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Conex Box in Georgia: A Complete Guide for Georgia Buyers
Conex box, shipping container, storage container: the words get used interchangeably. What changes from one Georgia 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 Georgia, containers can serve these industries:
Poultry. The poultry belt running through Gainesville, Hall, Habersham, Franklin and Jackson counties needs dry storage for feed, bedding, equipment and biosecurity supplies between houses.
Floor covering. Dalton and Whitfield County are home to carpet and hard surface flooring mills, sample houses and freight brokers that can use overflow storage.
Ports and drayage. Drayage carriers, warehouses and freight forwarders around the container terminal at Garden City in Savannah and the roll-on roll-off auto terminal at Colonel's Island in Brunswick can use on site storage.
Film and television production. Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, Assembly in Doraville, and location work in Savannah and Senoia move set, prop, grip and wardrobe inventory that can sit in containers between builds.
Row crop and specialty agriculture. Peanuts, cotton and pecans across the southwest, Vidalia onions in Toombs and Tattnall counties, and peaches around Fort Valley and Byron all need seasonal storage that locks.
Timber and forest products. Pine plantations, chip mills and pulp and paper operations across the southern half of the state can use containers at landings, gates and equipment yards.
Kaolin mining. The white clay belt around Sandersville and Gordon has mines, haul fleets and processing plants that can store parts and tooling close to the pit.
Granite and dimension stone. Elberton and Elbert County quarry and finish granite, and Jasper and Tate in Pickens County work Georgia marble.
Automotive and battery manufacturing. Kia in West Point, the Hyundai plant in Bryan County near Ellabell, and SK Battery in Commerce have pulled supplier parks into three separate corners of the state.
Military installations. Robins Air Force Base at Warner Robins, Fort Stewart near Hinesville, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay at St. Marys and Moody Air Force Base at Valdosta have contractors working around them who can keep tools and parts in a lockable container on site.
Residential construction. Framing, roofing, electrical and remodeling crews in metro Atlanta and the coastal counties can keep tools and materials in a lockable container at the job site.
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 Georgia
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 Georgia:
Metro Atlanta, inside and outside the Perimeter, including Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, DeKalb, Clayton and Henry counties
Savannah, Chatham County and the coast down through Brunswick to St. Marys
Macon, Warner Robins and Middle Georgia, served from the Atlanta depot about 90 miles up I-75
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 Georgia.
What a Conex Box Costs in Georgia
Pricing is ZIP-specific, because delivery is part of the price. Georgia delivered pricing: starting at $2,067 for a 20ft Wind and Water Tight container delivered in Savannah. 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 original program ended, which is why one person says 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.
For anything you are likely to buy, yes. Both describe a corrugated Corten steel box, 20 or 40 feet long, with cargo doors at one end, built to keep wind and water out. The words that actually change what you receive are the grade and the size, not which of the three names the seller happens to use.
There are three standard sizes: a 20ft, a 40ft and a 40ft high cube. A 20ft is 160 square feet on the ground and fits driveways and tight lots. A 40ft is 320 square feet and gives you one long room. A 40ft high cube is the same footprint with about a foot more interior height, which matters if you are racking pallets or planning to insulate and finish the inside, because insulation takes headroom you do not get back.
A tilt bed truck backs in, raises the bed and slides the container off, so it needs a firm, reasonably level straight run behind the drop point and clear space overhead for the bed to rise. Overhead clearance deserves a look in Georgia, because intown Atlanta and the Savannah Historic District can have mature live oak and water oak canopy hanging over the approach. Walk the route from the street to the drop spot and look up as well as down. The exact clearance figures for each size are listed on our sizes page.
Containers are supplied and delivered by Container One, dispatched from depots at Atlanta and Savannah. The Atlanta depot is about 0.4 miles from the city and the Savannah depot about 13.7 miles from town. Georgia pricing starts at $2,067 for a 20ft Wind and Water Tight container delivered in Savannah, and the same container costs more delivered in Atlanta, which shows that distance to the depot is only one input in a delivered price.