Container shipping
40ft container shipping to Juba: when the bigger box is cheaper
Twice the space for well under twice the transport cost. For cargo that cubes out, the 40ft isn't the expensive option. It is the cheap one.
The economics
A 40ft gives roughly twice the internal volume of a 20ft. The road transport cost of moving it to Juba is well below twice the cost of a 20ft. One truck, one driver, one set of border formalities, one movement.
So for cargo that fills the box before it reaches the weight limit, the 40ft wins on cost per cubic metre, often by a wide margin. The mistake is to think of the 40ft as the premium option. For light cargo it is the budget one.
What loads well in a 40ft
- Furniture, mattresses, foam, soft furnishings
- Clothing, textiles and general merchandise in volume
- Packaging materials, plastics, insulation
- Mixed retail stock for a shop or distributor
- Solar panels, water tanks, light bulky equipment
High cube
A 40ft high cube adds internal height over a standard 40ft for the same floor area. For stackable cargo that is free volume. Two things to check first:
- Can the consignee's offloading point handle the extra height?
- Is the cargo stackable to the roof, or will the top metre be air?
Practical constraints at the Juba end
A 40ft on a trailer is a long vehicle. Before booking, confirm:
- The delivery address can take a full length trailer. Check the access road, gate width and turning room.
- There is equipment or labour on site to offload within the free time
- Someone with authority will be present to receive and sign
- There is somewhere for the trailer to wait if there is a queue
Waiting time at offloading is charged, and it is entirely avoidable with a phone call.
Empty return
Same warning as for the 20ft, and it costs more here because the equipment is worth more. Agree before the container leaves the terminal: who returns the empty, to where, by when, and who pays if that slips.
How detention and demurrage work
Published 40ft rates
40ft container transport to Juba
Two 20fts or one 40ft?
Worth pricing both. Two 20fts give you more payload capacity in total and let you split delivery across two sites or two dates. One 40ft is usually cheaper if you've a single consignee and the cargo is not heavy. Tell us the weight and the volume and we will price both.
Get a quotation
Tell us what you are shipping
Send us the cargo description, weight or volume, and the pickup and delivery addresses. We reply with a written rate, the transit time and the documents you will need.