20ft Side Opening Door Container – Refurbished Steel

Why Buyers Choose a 20ft Side Opening Shipping Container

A 20ft side opening shipping container changes how you actually use the steel you paid for. In a standard box you work from one end, and whatever sits behind the first row of pallets is buried until you unload everything in front of it. Swing the side doors wide and every foot of the wall becomes a loading face, which is why buyers pay the premium for this configuration instead of a plain dry van.

Treat it as a 20-foot warehouse bay you can set down almost anywhere. Shelving along the back wall stays reachable, a forklift can drop or pull a pallet without shuttling down the length of the unit, and awkward items such as pipe or sheet stock load broadside rather than end-first. The end doors remain in place, so you keep the conventional access too.

Specifications at a Glance

• Size class: 20ft standard height, 20' × 8' × 8'6" externally
• Internal dimensions: roughly 19'4" long × 7'8" wide × 7'10" high
• End door opening: approximately 7'8" wide × 7'6" high
• Usable volume: around 1,170 cubic feet (about 33 cubic meters)
• Tare weight: roughly 4,850 lb before the side-door hardware is added
• Access: full-length side opening plus the standard end doors
• Shell: corrugated weathering steel with marine-grade plywood decking
• Delivery: flat $500 to any of the 50 states, price shown includes tax

Where a Side Door Container Earns Its Keep

The side opening pays for itself anywhere stock moves in and out often rather than sitting still for months. If you are loading once and forgetting about it, a standard box is the cheaper call.

• Job-site material lockups where crews pull lumber, conduit, or fixtures daily
• Parts and spares storage next to a production line, worked from a forklift
• Event and rental companies loading staging, tables, and long trussing
• Agricultural chemical and equipment stores that need drum access at any point
• Retail or warehouse overflow used as a temporary picking bay

Site Prep and Door Clearance Before You Order

Side doors need room to swing, so plan the pad differently than you would for a standard unit. Leave at least eight feet of clear ground along the door side, keep that strip level, and avoid parking the container tight against a fence on the hinge face. For the drop itself, allow the container length plus about 40 feet of straight approach and roughly 15 feet of overhead clearance. Set the unit on ties, blocks, or a poured pad so the frame stays square. Compare footprints across the 20ft container lineup or the wider storage container range before you commit, and if you want the same access on a one-trip shell look at the one-trip open side model. Full dimension tables live on our container specifications page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still stack a side opening container?

Corner castings and posts are unchanged, so the unit handles like any ISO container for lifting and transport. That said, a full-length aperture removes sidewall bracing, so stacking loaded units is not something we would recommend without an engineer signing off on your arrangement. For ground-level storage it makes no practical difference.

How much clearance do the side doors need?

The leaves swing outward on hinges, so budget roughly eight feet of unobstructed space along the opening face, plus room to stand while you work. If your site is tight, position the container with the side doors facing the yard rather than a fence line, and confirm the orientation when you order.

Is a side opening unit still weathertight?

Yes. The side doors carry the same gasket and locking-bar system used on standard cargo doors, and the aperture is framed in steel before the leaves are hung. Keep the gaskets clean and the cam hardware lubricated and it sheds rain like a factory door. Passive vents limit condensation inside.