How to Secure a Shipping Container in BC

Not quietly, which is why thieves usually go for the doors instead. The walls are about 2 mm of corrugated Corten steel and the hinges are welded to the frame. The weak point on most containers is the padlock, because it is the one part that was never designed to resist an attack, so spend your security money on the lock and on where the doors face.

A standard container has two doors carrying four vertical locking bars, two per door. Each bar has a cam at the top and bottom that rotates into a keeper welded to the frame, so closing the handles pins the doors at eight points. That mechanism is strong, but a single padlock through a hasp on one handle is what holds it shut. If that padlock is cut, every cam can be released, so protecting the lock is what matters.

A puck lock, also called a disc lock, is a round, hardened lock with its shackle hidden inside the body, so there is almost nothing exposed to cut. An ordinary open-shackle padlock on a bare hasp leaves the shackle out in the open, where it is easy to cut or pry, and it is the setup most easily defeated. If a hardware-store padlock is what is on your container now, replacing it is a worthwhile first step.

You can ask for one to be quoted with your container. A lock box is a heavy steel shroud welded over the hasp so the padlock sits in a pocket of steel that bolt cutters and pry bars cannot grip. Some containers already have one, so ask whether the unit you are buying does. If not, welding one on is part of Valleyview’s modification work at its Kamloops yard. For a container you already own, ask whether it can be done.

Yes, when the contents are valuable or the container sits unattended for long stretches. A crossbar, or bar lock, clamps across the vertical locking bars so they cannot rotate at all, which adds a second layer behind the lock box and puck lock. It is also highly visible from a distance, which tells anyone sizing up the container that the doors will not open easily.

Match the lock to what is inside and how often someone is around. A puck lock alone suits home and farm storage in view of the house. A welded lock box with a puck lock inside is the default for job sites and rural properties. For tools, machinery and long unattended stretches, add a crossbar on top. An open-shackle padlock only suits low-value contents in a fenced yard where people are around most of the time.

Toward the house, shop or site trailer, anywhere with sightlines, rather than a road or treeline where someone can work unseen. Placement is set the day the truck arrives, so include the door direction with your site details and confirm it with the driver. The truck backs in on a straight line, so the direction has to suit that approach. Backing the container against a bank, fence or building removes approach angles, as long as the doors can still swing open.

Yes. A container that has settled or racked will not close squarely, and doors that do not seat properly cannot lock properly. Have a level, firm spot ready before delivery day, such as a compacted gravel pad or level blocks under the four corner castings. Check it again after the ground thaws in spring, and if the doors start to bind or the handles will not close cleanly, look at the level before you blame the lock.

Check the door gear as carefully as the roof. Both doors should swing freely, latch firmly and seal against the gaskets all the way round, with no daylight showing when they are shut. The handles, locking bars and hinges should turn without forcing or grinding, and the hasp should not be bent or battered. Ask whether the unit already has a lock box. Valleyview checks doors and seals before sale, so raise any concern about a specific unit before you commit.

Not by design. A standard new or used container has the same door gear, with four locking bars pinning two doors, and a padlock is what holds either one shut. The difference is wear. A one-trip container has tight door seals and little use on its hardware, while a used container’s doors and locking gear have seen service, so check that they swing, seal and lock cleanly. On either one, the lock box and lock matter more than the age.

Yes. Businesses running several units across more than one site can standardize the hardware through Valleyview’s commercial container program, so each container gets the same lock setup. Tell Valleyview how many units you need, where they are going and the setup you want, such as a welded lock box on each, and it can be quoted along with the containers and delivery. Yard numbers or unit IDs can also be printed on each container to keep track of them.

Not as a first step. Container security is mostly hardware and habits, not an alarm subscription: match the lock setup to what is inside, point the doors where people can see them, and keep the approach open and lit. If you still want an alarm or camera, add it on top of that, and have anything hard-wired into a power supply done by a licensed electrician.

Layer the hardware and remove the cover a thief needs. On a seasonal job or bush lease where nobody checks the container for weeks at a time, put a crossbar on top of the lock box and puck lock, trim the brush around the unit and add a motion light on the approach. If the site will be empty for a whole season, take the highest-value tools home rather than trusting any lock.

Give the lock a shot of graphite or a dry silicone lubricant in the fall, and skip heavy oil, which collects grit and makes things worse. Wet coastal winters and hard Interior cold both let moisture work into the cylinder and freeze it. Keep a spare key somewhere other than the site, because a frozen or fouled lock on a remote unit means a wasted trip.

Photograph the container’s unit number and its contents, and keep the photos with your invoice. The number is an owner code and serial number of four letters and seven digits, stamped on the doors and repeated inside, and it is what makes a recovered container identifiable. Then ask your insurance broker whether the container and its contents are covered under your existing property or equipment policy, because a stored asset is not automatically insured just because it is locked.

Each opening is another way in, so check the hardware: Valleyview’s steel personnel door is installed with a commercial lockset, and its sliding windows come with screens and security bars. You choose which wall each opening goes on before anything is cut, so put them where people can see them, such as facing the house or the site, rather than toward a road or treeline. Moving a hole in steel afterwards is a big job.

A 40ft container is 40ft long and 8ft wide outside, and stands 8ft 6in tall in standard height or 9ft 6in as a high cube. Inside, a standard 40ft measures about 39ft 5in long, 7ft 8in wide and 7ft 10in high, for roughly 2,390 cubic feet. A 40ft high cube has the same length and width with about 8ft 10in of interior height, for roughly 2,690 cubic feet.

One-trip means the container was manufactured overseas, loaded once for a single voyage to North America, then sold. It is structurally new with minimal wear: straight walls, intact paint, tight door seals and a manufacturer’s plate only a year or two old. Valleyview’s new 20ft containers, including the double-door and side-door units, and its new 40ft high cubes are listed as one-trip.

A used 20ft container is listed at $2,500–$3,000 plus tax and delivery. It’s a cargo-worthy unit: it has been in shipping service, so expect surface rust and dents, but it’s inspected and wind and watertight before it leaves the yard. It gives about 1,170 cubic feet of lockable space for storage where looks don’t matter. Where a unit falls in the range depends on its condition and where it’s sourced.

If you cancel an order before delivery, cancellation fees may apply. Containers are generally not returnable once delivered, and any return has to be approved in advance and may carry restocking fees and transportation costs. Confirm your size, site access and any local government requirements before you order. If a container arrives with a defect that wasn’t disclosed at the time of sale, contact Valleyview right away to discuss a resolution.

Ask first, because customer pickup isn’t a published option. Valleyview delivers by tilt-deck truck, so call (778) 694-4050 to ask whether collecting the unit you want is possible and what loading it would involve. If delivery suits you better, the delivery quote is free and is priced to the site the container is actually going to.

For a standard delivery, preparing the site is your part of the job. Valleyview’s terms make the buyer responsible for adequate access and a suitable, level site, and for describing the access, clearance and ground conditions accurately. Valleyview can look at photos of your spot and advise before you order. For turnkey homes and suites, Valleyview sets the build on your foundation, which your engineer designs.

Wash the outside once a year with a simple soap and water solution to remove dirt, salt near the coast and other corrosive grime, and clear leaves and debris off the roof. Inside, sweep the floor and let it dry before you load it. Never dry-sand the floor: the plywood is treated against insects and fungus at the factory, and sanding turns that treatment into airborne dust.

Not easily, as long as the doors stay closed and the gaskets are in good shape. The walls, roof and doors are steel, and the rubber door gaskets close the gap at the doors. The usual ways in are a door left open, a damaged seal, or something carried in, such as bagged feed, so keep stored goods on shelving or pallets. The floor is plywood on steel cross-members; where rodents are a real concern, ask about closed-cell foam under the floor, which seals the plywood underside.

Check with the local government before delivery, because the answer depends on the zone and how the container is used. On an active construction site, ask whether the container falls under the project’s existing permit or needs its own approval. In a commercial or industrial yard, ask about setbacks, fire access lanes and sightlines. If people will work inside the unit, say so on the call, because that is a different conversation from storage.

Often, yes, but ask Valleyview first, because it depends on the work and the container’s condition. If your unit is rough, it is sometimes cheaper to start from a fresh used container than to rehabilitate the old one, and Valleyview will tell you which makes more sense. Send photos of the container and a description of what you want done so the work can be assessed and quoted.

It is listed on your build but kept out of the priced subtotal, and the running total switches to “By quote”. Quote-required options include washrooms, tanks, a water heater, wall and ceiling linings, vinyl flooring, a mini-split and baseboard heat. If your contact details are on file, the design is sent to Valleyview once per visit so the team can price those items in your written quote. Tax, delivery, paint, final finishes and site work are never in the studio figure.

The container is yours to keep. Once the final payment is made you own it outright, and there’s nothing to hand back. It can stay where it is. If you later want it somewhere else, call Valleyview to ask whether it can move it and what that would cost. The new spot needs level, firm ground and clear access for the truck, and check the rules for the new spot with the local government first.

The refrigeration unit only holds your set temperature while it has power. The foam-filled walls help limit temperature swings, but how long the inside stays cold depends on the load, the set point and the weather, so plan for outages before you load product that can’t be allowed to warm up. Temperature monitoring can be added, quoted per design, so you know whether the box held overnight.

Two broad things: secure, weatherproof storage for household and seasonal overflow, farm and ranch supplies, job-site tools and materials, and business inventory; and builds that turn a container into a site office, workshop, pop-up shop, equipment enclosure, cold storage or crew housing, plus bunkies, garden suites and homes, which Valleyview quotes per design. The use decides the size, whether new or used makes sense, and which modifications, if any, are worth adding.