How to inspect a used shipping container: a checklist

Before you go: ask for the box, not a photo

Ask the seller for the container number of the box you will get, and for recent photos or a live video call of that very box, not of the stock in general: the roof, the floor, both doors open and shut, the inside in daylight with the doors closed, and the CSC plate. If you cannot go yourself, the checks below are the list to follow on the call.

Buying on photos or a call needs more care with the money: check the seller’s GSTIN on the GST portal’s taxpayer search, pay a registered business against a tax invoice, to an account in its own name, and keep part of the price until the box is delivered and matches what you saw. How to check a container supplier gives the details.

Is it a real shipping container?

A real shipping container has an 11-character container number painted on its doors, with its size-type code next to it, such as 22G1 for a standard 20 ft box, 42G1 for a standard 40 ft and 45G1 for a 40 ft high cube; a CSC plate on a door; cast steel corner fittings at its eight corners; and an outside width of exactly 2,438 mm (8 ft). A box built of steel sections and panels without them is a cabin, not a container: see container or porta cabin.

Outside: the frame

The frame carries the box; dents in the corrugated panels matter far less than damage to it. Walk round the box and look at:

• The corner castings and corner posts: no cracks, no welded repairs on the castings, posts straight (corner castings).
• The top and bottom rails: straight along their length, without deep rust.
• The roof: look along it from a ladder or a higher point; dents that hold water are where leaks start.
• The panels: dents are normal; holes and rust through the steel are not, unless the box is sold as-is. Patches are repairs to look at closely: rust streaks running down from a patch show it lets water in.
• Underneath, if the box stands on blocks: the cross members under the floor, where rust is hidden from inside.

When must a container be taken out of service?

The Convention for Safe Containers and India’s classification society list damage that takes a box out of service at once, until it is repaired. Among them:

Doors

Open and close both doors fully: they should swing without forcing and close square. Each locking bar should turn and engage at the top and the bottom, and the rubber gaskets should be whole and soft, not cracked or missing. A door that is hard to close often means a box standing out of level. How a container door works names each part.

Inside

1. Air it first. Open the doors and let the air inside change before you step in, as the code for packing containers advises.
2. Light test. On a sunny day, have someone outside close the doors on you: every point of light is a hole.
3. Floor. Walk the whole floor, especially near the doors where forklifts turn: no broken boards, no nails or bolts sticking up, no soft spots.
4. Stains and smell. Wipe a gloved hand over any stain: if it marks the glove, the code for packing containers says to refuse the box for cargo. A box should be clean and dry, without a lasting smell of a former cargo, soil, seeds, insects or mould.
5. Walls and roof from inside. Look for rust streaks and patches, and stand under the roof’s lowest dents.

Fumigation marks

A box under fumigation carries a warning on its doors: “DANGER … UNDER FUMIGATION WITH … DO NOT ENTER”, at least 400 × 300 mm. Do not go in: the gas is toxic. A box without the mark can still hold gas, and tape over the door gaskets or the vents is a sign; the gas can seep out of the floor and the cargo for days after the box was aired.

Is the floor treated?

The plywood floor of a container is often treated against insects: Australia’s quarantine rules ask for permanently treated timber in containers, and for plywood the insecticide is put in the glue between the layers. We found no official guidance on such floors in a home, an office or a food store; for those uses, ask the seller which treatment the floor had, and consider covering it with a new floor.

The CSC plate, line by line

The CSC safety approval plate, usually on the left-hand door, carries in English or French:

1. “CSC SAFETY APPROVAL”, the country of approval and the approval reference;
2. the month and year of manufacture;
3. the maker’s identification number for the box;
4. the maximum gross mass, in kg and lbs;
5. the allowable stacking load, in kg and lbs;
6. the transverse racking test force, in newtons (in kg on older plates);
7. the end and side wall strength, only if it differs from the standard;
8. the date of the next examination.

The plate does not give the tare: it is painted on the doors with the maximum gross (container weight).

A box under its owner’s continuous examination programme shows the letters ACEP next to the plate instead of a date, but that programme ends when the box is sold out of the owner’s fleet: a box you buy with an ACEP mark needs a new examination date before it carries cargo abroad. Without a plate, or with an examination date that has passed and no ACEP mark, a box may not be used for international or intermodal transport; it can still stand on the ground as a store. The plate also tells you the box’s age, from its month and year of manufacture, and, with the tare painted on the door, what it may carry: the maximum gross mass minus the tare. Container grades explained tells what the plate means for “cargo worthy” and the other grades.

Do shipping containers get inspected?

Yes, in several ways: a box must be examined at the dates on its CSC plate to travel internationally, the code for packing containers asks the packer to check it before loading, and some customs authorities require their own checks. None of these is done for you when you buy a box for your land: the checks on this page are yours.

What is a 7 point container inspection?

A security check required by United States customs of its trusted importers on every empty container before it is packed, to make sure nothing is hidden in its structure and no pests travel with it: the front wall, the left side, the right side, the floor, the ceiling or roof, the inside and outside of the doors with their locks, and the outside and underside; a reefer adds its fan housing. It is a good order for your own walk round.

Getting an expert in India

India’s classification society, the Indian Register of Shipping, examines containers under the Convention for Safe Containers: its surveyor looks at the outside, the inside, the top and the underside, may test the steel, stamps the next examination date on the plate and issues a certificate. The container lessors’ institute also certifies inspectors, some of them in India. The surveyors licensed by India’s insurance regulator handle insurance claims, not the CSC plate. We found no public price for an inspection on behalf of a buyer: ask for a quote, and for the report in writing.

The papers

• A tax invoice in your name, with the container number and the GST treatment (GST on shipping containers).
• For a box that came from abroad, the bill of entry on which it was cleared for use in India: see buying a used container from a yard.
• The delivery terms in writing: who unloads, with what, and when (site preparation and unloading).

Used container inspection checklist

1. Container number, on the door and on the invoice.
2. Frame: corner castings, posts, rails, roof, cross members.
3. Panels: holes, rust through, patches.
4. Doors: open, close, locking bars, gaskets.
5. No fumigation mark; aired before entering.
6. Light test with the doors shut.
7. Floor: no broken boards, nails, soft spots; stains and smell.
8. CSC plate: photographed; examination date still valid if the box will carry cargo abroad (an ACEP mark lapses when the box is sold).
9. Papers: seller’s GSTIN checked, tax invoice, bill of entry for an imported box, delivery terms.