Delivery
Worldwide Container Delivery
Supply to overseas buyers from German and European depots, quoted to a named port of destination or on agreed Incoterms.
For buyers outside Europe, the container purchase and the container movement are two separate commercial questions, and confusing them is the most common source of misunderstanding in this trade. This page separates them explicitly.
We supply the equipment. Depending on what you need, we quote it ex depot, delivered to a European port, or to a named port of destination overseas — and we set out clearly which costs and risks sit on each side of the line.
Three things that are often confused
These have different prices, different documents and different risks. Tell us on the RFQ which you actually need. A buyer who wants "a container in Lagos" may mean any of the three, and the quotations differ substantially.
- Buying the container — you acquire the box itself. Title passes; the unit is yours.
- Transporting the container as cargo — an empty container moved as a piece of freight, on a ship, for a rate. It occupies a slot and is booked like any other cargo.
- Using the container as cargo equipment — you load your own goods into it and ship them. That requires a valid CSC plate and a carrier willing to accept shipper-owned equipment (SOC) on the service.
Shipper-owned containers (SOC)
If you intend to load your own cargo into the container you have bought and ship it, you are shipping SOC. Not every carrier accepts SOC on every service, acceptance can be conditional, and the container must be cargo worthy with a valid CSC plate.
This is worth confirming before you buy rather than after. State the intended route on the RFQ and we will flag what needs checking. See the CSC plate guide for what the approval covers.
Incoterms and where responsibility changes hands
For overseas supply we quote against Incoterms so that both sides know exactly where cost and risk transfer. The terms most commonly used for this trade are EXW (collection from depot), FOB (loaded at a European port), CFR and CIF (carried to a named destination port).
Import duties, port charges at destination, customs clearance and inland haulage beyond the destination port are the buyer's responsibility under CFR and CIF. We say so in the quotation rather than leaving it to be discovered.
- EXW — you collect from the depot and arrange everything from there
- FOB — we deliver and load at a named European port; ocean freight is yours
- CFR / CIF — we arrange carriage (and insurance under CIF) to your named destination port
- Destination-side costs — duties, port charges, clearance and inland transport are yours unless expressly quoted
Documentation for export
A container export normally travels with a commercial invoice, a packing list where applicable, the bill of lading, and export declaration documentation. Container units are identified by their ISO 6346 container number, which appears on the documents and is checked at both ends.
Where your import regime requires additional certification — pre-shipment inspection, conformity assessment, certificate of origin — tell us at RFQ stage. Some of these must be arranged before the unit ships and cannot be added retrospectively.