Used 20Ft Open Side / Full Side Access Container

Everything in an ordinary container ends up stacked in front of something else, because there is one way in and it sits at the end. This used 20ft unit does away with that arrangement: the entire 20ft flank swings open, and the end doors are still there as well. A forklift reaches any pallet directly, without first shifting the ones parked in front of it. Long stock goes in across the opening rather than being threaded down the length. And on a cramped yard, where no lorry could ever line up square on the end doors, the container can still be worked from whichever side it faces.

Dimensions and rating

• External: 6.06 × 2.44 × 2.59 m (19 ft 11 in × 8 ft 0 in × 8 ft 6 in)
• Internal: approximately 5.90 × 2.35 × 2.39 m (19 ft 4 in × 7 ft 9 in × 7 ft 10 in)
• Side opening: along the full 20ft flank
• End doors: double doors retained for conventional through-loading
• CSC plated: 24 tonnes (52,911 lb) gross

Build and fittings

• Double hinged doors along one full 20ft side, plus double doors at the end
• Used condition — sold wind and watertight
• Cor-Ten steel construction
• Each door leaf carries two locking bars
• A pair of forklift pockets on either side
• 28 mm (1⅛ in) marine plywood floor on steel cross members
• Eight vents

Buying a side-door unit used

There is one thing to understand before choosing used over one-trip here, and it is specific to this configuration. A side-opening container has several times the sealing surface of a plain box, and every one of those gaskets has spent the unit’s working life being opened, closed and knocked about. That is exactly why the wind and watertight guarantee matters more on this unit than it would on an end-door container — it is the seals along the flank that will decide whether the interior stays dry. Ours are checked before dispatch. If the container will be opened many times a day for years, weigh a one-trip shell against the saving.

Where it earns its keep

Racked stores where every bay must stay reachable from outside. Narrow compounds with no room to bring a vehicle square onto the end. Long stock — pipe, timber, racking sections — loaded across the opening. And retail or event conversions, where an open flank turns the unit into a servery or display bay in a way an end door never can.

Delivery, siting and cover

Delivery is free throughout the UK including Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, and no VAT is added at checkout — the figure shown is the total payable. A 20ft places easily from a tilt-bed, but this one has a requirement a plain box does not: keep the opening flank clear so the doors reach their stops, and get it genuinely level, because a side-door container sitting even slightly twisted binds on the long doors first. Crane or HIAB offload is agreed in writing before delivery. Sold wind and watertight, it is covered for 3 months from delivery against water ingress and door operation, alongside your statutory rights: 14 days to change your mind under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, and separately 30 days to reject the goods if they are faulty.

Other units in this configuration

For a near-new shell in the same layout, the one-trip 20ft open side container arrives with factory paint and an unmarked floor, while the 20ft open side full side access container is a further comparison at this length. Loads that run longer or taller want a 40ft high cube open side container instead, which carries four doors. Grading varies across used stock, so it pays to read the container condition guide first; every other size we hold is in the open side container category.