Methodology

Sources of price ranges

The ranges shown on product pages ("€1,800 to €4,500 for a new 20-foot container in France") are built from three sources:

1) Public or semi-public price grids of major European suppliers (TRITON, Florens, Beacon, etc.) consulted quarterly.

2) Real quotes received via our form — anonymised and aggregated by country/type/condition/city.

3) Open contextual data: maritime freight indices (Drewry, Freightos), rolled steel prices (Eurostat), customs (codes 86090090 and 86090010).

The minimum and maximum values of a range correspond to the 5th and 95th observed percentiles — we strip clear outliers (obviously aberrant offers) so we don't mislead.

Geographic modulation

Each city has a coefficient (priceMultiplier) between 0.90 and 1.15. It reflects: distance to the nearest port depot, regional road haulage cost, local construction/logistics demand pressure.

Example: Paris (priceMultiplier 1.10) is ~10% more expensive than the national average; Le Havre (0.95) is cheaper because it is the entry port for containers.

The coefficient is reviewed twice a year, or whenever a major market shift occurs (tariff crisis, construction demand peak, etc.).

Partner vendor verification

Before a vendor receives your contact details, they pass a 4-point check:

1) Legal existence: SIRET (FR) / CBE (BE) / NIF (ES) / Handelsregisternummer (DE) / Codice fiscale (IT) / KvK (NL) / Companies House (UK) — every declared number is cross-checked against official registries.

2) Intra-EU VAT: validated via VIES for non-FR/UK vendors.

3) Track record: minimum 12 months of documented activity. Recently created actors are placed on hold.

4) Declared scope: countries served, container types, condition (new/used). Consistent with their public listings.

"Active" status is granted only after this validation. In case of a documented customer complaint (non-conforming delivery, price changed after quote, etc.), the vendor is suspended for the duration of the inquiry.

Business model and independence

ContainerEU takes NO commission on transactions. None. The service is free for the buyer, and vendors pay a fixed subscription to receive leads (not a % of the sale).

Direct consequence: we have no incentive to push you towards the most expensive vendor. Our aligned interest is for you to find the right price quickly, because a satisfied buyer comes back and recommends us.

We don't sell containers. We don't organise delivery. We don't collect payments. It is strictly intermediation — comparable to Doctolib for healthcare or Hello Watt for energy.

Update frequency

National price ranges: revised quarterly (March, June, September, December).

Geographic coefficients: revised twice a year (April, October).

Matching data (active vendors, scopes): updated in real time on every vendor edit.

Pages display a "Last updated on X" date that corresponds to the last editorial review of the content.

GDPR and data protection

Your contact details (name, email, phone) are transmitted ONLY to vendors that match your request, and only after you explicitly submit the form.

We do not resell any data to third parties (data brokers, ad networks, etc.). None.

Right to be forgotten: an email to contact@containereu.com erases your file within 72 working hours.

Retention: quote requests are kept 36 months for commercial traceability (disputes, complaints), then automatically purged.

EU hosting: servers in France and Germany. No transfer outside the EU for personal data.

Errors and reporting

If you spot a clearly wrong price range, a failing vendor, or incorrect city/region information: contact@containereu.com with "Methodology report" in the subject line.

Any validated correction is applied within 5 working days. Substantial corrections are mentioned in the public changelog on this page.