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Charleston, SC

Shipping Containers for Sale in Charleston, SC

20ft, 40ft, high cube, modified, and refrigerated containers delivered to the Charleston metro area and the Lowcountry, including Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Summerville, Goose Creek and Hanahan.

Get a Charleston Quote (330) 510-5817
The Charleston Lowcountry

Container Delivery in Charleston

Charleston was founded in 1670 and is the seat of Charleston County, at the center of a tri-county Lowcountry region that also reaches into Berkeley and Dorchester counties. Deliveries reach Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Colleton, Georgetown, Beaufort, Williamsburg and Orangeburg counties. Delivery areas include South of Broad, Harleston Village, Ansonborough, the French Quarter, Radcliffeborough, Cannonborough-Elliotborough, Mazyck-Wraggborough, the Eastside, the Westside, Hampton Park Terrace, Wagener Terrace, North Central, Byrnes Downs, Avondale, South Windermere, Riverland Terrace, Harbor View, Daniel Island, Cainhoy and Johns Island.

Charleston is a three-county city, and the rule that governs your container is the rule belonging to whoever issues your permit. Inside the city limits, the City of Charleston Zoning Ordinance treats a shipping container used for on-site storage in a residential district as a portable storage unit with its own size, count, placement and duration limits, and treats outdoor storage of three or more containers as a separate conditional land use restricted to the LI and HI industrial districts. In unincorporated Charleston County a container is reviewed under the county's Zoning and Land Development Regulations, which allow permanent storage units only in a named list of agricultural, rural, commercial and industrial districts and require a zoning permit and screening. Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Summerville, Goose Creek, Hanahan and each island town set their own rules again.

Include your address and a description of the access when you request a quote.

Communities Near Charleston

Mount Pleasant North Charleston Summerville Goose Creek Hanahan Ladson James Island Folly Beach Isle of Palms Sullivan's Island Moncks Corner Kiawah Island Seabrook Island Ravenel Lincolnville Awendaw
Container One schedules the delivery date after payment and site review. Location, payment, weather and access are reviewed before the appointment is set.
Charleston Use Cases

Uses for Containers in Charleston

Hurricane and Storm Season Readiness

A steel container can hold records, generators, tools, equipment and other items you could not replace, dry and locked in one place. Inside the city limits, Charleston's zoning ordinance requires portable storage units to be removed immediately when a tropical storm warning or hurricane watch is issued, so a temporary box on a driveway cannot stay through a storm.

Port, Drayage and Transload Overflow

Trucking, transloading and warehousing around the Charleston terminals need ground space. An owned container provides storage on a drayage or transload operation's own yard. If you are stacking three or more containers outdoors, the city treats that as a defined land use with its own district and buffer rules, so plan the yard before the boxes arrive.

Manufacturing and Supplier Storage

The manufacturing corridor from Boeing in North Charleston out to Volvo in Ridgeville, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Bosch in Ladson and Nucor in Huger uses its floor space for production. A container can hold tooling, packaging, spare parts and staged material at the fence line.

Renovation and Restoration Staging

Restoration work on the peninsula and in the older West Ashley and James Island neighborhoods leaves little room to stage material. A container can keep salvaged millwork, heart pine, cabinetry and new material out of the weather and out of the street. Inside the city limits the portable storage unit rules set size, count, placement and duration limits, and the Old and Historic District adds review by the Board of Architectural Review on top. Call the Zoning Division before booking a delivery.

Island, Marsh and Marina Property Storage

On Johns Island, Wadmalaw, Sullivan's, Isle of Palms, Folly and Kiawah, a container can hold boat gear, outboards, crab traps, kayaks, mowers and hurricane shutters. Steel holds up to salt air when the paint is kept up. Each of those places is its own jurisdiction with its own rules, which is the first thing to check.

Farm, Timber and Rural Tract Storage

Colleton, Dorchester, Berkeley and the rural end of Charleston County are working land. A container can hold feed, seed, chemicals, irrigation parts, chainsaws, tractor implements and deer camp gear out at the field, dry and locked. Unincorporated Charleston County allows permanent storage units as an accessory use in its agricultural and several of its rural, commercial and industrial districts, subject to a zoning permit and screening.

Delivery Logistics

What to Know About Charleston Container Delivery

A few things shape how a delivery goes in this area:

  • Lowcountry ground is sandy with a high water table, and low-lying lots hold water after heavy rain and on king tides. Setting the container on gravel, blocks or timbers keeps the floor out of standing water and the doors square.
  • Peninsula deliveries depend on the approach: narrow one-way streets, live oaks with low canopy, on-street parking on both sides, and rear lanes that can be the only route in. A tilt-bed delivery needs the bed to rise, so overhead clearance matters more than gate width. Walk the route and look up before the appointment.
  • Island and marsh-edge properties on Johns, Wadmalaw, Sullivan's, Isle of Palms, Folly and Kiawah mean causeway routing, soft shoulders and occasional tidal flooding on the approach road. Mention tidal flooding when Container One's Delivery/Dispatch department schedules the delivery.
  • Salt air is hard on steel. A Wind and Water Tight or Cargo Worthy box on the coast rewards a look at the roof and the door gaskets on arrival, and paint touch-up where the finish is thin.
  • Late summer and fall bring named storms, which can affect delivery dates in September.
  • Industrial yards around North Charleston, Ladson and the port corridor can offer paved ground and room to maneuver.
  • Mount Pleasant, Daniel Island and the newer Summerville subdivisions carry HOA covenants that govern what can sit in view of the street. Read the covenant before the truck rolls.

For permit questions on a specific address, contact the City of Charleston Department of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability, Zoning Division, 2 George Street, Suite 3100, Charleston SC 29401, phone (843) 724-3765, for zoning determinations. Building permits go through the City of Charleston Permit Center on the ground floor at 2 George Street, phone (843) 577-5550, [email protected]. If the address is in unincorporated Charleston County rather than the city, call Charleston County Zoning and Planning at (843) 202-7200. Berkeley County Planning and Zoning is (843) 719-4095 and Dorchester County Planning and Zoning is (843) 832-0020.

Container Types Available in Charleston

Containers are available in several grades, from used wind and water tight to one-trip.

Get a Charleston Quote

Request a Container Quote for Charleston

Your details go to S&CC Group Inc., which runs this site, and to Container One, which prepares your quote and contacts you.

Contact Us Directly

Call Us(330) 510-5817
Text Us(330) 510-5817
Email[email protected]
Other city pages: Columbia, Greenville.
Nearby towns: Walterboro, St. George, Georgetown, Beaufort, Bonneau and Edisto Beach.

Charleston Container Questions

It depends on where the line falls and what size you want. Inside the city limits, Charleston's zoning ordinance counts a shipping container used for on-site storage in a residential district as a portable storage unit. Those rules allow one unit per lot, cap the envelope at eight feet high by eight feet wide by sixteen feet long, allow it to stay no more than thirty calendar days in any calendar year with written extensions available from the Zoning Administrator, and require it on an approved parking area such as a driveway. A standard 20ft container is twenty feet long and eight feet six inches high, so it does not fit that envelope on paper. That is the exact question to put to the Zoning Division at (843) 724-3765 with your address before you order. In unincorporated Charleston County the path is different: permanent storage units are allowed as an accessory use in the RR, AGR, AG-8, AG-10, AG-15, RM, CC, RI and IN districts, in the rear yard, with a zoning permit and screening. Charleston County Zoning and Planning is (843) 202-7200.
A shipping container spends its working life crossing oceans on an open deck in salt spray and weather, and Corten steel forms a stable surface layer that slows corrosion. What matters is the grade you choose and how you set it. Wind and Water Tight carries a 5 year warranty, Cargo Worthy carries 5 years, and a 1-Trip container carries 10 years structural and no-leak. Set it level on blocks or gravel, keep the roof clear of standing debris, and touch up paint where the finish gets thin.
Haul distance is only one input in a delivered price. Charleston is served from the Savannah depot, about 109 miles down the coast, and Greenville from the Charlotte depot, about 120 miles up Interstate 85, only eleven miles farther. South Carolina pricing starts at $2,078 delivered for a 20ft Wind and Water Tight container in Charleston, and the same box in Greenville is roughly four hundred eighty dollars more. Give us your ZIP and a Container One sales representative will quote the delivered price for your address.
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Ready to Get a Container Delivered in Charleston?

Call or text (330) 510-5817, or use the quote form above.