Exposure to salt laden sea air accelerates the natural process of rusting that all metal storage containers will be subject to during their ‘life’. Storage containers, also called cargo shipping containers or conex’s, spend a great deal of their lives exposed to the elements on board container ships and in port side yards.

They enjoy the protection of paint but that gets rubbed off very early on in the container’s life simply by the process of moving it from A to B, which is what it is there for. Loading and unloading cargo, getting it on and off ships, trucks and railcars and even just sitting still with other containers being stacked on top and either side can cause damage.

Damage leads to exposure of the bare metal and that leads to rust. So check out the contact points top and bottom as well as the corners, doors and areas most likely to have made contact with other objects in transit.

Some rust isn’t a problem as there are many rust treatments and rust prevention products available. If the container is being used for storage rather than withstanding the rigours of an ocean voyage, you can accept a little more wear and tear than would be wise for cargo transport use of the container.

Buying a shipping container, used storage container, connex or simply a ‘container’, is a fairly straightforward process. There are literally thousands of ads offering ‘storage shipping containers for sale’, ‘mobile storage containers for sale’ and ‘portable storage containers for sale’ and they are all selling the same thing! It can be confusing but they aren’t talking about food containers or plastic storage boxes but steel shipping containers.

All you need do is decide what you want and how much you wish to pay for one, find one on the web by clicking on an ad or two and checking details, then buy it.

Don’t worry about how you are going to get it from the container seller to where you wish to place it. They do this every day, it’s part of the job for them. You should, however, give some serious thought to where it is going to be placed and how a truck can access that site.

Is there room for the truck? Can a jib crane manoeuvre without taking out walls or power lines? Do you need a permit or other form of building code approval from the local authorities?

Buying a container is not like buying a loaf of bread, but it doesn’t have to be a challenge. Find a reputable re-seller and then work with them to achieve the objective, which is not ‘buying’ a storage container. It is having a storage container you can use on your property.