Condensation, rust and a Northern Rivers wet season
Why a sealed container drips on the inside, what salt air does to steel between Evans Head and Byron, and the cheap things that fix both.
Container delivery · Alstonville NSW 2477
Shipping containers Alstonville
Up on the plateau in the red soil, halfway between Lismore and the coast. Macadamia country, generous blocks, and some of the more pleasant delivering we do — provided you have looked up at the street trees first.
01
What Alstonville fills them with
When we price for Alstonville, the box is usually holding orchard and farm storage across the macadamia country, chemical, fertiliser and harvest equipment storage, machinery and workshop storage on the rural residential blocks, household and renovation storage through the village, and trade storage for builders working the plateau and Wollongbar. Furniture wants a sound, sealed box; fencing wire and drums do not. Saying which you have saves you paying for protection you will not use.
Valuables, paperwork and furniture: cargo-worthy at the least, or single-trip if it will be seen from the house. On request, you get photos of the container picked for your load before delivery.
| Size | Used from | New from | Hire from |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10ft Containers | $4,350 | $6,400 | POA |
| 20ft Containers | $2,200 | $3,300 | $27/wk |
| 40ft Containers | $2,600 | $5,500 | POA |
All ex GST. Tell us the contents and you get one figure for the right box delivered to Alstonville.
02
Macadamias, chemicals and harvest gear
The plateau is nut country and the container demand follows it. Harvest equipment that has to be stored between seasons and kept dry. Fertiliser and spray chemical that has storage rules attached to it. Nets, bins, irrigation fittings and the accumulated gear of an orchard operation.
Chemical is the part worth planning properly. A bunded, ventilated and correctly signed unit is how most orchards here get from awkward to compliant, and it can be relocated if the operation changes. Tell us the classes and the quantities and we will tell you what the unit needs to have.
The straightforward storage jobs are equally common — a 20ft or 40ft near the shed holding everything that does not fit in it, which on a working orchard is a surprisingly large amount.
03
Red soil, and why it makes life easier
The red volcanic soil on this plateau drains a great deal better than the alluvial flats down in the valley, and that has a real effect on delivery. After a wet week, a paddock at Alstonville is often still trafficable when the equivalent ground at Coraki or Woodburn is not. It is the reason we can be more relaxed about timing up here.
That is not a blanket assurance. Formed tracks, recent fill and anything that channels runoff still behave the way fill behaves anywhere. But as a rule, the plateau is forgiving ground and it means a 40ft on a proper pad is a reasonable proposition on most rural blocks in this postcode.
Pads still matter. Sleepers or concrete under the four corner castings, set with a slight fall away from the door end so water runs off rather than sits at the threshold.
04
Getting the box in at Alstonville
Two quite different jobs share this postcode. The rural and rural-residential blocks across the plateau are excellent — red volcanic soil that drains far better than the river flats, wide entries, long approaches and plenty of level ground. A 40ft is genuinely feasible on most of them, which is not something we can say about much of our coastal run. The older village streets are the ones to look at twice. Alstonville has kept a lot of mature street planting and there are stretches where the canopy meets over the road, and a tilt-tray needs air above it to get its bed up on the angle. Wollongbar is generally newer and easier. The plateau soil is a genuine advantage after rain — it holds up where the flats do not — but it is still worth telling us if a paddock track has been under water or has been recently formed.
We would rather pick the truck from photos than from a guess. If the gate, the ground or the overhead is uncertain, send pictures and see the guide.
05
Alstonville — common questions
- Is a 40ft workable on an Alstonville block?
- On most rural and rural-residential blocks up here, yes. The plateau has the twelve straight metres of level ground and the long approach a 40ft needs, and the red soil holds up better after rain than the flats do. In the older village streets it is a different question and usually a no, mostly because of the turn in and the street canopy.
- What about the street trees through the village?
- Worth a look before you order. A tilt-tray needs clear air above it to raise its bed and slide the container off, and there are stretches of Alstonville where the canopy meets over the road. Nobody is going to trim a mature street tree for a delivery, so where it is tight the answer is a crane truck from a clearer position or a shorter unit.
- Can you supply bunded chemical storage for an orchard?
- Yes — bunded floor, ventilation sized for the class, correct signage, available to buy or hire. Ring with what you are storing and how much of it. Site it on high ground clear of drains and watercourses, and leave truck access to it so it can be moved if the orchard layout changes.
Guides for Alstonville
Powering a container on a Northern Rivers block — mains, solar and generators
The three honest ways to get power to a container out here, what a licensed electrician has to do, and the cable, vent and battery decisions to make early.
Next towns over
No-obligation quote
See it before it arrives
Ask for photos of the actual unit heading to Alstonville, on request and before delivery.
02 6622 1322