A shipping container inspection checklist is the record of someone walking round an ISO container and looking at every part that keeps it strong, dry and secure: the corner castings and rails it is lifted and stacked by, the doors and locking bars, the walls, roof and floor, and the inside with the doors closed and the lights off. This form follows that walk, records the container number, seal and safety approval plate, logs each piece of damage with a photo, and ends in a plain sound, repair or reject decision. Fill it in here and download the PDF with no account — or speak while you walk round the box, and the document writes itself.
When to inspect a container
Before it is loaded, so cargo does not go into a box that leaks, smells or cannot be sealed. On receipt from a carrier or depot, so damage is noted before you sign for it. When it goes back off hire, so you are charged only for what you did. And at intervals when a container is used for storage on a site, because a box that has sat for a year can rust through at the floor or rails without anyone noticing.
Pick the reason at the top of the form. It changes nothing in the checks, but it matters a great deal when the report is read later in a dispute.
The walk: outside, then inside
Start underneath, where the cross members and bottom rails carry the floor and where a false compartment would show. Then the doors: hinges, locking bars, cams, handles and the seal point, inside face and outside. Then each long side, the front end and — when it can be seen from above — the roof and top corner castings.
Inside, look at the floor boards and their fixings, the lashing points, the walls and the ceiling, and check that the inside length and height are what the container type says they should be. A wall or floor that sits short of where it should be is how goods get hidden.
The light test and the nose test
Step inside, have someone close both doors, and wait for your eyes to adjust. Any point of daylight — at the roof, a wall, the floor or a door gasket — is a hole water will find. Write down where it came in and photograph it from outside.
Before you step out, breathe in. Fuel, chemicals, mold, rot or a fumigant left from the last load can taint cargo, and food and pharmaceutical shippers often refuse a box on smell alone. The form asks a separate, stricter question only when the cargo is food.
Damage, the CSC plate, and the decision
Every container in international use carries a safety approval plate under the CSC convention, with a next examination date or an approved continuous examination program number. Record what the plate says, and mark it a defect if it is missing, unreadable or out of date — a box without a valid plate should not be stacked or shipped.
Log each damage item with where it is, what kind, how big, how serious and a photo. Then decide: sound and fit for use, usable only after repair, or rejected. This is a visual inspection on the day; it is not a structural survey or the periodic examination itself, and the sign-off says so.
Common questions
What is checked in a shipping container inspection?
The undercarriage and bottom rails, the doors with their hinges, locking bars, cams and gaskets, both side walls, the front end, the roof and top corner castings, the floor, walls and ceiling inside, a light test for holes, odors, contamination and pests, the container number and the CSC safety approval plate.
What is the seven-point container inspection?
A common way of organizing the walk round a container: the front wall, left side, right side, floor, ceiling or roof, inside and outside doors, and the undercarriage. This form covers all seven areas, in walking order, and adds the CSC plate, a light test, cleanliness, pests and a damage log.
How do you do a light test on a container?
Stand inside with both doors closed and let your eyes adjust to the dark. Any daylight showing through the roof, walls, floor or door seals marks a hole that will let in water. Note each one and photograph it from outside.
What is a CSC plate?
The safety approval plate fixed to a container under the International Convention for Safe Containers. It shows the approval details, the maximum gross weight and stacking figures, and either a next examination date or a continuous examination program number. A missing or out-of-date plate is a reason not to ship the container.
Who should sign a container inspection report?
The person who did the inspection, and usually whoever is handing the container over or receiving it — a driver, depot clerk or customer — so both sides agree on its condition at that moment.