Storage: Dry Van vs shipping container

[stumpfield]

What are the pros and cons of Dry Van (retired semi trailer) made of aluminum with fiberglass roof vs. steel shipping container? The dry vans are available locally and a little cheaper than the steel shipping container. Steel shipping container looks solid. The dry van looks a little flimsy. I've never seen one in person so I don't know the construction quality and whether they are suitable for weather proof storage comparable to a shipping containers. Thanks.

 

[QRTRHRS]

The dry van will more than likely have leaks in the roof. Moving it in the future could get involved. If you leave the wheels on then you have to build a set of steps or something to access the trailer. If you rely on the landing gear for supporting the front of the trailer, you need to watch your weight.

A container can be easily moved again. You should set it up on blocking to keep most of the steel off of the ground but you will have easy ground level access. With a simple ramp, you can drive wheeled vehicles inside.

 

[jinman]

I think you hit on the difference in your post. The van is meant to protect and secure cargo while being towed down the road. The shipping container is meant to be lifted and stacked many high on ship and protect the goods inside from the elements and weather at sea. The shipping containers are TOUGH.

A container will have steel sides that you can drill or weld for attaching exterior or interior shelves or other structures. It's flooring has a steel skid frame under it and the floors are very well made. You can get a container in both 8' height or the 9-1/2' tall box. You just prepare/level your site and the container is normally delivered on a tilt trailer so they can put it in place. My delivery driver put my container exactly where I wanted it.

One thing about a container is its color. If you can get white or light grey, you will have a much cooler box. I just built a cover over mine and dropped the inside temperature from unbearable to very comfortable.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm not familiar with the term "dry van" but from your description, it sounds like an enclosed trailer hauled by semi trucks. If so, then either should work just fine depending on the price and delivery. The problem with the trailer is the axles. We used to have several for storage when I worked for Airborne Express. They were water tight, and solid, but the tires would always go flat after sitting for so long. We needed them at dock height to run the forklifts in and out of them, so it was an added expense to fix the tires when they went bad.

If I was to buy a trailer, I'd want to take the axles and landing gear off of it and put it on the ground. The roll up doors at the end tend to get pretty beat up, but they do a fine job. Probably not a secure as double swing doors, which are also available. The trailer will be taller and usually have a side door on them, but not always. None of the ones I was ever in had fiberglass roofs. They were all metal to the best of my memory.

The sea container is going to be more solid and ready to go. You might be able to drive a compact tractor into a trailer, but with a sea container, you will have to fold the ROPS for sure if you want to put it in there. I had a 40 ft container that I stored two four wheelers and my 35 hp tractor in it, plus shelving for tools and enough room for dozens and dozens of boxes.

I put down a bed of gravel for mine. Animals liked to make a home under it, so I went around filing in the gaps with concrete. That helped, but it wasn't 100%. My neighbor now owns them and he says that he has a great big rat snake living under one of them. I had two. He likes it because he says it eats mice. I'm all for killing mice and like to take care of them with poison. He prefers the snake method. To each his own. LOL


My brother has a 40 ft container behind my house right now. He has it full of all his personal stuff while he looks for a house and land to buy in the area. It's just sitting on the dirt and has been for the last two years. We're not sure what it will take to move it when he finds a place. I might even buy it off of him. We'll have to wait and see what he finds and what it will cost to move it there. I didn't have any moisture problems with mien, but I was in them every day. His sat for months at a time and he had allot of issues with moisture in his. We added two vents to either end of it and a big turbine to the roof. With air flow going through it now, the moisture problems seems to be minimal to non existent now. He's also using it as a wall for his dog kennels on one side. He just screwed his panels into it and created four nice kennels ten feet wide there. On the other side, he's raising ducks. It's a great wall to build off of and for the price, an excellent storage building.

With a storage container, you pretty much get the same thing. There isn't allot of variation from one to the other. Some are just more dinged up then others. With the trailer, you have allot of options such as length, doors, roof and materials used in building it. You have axles and landing gear to deal with too. I looked at one trailer for sale and it was total junk. I wouldn't want it for free, so I bought the containers. My brother did the same thing, he couldn't find a trailer that was any good, but had allot of containers to choose from.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[stumpfield]

No wheel on these. They look almost like shipping containers. I saw an ad that looks like this.

 

[schmism]

on the upshot if you get a 20' shipping container, and have a friend with a 80hp case 4wd tractor with huge FEL. he can pick it up and move it for you.

 

[Wis Bang]

Van trailers have weaker roofs and they meet up w/ tree branches and other overhead objects. Fiberglass ones allow daylight w/ out having to install lamps and could be repaired w/ a bondo fiberglass patch kit to stop leaks.

The corregated sidewalls of shipping containers is a double wall and will support weight while the sides of the van trailer won't in case you want to pile stuff on top. The double wall allows you to set up shelves using blind fasteners and avoid drilling thru the exterior.

High cube containers are 9'6" VRS the standard 8' height.

The increasing use of 'domestic' 48' and 53' containers will lead to an aftermarket of longer units but the 40' ISO unit will still be the most common for along time. Twenty footers are getting scarce on the east coast so their cost is rising.

Our sister company repairs containers and they buy the ones not being repaired [steam ship lines won't fix ones close to being depreciated] for the salvage value & have the workers repair them during slack times for cheap 'sale' boxes that they sell at market price to recoup the cost.

If ventalation is a real problem, look into an 'open top' and build a peaked wooden roof w/ eve and sofit vents...that would be another way to gain room for a rops...

 

[jimmyj]

The guys have really covered off the technical aspects of the differences, but there is one more thing I will add. I just decided NOT to get a sea container in favor of a semi trailer for storage because my dad has a sea container and it condensates badly at certain times of the winter.

My buddy has a fibreglass semi trailer and it does not condensate. I have decided against the sea container because of that. This may not be a consideration in your area though.

 

[Highbeam]

I own a 20' metal sea can. I parked a muddly dozer in mine so I had moisture problems that were fixed with adding 2 roof vents and 4 bottom/side vents. They are great but not theft proof. I bought 2 gallons of oil based paint and painted mine light green in and out instead of the brown that it came with. This made it much nicer and cooler.

I didn't think that the outside walls were double walls but they are corrugated inside and out. This is certainly stronger than a flat plate wall but I don' think it is the same as double wall.

 

[Midsouth]

I have a forty foot high cube (That is the one that are 9'6" high veres 8') that i store my tractor and shop tools in till i can build a shop and tractor shed. I think it is better than a dry van becuse it is a lot stronger. And like others have said i can store stuff on top using the fel on the tractor can't do that with a dry van trailer. Plus the best part is my boss is letting me use it for free.

 

[Wis Bang]

I didn't think that the outside walls were double walls but they are corrugated inside and out. This is certainly stronger than a flat plate wall but I don' think it is the same as double wall.

Look at the original vents [small perforations in one section] in the sidewall and then examine the same spot inside...you won't see the holes...the corregations are staggered between the two walls, you can feel the difference if you stand near the door and feel inside and outside at the same time.

This is how they can be the bottom of a stack 10 - 12 loaded containers high on the ship. When you see the stack above deck, you don't see the ones stacked below out of sight. If they were single walled they would buckle. I've had loaded units rolled and as long as the front corner doesn't dig in the sides just get scratched up.

BTW 'corten' steel is the best, the box should be marked that it it made from that.

 

[California]

No wheel on these. They look almost like shipping containers. I saw an ad that looks like this.

I saw those last week! (Mervyn's boxes, removed from trucks). In West Sacramento near the CHP Academy.

 

[Willl]

A standard dry shipping container is a single thickness wall.

I work on shipping container boxes every day in some form or fashion.

 

[Willl]

This is how they can be the bottom of a stack 10 - 12 loaded containers high on the ship. When you see the stack above deck, you don't see the ones stacked below out of sight. If they were single walled they would buckle. I've had loaded units rolled and as long as the front corner doesn't dig in the sides just get scratched up.

The sides of the unit don't support anything, 100% of the weight is on the corner posts.

All ships have water tight deck plates. Above deck containers sit on these plates, they do not sit on the below deck containers.

 

[Willl]

I usually drag my camera with me when I have to go aboard.

 

[EddieWalker]

Look at the original vents [small perforations in one section] in the sidewall and then examine the same spot inside...you won't see the holes...the corregations are staggered between the two walls, you can feel the difference if you stand near the door and feel inside and outside at the same time.

This is how they can be the bottom of a stack 10 - 12 loaded containers high on the ship. When you see the stack above deck, you don't see the ones stacked below out of sight. If they were single walled they would buckle. I've had loaded units rolled and as long as the front corner doesn't dig in the sides just get scratched up.

BTW 'corten' steel is the best, the box should be marked that it it made from that.

I had two 40 ft containers and my brother has one right now. I've drilled into all three of them, and cut out sections of mine and my brothers. The sides are single wall. Here is a picture of a section that I cut out of a container to make room for an entertainment center.

Eddie

 

[Wis Bang]

Sorry, WE have a 20 footer for records storage that is double, maybe our repair guys did that as the shelving is bolted to the interior and does not show on the outside. Our sister company does repairs w/ ILA labor off the pier and buys salvage units they fix up and sell. The entire repair shop support, locker room, parts even the welders & air compressor are made from containers...the guys work outside year round 'cause when we were in the port the owner wouldn't build a building as it would eventually end up in the pirt authorities hands...

I have seen one 40 that is double, it was a lease unit that my company returned for ACL from off-lease to the depot that ended up at our Motorcycle club; I ran the number in our computer after the club got it for free for storage. It was not a refer either...

I ASSumed they all were, my bad!

I have a ton of pictures on my work computer including some of the stuff adrift after Katrina & ships, post storms, with missing units and tipped rows. They are tough units.

 

[jinman]

Willl: Thanks for those shipboard pictures. Containers and the way they are handled are an amazing thing to me. I know boxes are up to 53' now and I just wonder how long it will be before they become wider. I know the issue with how wide they are is due to being trucked, but mobile homes are also trucked and I'd think some shipments of speciality items would be worth having the "Wide Load" banners and escort vehicles. The snag would surely be that all the equipment is made to handle the smaller boxes. Even the 53' boxes still have the braces and lift points at the same location as the 40' boxes. Do you know how they handle these aboard ship? Are they always the top box on the stack?

I'd love to spend a day just watching a container ship load and unload. I'd pay to do it. They could call it "container ship tourism."

On the subject of double-wall containers. I know they have refrigerated containers. Are those not double-wall?

 

[jimmyj]

Maybe some of these are for sale cheap!

 

[Willl]

Do you know how they handle these aboard ship? Are they always the top box on the stack?

Any container over 40' must go above deck. 45' and above aren't necessarily left for the top, I've seen them in the middle of a stack but its gota be planned out.

On the subject of double-wall containers. I know they have refrigerated containers. Are those not double-wall?

Yes. You can also get insulated dry boxes (with or without heat) that are double walled.