📦 How Your Shipping Container Is Unloaded on Site (Tilt-Bed Ground Drop)

With Four Seasons Containers’ standard Tilt-Bed Roll-Off Delivery, your container is unloaded directly onto the ground by our delivery truck—no crane or forklift is required on your site.

1. Standard Tilt-Bed Roll-Off Unloading (No Crane Required)

For 95% of residential, agricultural, and commercial deliveries across the United States, we dispatch a hydraulic tilt-bed (roll-off) trailer:

  1. Positioning: The driver backs the trailer in a straight line toward your designated drop spot.
  2. Hydraulic Tilt: The trailer bed tilts upward at a controlled angle until the rear bottom corner castings of the container touch the ground (or your prepared wood blocks/railroad ties).
  3. Smooth Roll-Off: The truck pulls slowly forward in a straight line while the container slides smoothly off the rollers onto the ground. The entire unloading process takes less than 15 minutes!

2. Site Preparation & Clearance Checklist

  • 20ft Container Clearance: 65 to 75 feet of straight-line clearance × 12 feet wide × 16 feet overhead height.
  • 40ft / 40ft High Cube Clearance: 100 to 120 feet of straight-line clearance × 12 feet wide × 16 to 18 feet overhead height.
  • Level Foundation: Ensure the ground is firm, dry, and level. Placing 6″×6″ pressure-treated timbers, railroad ties, or concrete piers under the four corner castings promotes airflow underneath the container and ensures smooth door operation.
  • Door Orientation: Let our coordinator know prior to loading whether you want the cargo doors unloaded first (facing the rear of the truck) or last (facing the truck cab).

3. Optional Flatbed & Crane Unloading for Restricted Sites

If your delivery location does not have sufficient straight-line clearance for a tilt-bed roll-off truck (for example, lifting a container over a fence, placing it into a tight courtyard, or stacking multiple containers vertically), we can deliver via standard flatbed chassis so your on-site crane, reach-stacker, or heavy-duty forklift (minimum 10,000 lb capacity with 8ft forks) can lift the container directly off the trailer via its four ISO corner castings.

4. Need Assistance Planning Your Drop Spot?

Call our US logistics desk at +1 (800) 589-3589 or email sales@fourseasonscontainers.us and we will gladly review your property layout prior to dispatch.