Shipping Containers Blog

Posts Tagged ‘csc plate’

If you are planning on emigrating, there are two ways to move your home contents – by air or by sea.   If you choose to ship your items it will obviously take longer for them to arrive at their final destination although usually it will save you money.   When you are trying to decide which option to choose, look at both air and sea options in terms of cost and time and don’t forget to factor in any furnished rentals you may need to pay for in the interim.  You can undertake the whole move yourself, or pay an international mover to take care of it for you.   Much will depend on your budget but, even if this is comparatively small, it could be worth talking to a professional as there are various options available that mean you can take on some of the process yourself and keep the price down!
If you do decide to move by sea, you will probably use a shipping container.   These are available to buy or hire and are made of corten steel.  These steel containers are extremely rust resistant and strong and are able to be delivered to your home so that your belongings can be packed inside.  Remember that you can either load straight away if you do not have too much stuff, or you can have the container left for a few weeks whilst you pack at your leisure.
 If you do decide to buy your own shipping container – and many people do, finding it extremely useful to have as additional storage space or as the basis of a conversion once they have arrived in their new country – then you must make sure that your container is sea worthy.   The phrase CSC plated is often used to determine whether the shipping container is suitable for shipping.   CSC stands for “Container Safety Convention” and the plate is usually attached to the shipping container doors and acts as the equivalent of a passport for the container.  Second hand shipping containers over 5 years old, can be tested and awarded a certificate that needs to be presented to the shipping line that is moving your container.  Basically this ensures that your shipping container is strong enough to be lifted safely on and off the ship with your home contents inside.
But how do you decide which size of shipping container will take all the contents of your home?  The standard sizes are either 20ft or 40ft and the easiest way to judge the size is to imagine that a 20ft shipping container as the size of a single garage and a 40ft shipping container the size of a double garage.   Whilst there are other sizes of shipping containers available generally these would need to go as special cargo and therefore be more expensive to ship.     Shipping containers are normally loaded onto the boat as cargo and must fit into the boat’s schematic.   Therefore all the 20ft containers are usually stacked together and similarly all the 40fts.  
Once you have loaded your container, it should be collected and moved to the port by rail or road where it can be loaded onto the ship.   Once your goods have arrived in your new country, the container is then unloaded and must pass through customs.   International movers should be able to help you with all the necessary forms and are often responsible for clearing your goods.  Don’t forget that depending on which country you have moved to it may be possible to claim back the vat you will have paid on your container.
From there on in you are on the home straight (as it were)!  It is simply a matter of getting your shipping container to your new house and unpacking.  
Best of luck!

Good quality second hand shipping containers make not only good financial sense - being about 50% cheaper than new/once used containers - but buying them is good for the environment. The simple fact is that in today’s economic climate it is cheaper for shipping companies to source their containers directly from the outbound port rather than to return used shipping containers from various locations all over the world. That means there a large numbers of good quality second hand shipping containers available for all sorts of uses. Those uses can vary from storage to conversions and - somewhat oddly seeing they have been discarded by the shipping lines - the shipping of goods by individuals.

But how to do ensure you get good quality second hand shipping containers? The first thing to ask that the company you source it from will guarantee that the container is wind and watertight and structurally sound. It is not always possible to visit the depot to see the actual shipping container yourself so this guarantee is very important. Secondly, remember that the age of the shipping container is not the best way to judge the condition of the unit. Second hand shipping containers will vary according to how they have been treated - for example a new/once used container that has been dropped by a forklift and therefore “blown” outwards is not going to be in such good condition as a storage container that has been properly sited for a number of years.

Once your second hand shipping container arrives, make sure that it is placed on level hard standing and that you check that the doors open and close freely. Look at the condition of the floor and make sure there are no obvious soft spots in the wood. Whilst inside the container inspect carefully the walls and especially the ceiling (which is often forgotten but is probably one of the most important areas to check) to see whether there are any pinpricks of light coming through that will tell you that the container is not wind and watertight. Finally, inspect the outside of the container to make sure that there is not an unreasonable amount of rust that, if untreated, will cause problems later on.
If you are going to use your container for storage you have now all the information you need to know whether you have a good quality second hand shipping container or not. If you are, however, going to use the container for shipping you should check the CSC plate - or the certificate if you have asked for one - to make sure that your container has been passed for shipping and will therefore be accepted by the shipping lines.
If you follow these simple rules you will not only have a second hand shipping container that will last you for many years, you will have saved money on a quality product and done your bit for the environment by recycling an industrial product.

Yesterday we discussed what was meant by new/ex-factory or once used containers.  Today, as promised sees the turn of the second hand container.  When you consider that only one in five containers arriving on our shores go back into shipping, you get some idea of how vast the second hand domestic market for shipping containers actually is.

The new/once used/ex-factory containers we discussed yesterday are obviously suitable for shipping but what about if you want to buy a second hand shipping container for shipping goods abroad - what should you look for?

Just because a second hand container is on the domestic market, it does not mean it can not be used as a cargo container taking goods abroad.  If the container is still structurally sound and carries a CSC plate in date - usually on the doors of the container - it can be shipped internationally.

CSC stands for “Container Safety Convention” and the plate, pictured above, features as the equivalent of a passport for the container to be shipped internationally.  The CSC plate is issued initially for 5 years after the date of manufacture of the container and from thereonafter the container must be examined every 30 months in order to keep the plate up to date.

Some buyers use the CSC plate as an assurance that the shipping container is suitable for domestic secure storage, as it means it has been independantly inspected within the previous two-and-a-half years -  but, a lot can happen to a container within that time, and so just because there is a valid CSC plate it does not guarantee that the container is still wind and watertight.

Tomorrow we will discuss what to look for when buying a second hand shipping container for domestic storage.  In the meantime I hope that this blog has gone some way to explaining what a CSC plate is for those of you who wish to ship goods abroad.