A new refrigerated container is almost never a box straight off the production line. In this trade, new means one-trip: the reefer was built in Asia, loaded once with cargo for the voyage to Europe, and offered for sale on arrival. On the UK market a one-trip 20 ft reefer is typically listed at £18,995 to £22,500 ex VAT, against £4,500 to £7,500 for a sound used unit. All figures here are indicative market observations, quoted ex VAT, with VAT at 20% on top. This page explains what the premium actually buys and when it is worth paying — for the wider picture, start with our overview of refrigerated containers for sale.
What one-trip really means
Shipping an empty container halfway round the world wastes the voyage, so a newly built reefer earns its passage carrying one paid load. That single crossing is its entire working history — hence one-trip, sometimes sold as one-way. What lands in the UK is commercially new: unmarked steel, insulation and T-bar aluminium floor in original condition, unworn door gaskets, and a refrigeration unit showing a few hundred running hours at most.
So it is not a machine that has never run — it held temperature across an ocean, arguably the most convincing test it could sit. Nor is it a used container in fresh paint: second-hand stock comes out of a decade or more of shipping-line service and is graded A, B or C, a Grade A unit being generally under 12 years old. One-trip removes that grading lottery.
What a one-trip reefer costs
| Option (20 ft) | Typical UK price, ex VAT |
|---|---|
| New one-trip reefer | £18,995 – £22,500 |
| Used reefer in working order | £4,500 – £7,500 |
| Long-term hire | from around £12 a day |
Within the one-trip range, price follows size, the make of the refrigeration unit, the port of arrival and how tight the freight market happens to be. Two costs sit outside it: delivery, quoted separately by distance and site access, usually by crane; and an annual service of the unit, worth budgeting for whichever route you take.
The premium, stated honestly
A one-trip unit costs roughly three to four times a working used reefer. Compare like with like and the gap stays wide: a Grade A machine, the youngest of the second-hand stock, sits at the top of the used range, so the real comparison is around £7,500 against around £20,000. No argument about build quality closes that. What can close it is the working life on the far side of the purchase.
| New one-trip | Used, working order | |
|---|---|---|
| Price, 20 ft ex VAT | £18,995 – £22,500 | £4,500 – £7,500 |
| Hours on the unit | a few hundred | a full marine service life |
| Condition risk | known | managed by grading and a PTI report |
| Warranty | supplier-provided, or none — ask | usually sold as tested |
What you actually get for the money
- A refrigeration unit at hour zero. Carrier, Thermo King, Daikin and Star Cool are the makes you will see, current generation, running a current-generation refrigerant. Standard operating range is −25 °C to +25 °C, so one machine covers chilled and frozen alike.
- The full service life ahead of you. Ten to fifteen years is the span a sound reefer is credited with; a one-trip unit starts at the beginning of it.
- A possible warranty. Cover comes from the seller, not the container, and its scope varies — get it in writing before comparing quotes.
- Resale value. A container bought new and serviced keeps a position a tired Grade C unit lost long ago, narrowing the true cost over a few years.
Who a one-trip unit suits in the UK
Year-round duty is the clearest case: cold-chain logistics, food manufacturing running the year through, a seafood or meat business where a failure costs stock and a day’s trading. Audited environments are the second. HACCP compliance rests on temperature control and traceability rather than the age of the kit, and requirements vary by activity and local authority, so treat your environmental health officer as the reference — a machine with a clean history simply makes the demonstration less work. Third are customer-facing sites: farm shops, brewery taprooms, event caterers whose kit is part of the shopfront.
The counter-case is just as clear. Christmas overflow for a butcher, the summer festival run, a harvest peak, cover while a fixed cold room is rebuilt — none of that justifies £20,000. The rule of thumb is 18 to 24 months of continuous use before ownership pays for itself; below that, hiring a refrigerated container is generally the better buy, though many hire firms apply a 90-day minimum term. Between the extremes sits a tested used reefer with a PTI report under three months old.
Sizes, power and running costs
The 20 ft dominates one-trip supply: roughly 28 m³, 10 to 11 pallets, internal dimensions of about 5.44 × 2.29 × 2.27 m. A 10 ft suits tight sites, though insulation and machinery take a large bite out of its 2.99 m overall length. A 40 ft high cube gives about 67 m³ and 23 pallets, with 2.55 m of internal height.
Power is three-phase 380/400 V through a 32 A five-pin CEE plug; some smaller formats run on single-phase 230 V. Consumption runs from 70 to 170 kWh a day across the range — a 20 ft draws 85 to 95 kWh holding +2 °C and 95 to 110 kWh at −18 °C. Multiply by your unit rate, and confirm the supply on site before delivery.
Comparing supplier quotes
One-trip availability follows import flows through the major container ports, so what sits in a depot today differs from what is still at sea. Ask each supplier what it holds, in what size, with which refrigeration unit and what cover.
EuroReefer is an editorial comparison site: we hold no stock and sell nothing. Set out your size, target temperature and postcode on our quote form and we pass the request to specialist suppliers, who contact you directly if they can meet your requirement. Compare on delivered cost and written cover, not the headline price.
Frequently asked questions
What does one-trip mean on a refrigerated container?
One-trip describes a reefer that has made a single sea voyage. Refrigerated containers are built in Asia, so rather than ship them empty, sellers load them once with cargo bound for Europe and sell them on arrival. The container is commercially new: original insulation, floor and door seals, and a refrigeration unit carrying only a few hundred running hours.
How much does a new refrigerated container cost in the UK?
On the UK market a new one-trip 20 ft reefer is typically listed at £18,995 to £22,500 ex VAT, with VAT at 20% added on top and delivery quoted separately according to distance and site access. A sound used unit sits at £4,500 to £7,500 ex VAT. These are indicative market observations rather than quotes, and they move with size, refrigeration unit and freight conditions.
Is a one-trip reefer worth the extra over a used one?
It depends on how hard the container will work. A one-trip unit costs roughly three to four times a working used reefer, so for occasional or seasonal storage the used route usually makes more sense. Where cold runs year-round, where stock losses would be expensive, or where the container faces customers, paying for a refrigeration unit at hour zero is far easier to justify.
How long does a one-trip refrigerated container last?
A sound refrigerated container is generally credited with 10 to 15 years of service, and a one-trip unit has that span ahead of it rather than behind. The Corten steel shell usually outlasts the refrigeration unit, which is the part that sets the real timeline: an annual service, clean coils and sound door seals do more for its lifespan than the year stamped on the data plate.