width: rule 93 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules allows a tractor and semi-trailer up to 18.75 m long and 2.6 m wide.
• Height: a vehicle carrying an ISO container may stand 4.52 m tall overall, deck and box together; with a high cube, the deck may stand about 1.6 m off the road at most. Check gates, cables and branches on the way.

What is not in a trucking price

• Unloading: a skeletal or flatbed trailer does not unload itself; a crane on site is extra, unless the seller sends a side-lifter.
• Tolls: some rates include them, others do not. National highway tolls for a vehicle of three to six axles start from a base rate of ₹3.45 per km set in 2008, raised every April, and are paid by FASTag: without a valid FASTag, the toll costs twice as much in cash.
• Waiting (detention): a trailer kept waiting at the gate or for a crane beyond the time agreed is charged by the day.
• Access: if the trailer cannot reach the spot, the box has to be lifted over a wall or moved twice. Measure the narrowest point on the way in and look up for cables.
• GST: when the seller delivers the box on the same invoice as the sale, the delivery is usually taxed with the box, at 18%. A transport company booked separately (a goods transport agency) charges 5% without input tax credit, which a registered business usually pays itself under reverse charge, or 18% with it.
• E-way bill: goods worth more than ₹50,000 travel with one. The rules exempt empty cargo containers, but we found no ruling on a box sold to its buyer: GST on shipping containers explains both points.

Shipping a container by sea is a different price

“Container shipping cost” usually means the ocean freight of a full box between two ports, quoted per 20 ft or 40 ft by freight forwarders and shipping lines, in dollars. That is the cost of sending goods abroad in a container, not of bringing a box to your site; ask a freight forwarder for it.