New Orleans Storage Containers: Rent or Buy

Most of New Orleans sits close to sea level, with water just under the surface, and that changes the plan for putting a container on the ground. A box set directly on soil here will sink, collect water and rust from the bottom. Anyone who has lived through a hurricane season already knows this. Anyone new to New Orleans needs to hear it from the provider.

Keeping the box dry

Block the container up. Timbers or a gravel pad under the corners keep the floor off wet ground and let air move underneath. If your site floods when it rains hard, ask the provider to raise it further. Ground that looks fine on a dry day can be soup after a storm, and a loaded 40 footer does not move easily once it has settled.

Inside, the climate does the rest. Heat and humidity run most of the year, and condensation drips from the roof of an unvented box. Vents cost little. A dehumidifier works if you have power. For records, books or fabric, pay for an insulated or modified container. Salty air near the lake and the river also speeds up rust, so look at the paint and welds before you accept delivery, especially on a used unit.

Hurricane season changes the rules

Before a storm, people want boxes for furniture and inventory, and providers sell out fast. Afterward, roofers, gutting crews and restoration companies need them for debris and equipment. If you can plan ahead, order in spring, not when a storm is named.

Understand what a container is and is not. It is not a shelter, and it is not rated for high wind by default. If you leave one on your property through a hurricane, ask the provider about tie-downs and anchoring. Empty boxes can shift in wind. Heavily loaded ones usually do not, but do not assume.

Pests are another local reality. Termites and mice find a dark, closed box very welcoming, and in a warm climate they do not take a winter break. Seal gaps, avoid storing cardboard directly on the floor, and visit now and then. A box left alone for a year will have visitors.

The port and the city

The Port of New Orleans handles containers on the Mississippi, so used boxes are close by. That helps availability and keeps used prices closer to the low end of the Gulf Coast. A one-trip box direct from the dock is clean and sealed. A cargo-worthy used one is fine for tools and construction material.

Who orders? Restaurants and bars in the Quarter and the Marigny use them during remodels, when the kitchen has to go somewhere. Festival and event companies need space for staging, from Jazz Fest to Mardi Gras. Hospitals and clinics in the Central Business District and Mid-City use them for records and equipment. Contractors rebuilding after storms are the steadiest buyers of all.

What flooding does to your choice

Two areas of the city can look the same on a map and behave nothing alike in a storm. Higher ground along the river and some ridges are drier. Low areas toward the lake pool water fast. If you know your site floods, put the container on the highest spot you have and get it raised on timbers. Do not store paper or upholstered furniture on the floor of the box. Pallets, shelving or plastic bins keep things a few inches up.

For long stays, consider a wind and watertight unit with a good roof. A leaking seam is invisible until your inventory is ruined.

Delivery in the older neighborhoods

The French Quarter, the Garden District and the Bywater have narrow streets, balconies, oak limbs and overhead wires. A tilt-bed truck may not get through. Smaller containers on a roll-off truck sometimes can. Parking or placing a box in the street usually needs city approval, and in historic districts there may be additional review, so ask the city before you commit. Many customers rent a 10 footer instead of a 20 just to fit the route. Ask the driver to scout it first if the street is unusual, and be ready to meet the truck at the corner to wave it in.

Across Lake Pontchartrain

Slidell is on the north shore, a drive across I-10 and the Twin Span. A provider based in New Orleans can reach it, but may add a trip charge or schedule the delivery with others in the area. Providers on the north shore may be closer. Ask whether the quote includes the drive, and whether pickup is priced the same as delivery. Bridge closures and storm cleanup can add hours to a day, and a driver quoting from the city may not have counted them.

• How the box will be supported off the ground
• Tie-down options if a storm is forecast
• Condition of the paint, doors and seals
• Delivery and pickup, listed separately

If a hurricane is a week out, you will be competing with everyone else. Order early or expect a wait. Once the storm passes, plan for another round of delays while the same trucks serve every roofer and gutting crew in the region.

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