Container Delivery Basics: Tilt-Bed, Flat-Bed, or Chassis
A tilt-bed is the most popular delivery option, either with a straight truck or a tractor-trailer combo. The truck will back right into the place you want your container, the trailer will tip down, and a winch will lower one end of the container to the ground. Then the truck will pull forward as the winch lowers the other container end.
Pros: Your container is slid to the ground right where you want it.
Cons: Generally more expensive than other methods. While these trucks can pick up a lightly loaded 20’ container, they cannot pick up loaded 40’ containers at all.
Flat-Bed Delivery
Trucks with a long flat bed can hold either one 40’ container or up to two 20’ containers. A forklift or crane will set your container on the truck at the beginning of the trip and lift it off when it reaches your site.
Pros: Because your container will be loaded onto a truck that also carries other cargo, flat-bed delivery is a low-cost alternative, especially when the container needs to travel long distances.
Cons: You need to make sure equipment is available to load and unload your container.
Chassis Delivery
Pulled by a trailer, a chassis is a metal frame with wheels designed to carry containers securely. Shipping lines use them (along with special fork-lifts) to bring containers to customers for loading and unloading. If you ship cargo overseas, this is usually how the container will arrive.
Pros: Low-cost way to move a container. The tractor disconnect easily from the chassis, which gives added flexibility if you need some time to load and don’t want the driver to have to wait. In some cases, chassis are the only delivery means acceptable to ports or rail lines.
Cons: You must load the container while it stays on the chassis or have some means of lifting the container on and off the chassis. When a container is on a chassis, it is dock height. Lifting a 40’ steel container on a chassis requires a crane.
Your best delivery option will depend in part on how you will use your container. Talk it over with your container vendor or shipping agent. As always, Super Cubes is happy to offer friendly advice geared to your needs.