Authorized Partner of Container One, A+ BBB rated, 30 years in the container industry.
Pillar Guide
Conex Box in South Carolina: A Complete Guide for South Carolina Buyers
Conex box, shipping container, storage container: the words get used interchangeably. What changes from one South Carolina order to the next is the size, the grade and the delivery route.
The word conex (sometimes spelled CONEX) is short for "container express," a term coined by the United States military in the 1950s for a standardized steel shipping container used to move equipment and supplies during the Korean War. The original CONEX boxes were 8.5 feet by 6 feet by 6.8 feet, much smaller than today's intermodal units, but the principle was identical: a stackable, lockable, weatherproof steel box that could move by truck, rail, or ship without unpacking.
By the late 1960s the commercial shipping industry had standardized on 20-foot and 40-foot intermodal containers, the units you see on every cargo ship and rail line today. The military term stuck in everyday speech. Many people still call any large steel storage box a conex, even when the unit is technically an ISO shipping container or a purpose-built storage container.
Whichever name is used, the container is a corrugated steel box, 20 or 40 feet long, with cargo doors on one end.
Conex Box vs Shipping Container vs Storage Container
The vocabulary lines up like this:
Conex box. Originally a military-spec container. In modern use, a colloquial name for any steel shipping container used for storage. Most commonly applied to 20-foot and 40-foot units in residential and contractor settings.
Shipping container. The technical term for an ISO-standard intermodal container. These are the units that cross oceans on cargo ships. They are built to ISO 1496 specifications, which dictate dimensions, lifting points, and structural strength.
Storage container. A general retail and rental term used by ground-storage companies. Often refers to the same intermodal unit, but the phrase also covers purpose-built ground-level containers that have never seen ocean service.
If you are shopping for storage, the difference rarely matters. The same physical unit can be sold as any of the three. What matters more is the size, the condition grade, and the delivery logistics.
Standard Conex Box Sizes
There are three standard sizes:
20-foot standard. Length 20 ft, width 8 ft, height 8 ft 6 in. Interior floor about 19 ft 4 in by 7 ft 9 in, with 7 ft 10 in of height.
40-foot standard. Length 40 ft, width 8 ft, height 8 ft 6 in. Roughly 2,350 cubic feet, double the 20-foot. Best for contractors, farms, and businesses.
40-foot high cube. Length 40 ft, width 8 ft, height 9 ft 6 in. The extra foot of headroom adds about 350 cubic feet of usable space, which matters when you store racked goods or tall equipment.
Specialty sizes (10-foot, 45-foot, refrigerated, double-door, side-opening) exist but are less common.
Common Uses by Industry
In South Carolina, containers can serve these industries:
Automotive manufacturing. BMW Manufacturing is at Greer in Spartanburg County, Volvo Cars builds at Ridgeville in Berkeley County, and Mercedes-Benz Vans assembles at Ladson. Supplier parks around all three can use overflow storage for parts and tooling.
Tire and rubber. Michelin North America is headquartered in Greenville with plants across the Upstate, Bridgestone runs operations in Aiken County, Continental Tire is in Sumter, and Giti Tire built at Richburg in Chester County.
Ports and drayage. The South Carolina Ports Authority runs the Wando Welch Terminal at Mount Pleasant, the North Charleston Terminal and the Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal, plus inland ports at Greer and Dillon. Drayage carriers, warehouses and freight forwarders around all five can use overflow storage.
Aerospace. Boeing South Carolina builds the 787 in North Charleston, and Lockheed Martin is in Greenville.
Coastal tourism and hospitality. The Grand Strand from Little River to Pawleys Island, Hilton Head Island, and historic Charleston include rental management companies, watersports and beach service operators, event and festival crews and golf course maintenance teams.
Residential construction. Framers, roofers, electricians and remodelers work on homes in Horry, Berkeley, Dorchester, York, Lancaster and Beaufort counties.
Row crop and specialty agriculture. Cotton, soybeans, peanuts and tobacco across the Pee Dee, peaches on the Ridge around Ridge Spring, Johnston and Monetta and in Spartanburg County, and watermelons and produce in the Lowcountry.
Timber and forest products. Pine plantations, chip mills and paper operations across the Pee Dee, the Sandhills and the Lowcountry can use secure storage for tools and parts at landings and equipment yards.
Energy and nuclear. The Savannah River Site near Aiken, the V.C. Summer station in Fairfield County, Duke Energy's Oconee and Catawba stations and Santee Cooper's operations around Moncks Corner each have contractors working on site.
Military installations and their contractor base. Joint Base Charleston, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and MCAS Beaufort, Fort Jackson at Columbia and Shaw Air Force Base at Sumter each have a contractor base nearby.
Textiles and technical materials. Milliken is headquartered at Spartanburg, Glen Raven has operations in the region, and advanced materials and nonwovens plants operate across Greenville, Spartanburg, Laurens and Cherokee counties.
Common uses:
Tool, chemical, and equipment storage at working yards. Steel walls, lockable doors, and on-site placement make a conex a practical substitute for a built shed, a fenced compound or a temporary office.
Weather-event storage for documents, heirlooms, and inventory.
Construction jobsite storage on long-cycle builds. Project-driven needs where timing, access, and short-term affordability all matter.
Acreage and farm storage. Permanent storage for the things a garage or barn cannot fit.
How to Choose the Right Conex Box
Three questions narrow the decision quickly:
How much space do you need? List what you intend to store. A 20-foot unit works for household goods during a renovation, materials for a residential framing job, or a few pallets of stock. A 40-foot unit doubles that. Compare the list with the container dimensions before you choose.
How clean does the interior need to be? If you are storing tools, equipment, or boxed goods, a used wind-and-water-tight unit is fine. If the unit will be converted to an office, a workshop, or a clean storage space, a one-trip unit saves the cost of repainting and floor refinishing later.
Will it move? If the container will sit on a single property for the whole life of its use, buying makes sense. For a project that ends in a few months, compare the cost of renting from a rental company with the cost of buying. Our rent vs buy guide walks through the crossover math.
How Delivery Works in South Carolina
Conex boxes are delivered on a tilt-bed (sometimes called a roll-off) truck. The driver tilts the bed up, and the container slides off onto your placement site. Delivery follows this sequence:
Site assessment. Container One reviews the access route, the placement spot and the overhead clearance before scheduling. A 20-foot delivery needs 110 feet of straight clearance. The truck needs at least 15 feet of height to drive, at least 22 feet of height along the entire unloading path, and at least 10 feet of width. A 40-foot delivery needs 130 feet of straight clearance.
Surface check. Concrete, asphalt, gravel, hard-packed dirt, and grass all work. Soft, waterlogged, or steeply sloped ground may need preparation.
Final placement. The driver sets the container down on the prepared spot.
Container One's Delivery/Dispatch department schedules each delivery after payment and site review. Delivery areas across South Carolina:
Charleston, the Lowcountry tri-county and the sea islands, served from the Savannah depot about 109 road miles down the coast
Columbia, Lexington and the Midlands, served from the Charleston depot about 104 miles up I-26
Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson and the Upstate, served from the Charlotte depot about 120 miles up I-85
Permits and Local Rules
Permit rules depend on the municipality. Before ordering, check with your local building or planning department, and verify HOA rules if they apply. The permit guide for this state covers the questions to ask: container permits in South Carolina.
What a Conex Box Costs in South Carolina
Pricing is ZIP-specific, because delivery is part of the price. South Carolina delivered pricing: starting at $2,078 for a 20ft Wind and Water Tight container delivered in Charleston. Prices as of 2026-08-06.
If you would rather spread the cost, rent-to-own is available through a third-party partner, My Container Rental.
Frequently Asked Questions About Conex Boxes
Conex is short for Container Express, a United States military term from the 1950s for the reusable steel boxes that moved supplies. The name stuck long after the military program that used it ended, which is why some people still say conex box while the freight industry says intermodal container and the storage industry says storage container. For buying purposes the three words describe the same thing.
Yes for buying purposes, and the distinction only matters at a zoning counter. Greenville's Development Code, for one, treats portable storage units and shipping containers as two different categories with two different rule sets, so describing what is actually being delivered gets you an answer about the right category. Everywhere else, the terms conex box, shipping container, storage container and sea container can all describe the same corrugated steel box in the same three standard sizes.
Conex boxes are sold in three standard sizes. A 20ft container is 8 feet wide by 20 feet long, a 160 square foot footprint, and 8 feet 6 inches tall. A 40ft is the same width and height at 320 square feet. A 40ft high cube is 9 feet 6 inches tall on the same 320 square foot footprint. Zoning rules that limit container size are written in feet and square feet, so those are the figures to have ready when you call the office that issues your permit.
A tilt bed truck needs 130 feet of straight, unobstructed run to slide a 40ft container off, and 110 feet for a 20ft, plus clear height overhead because the bed has to rise. In South Carolina that turns into three checks. The first is the approach angle and the width at the tightest turn, which matters on Upstate foothill drives and old mill village streets. The second is what the last quarter mile is made of, which matters on Sandhills and Pee Dee farm roads. The third is what is overhead, which matters on the Charleston peninsula, where live oak canopy over a narrow one way street can count for more than the size of the yard.
Container One supplies and delivers them, dispatched from depots at Charleston, Charlotte and Savannah. Deliveries to Charleston come from the Savannah depot, about 109 miles down the coast. Deliveries to Columbia come from the Charleston depot, about 104 miles up Interstate 26. Deliveries to Greenville come from the Charlotte depot, about 120 miles up Interstate 85.