Used
Used 40 feet shipping container
12.19 × 2.44 × 2.59 m outside · 67.7 m³ inside · about 3,700 kg empty
The used (second hand) 40 ft container is the standard ISO 42G1 steel box after its years at sea: 12,192 mm (40′) long outside, twice the length of a 20 ft box, with 28.3 m² (305 sq ft) of floor and 67.7 m³ inside, a corrugated steel roof and double doors at one end. Partner sellers who cover your PIN code quote one in the grade you ask for, cargo-worthy or wind and water tight, delivered to your site.
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Pay less
Asking prices differ widely: for a used 40 feet shipping container, half of the 80 sellers we read on 20 October 2026 ask between ₹1,55,000 and ₹2,00,000, ₹45,000 apart. Several quotes show you where the low end is.
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A used 40 ft container for storage, long goods or a site office
One box, 12,032 mm deep from the doors to the end wall, gives a long, dry room that locks, wherever a trailer can reach:
- Long goods: pipes, conduit, steel sections, timber, rolled carpets or cable drums.
- A store beside a shop, a dealership or a warehouse: stock on pallets, cartons, spare parts, sacks of cement or fertiliser.
- A site office with a store behind it: the box divides into two rooms, with the doors at one end and a window cut in the side; container offices shows how a box is fitted out. For headroom under a lined ceiling, the used 40 ft high cube is 305 mm taller inside.
For storage on the ground, wind and water tight is enough: ask for it even in a week when few listings name it, since partner sellers quote it. Take cargo-worthy if the box will carry goods by sea or have other boxes stacked on it. Sellers put little money on the word: ₹1,85,000 (25 sellers) where they write cargo-worthy, ₹1,75,000 (60 sellers) where they state no grade (20 October 2026).
Cargo-worthy
Sound walls, roof and floor, doors that seal: it can still go to sea.
- Structurally sound: no holes, frame and corner posts straight.
- Doors, locking bars and seals working; floor sound.
- Normally a CSC plate with a valid examination date, so it can still be shipped or stacked.
- Paint faded in places, dents and scuffs, patches of surface rust.
Check before you pay: the CSC plate and its last examination date, the floor near the doors, and the light test inside with the doors closed.
Wind and water tight
Keeps wind and rain out, but would not pass a shipping survey.
- No holes: the box keeps wind and rain out.
- Visible dents, surface rust at the foot of the walls and around the door frame.
- The floor may be worn or patched, the frame may carry repairs, the CSC approval may have lapsed.
- Right for storage on the ground, not for shipping goods by sea.
Check before you pay: the roof from above for dents that hold rain, the floor from inside, and the light test with the doors closed.
A grade is the seller's word, not a certificate. Container grades explained · How to inspect a used container
Loading a 40 ft box
In one layer the floor takes about 23 Euro pallets (1,200 × 800 mm) or 20 standard pallets (1,200 × 1,000 mm), in two lanes along the box: a count from the inside width of 2,352 mm, not a loading plan. The doors are at one end only, with the same opening as on a 20 ft box, 2,340 × 2,280 mm (7′ 8″ × 7′ 6″): every pallet for the far end travels the whole length on a forklift or a pallet truck. Ask how worn the floor is along its full length, not only at the doors.
The box holds twice the volume of a 20 ft one but about the same weight of cargo: typically 28,780 kg, against 28,260 kg. With stone, steel, paper or tiles, the weight limit comes long before the box is full.
Dimensions and capacity
| Measure | Size |
|---|---|
| ISO size-type code | 42G1 |
| External size (L × W × H) | 12,192 × 2,438 × 2,591 mm40′ × 8′ × 8′ 6″ |
| Internal size (L × W × H) | 12,032 × 2,352 × 2,393 mm39′ 5½″ × 7′ 8½″ × 7′ 10″ |
| Door opening (W × H) | 2,340 × 2,280 mm7′ 8″ × 7′ 6″ |
| Floor area inside | 28.3 m²305 sq ft |
| Inside volume | 67.7 m³2,391 cu ft |
| Tare weight (empty), range 3,630–4,000 kg | 3,700 kg |
| Payload (typical) | 28,780 kg |
| Maximum gross weight | 30,480 or 32,500 kg, depending on the box |
Typical values (median of 9 data sheets published by CMA CGM, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, MSC, ONE and ZIM, 20 October 2026); feet and inches rounded to the nearest half inch. The markings on the doors give the tare and maximum gross weight of each box, the maximum gross also being on its CSC plate: a box rated higher carries more, its maximum gross weight minus its tare. Every size in feet, cm and mm: 40 feet container size.
Getting it onto your site
Empty, the box weighs about 3,700 kg (3,630 to 4,000 kg on the data sheets). That weight is easy for a side-lifter (a truck that lifts the box with its own cranes) or a mobile crane; the length is what decides the delivery. The trailer is longer than the box and pulled by a tractor, so the gate, the turn into it and the ground must take the whole rig. Say in your request how the box can come off at your end, so that the delivered price covers it.
The spot needs level, firm ground of at least 12,192 × 2,438 mm (40′ × 8′), and room in front of the doors to swing both leaves. Four corner supports carry a box used as a store; for a long stay, add supports under the middle of the long sides so the floor does not sag. Site preparation and unloading covers both.
From another city, the trailer can be a large share of the bill. As an estimate, not a quote, a 40 ft box comes out at about ₹51,500 to ₹64,500 for the 694 km from Nhava Sheva, near Mumbai, to Hyderabad. In the reading of 20 October 2026, the typical asking price by area ran from Chennai (₹1,65,000) to Hyderabad (₹1,95,000): before buying in another city, set that gap against the trailer. The delivered price estimate has other routes.
GST and the invoice
Of the 10 used 40 ft listings with an exact price, none say whether GST is included. Ask in your request, and check in each reply:
- whether the price includes GST at 18% (HSN 8609) or adds it;
- whether the box is sold under the margin scheme for second-hand goods, where GST is paid on the dealer’s margin only and the buyer gets no input tax credit;
- whether the tax invoice will carry your name, your GSTIN if you claim the input tax credit, and the container number.
GST on shipping containers explains the difference.
Questions about the used 40 ft container
How much is a used (second hand) 40 ft container in India?
The typical asking price is ₹1,80,000 (₹1.8 lakh): half of the 80 sellers on IndiaMART and TradeIndia ask this or less, and the middle half ask ₹1,55,000 to ₹2,00,000 (20 October 2026). That is the price of the box where it stands. The quotes you receive add the trailer and the unloading, and say how GST is charged.
What should I check on a used 40 ft box?
What a quick look misses on a long box. The roof, seen from a ladder: dents that hold rain let it in sooner or later. The floor, from the doors to the end wall. The bottom side rails along their whole length, where rust starts when a box stands on wet ground. Then the container number on the doors and the CSC plate, the safety-approval plate of the International Convention for Safe Containers, with the build date and the examination date. If you cannot go, ask for a video call that shows all of it; how to inspect a used container has the full list.
Will a 40 ft box fit on my plot?
Measure the spot and the way in: the box needs 12,192 × 2,438 mm on the ground plus room at the doors, and the trailer needs a straight run in line with the spot or alongside it. Where it does not fit, two 20 ft boxes give about the same space: the 40 feet containers page compares one long box with two short ones. Permission to place a container says what applies where.