Quick Answer: Van Blanc delivers all seven container sizes to Aylmer and Elgin County from our 4 Brantford yards, 93 km up Highway 403. Fast 1 to 3 day delivery from our 4 Brantford yards. Pay on delivery, once the container is down. Family-run since 1995, 4.9 stars across 140+ Google reviews.
Part of our London and Southwestern Ontario delivery region. The regional hub has the full lineup of container grades and delivery details. Nearby coverage includes the city of London to the north, St Thomas just to the west and Delaware, west of London.
In This Guide
- Aylmer’s tobacco belt to ethanol corridor, and why containers follow that history
- What Aylmer farmers and contractors actually buy
- What size and grade fits an Aylmer working property?
- Shipping container sizes to buy, inside dimensions
- Brantford to Aylmer in 1 to 3 days
- Road distances to Aylmer and East Elgin stops
- The Facebook trap and why you pay on delivery
- Frequently asked questions
Reading time: 13 minutes
Aylmer’s Tobacco Belt to Ethanol Corridor, and Why Containers Follow That History
Aylmer was one of the auction towns of Ontario’s flue-cured tobacco belt. Flue-cured leaf reached Elgin County around 1925. After the growers’ marketing board formed in 1959, the crop sold at auction warehouses in Tillsonburg, the next tobacco town east, in Delhi and in Aylmer. Imperial Tobacco opened its Aylmer plant in October 1946 and had almost 600 people on the payroll at its peak. When Imperial moved its processing to Mexico and shut the Aylmer plant in 2007, the obituary read like the end of an era. It was not. The same farmers, the same greenhouses, the same irrigation lines, and the same secure-storage habits did not disappear with the leaf, they just changed crops. For a farm in that kind of change, a graded used container from our rows is the quickest secure storage to put on the ground.
Southwestern Ontario farmers set up the Integrated Grain Processors Co-operative in 2002, and its IGPC ethanol plant in Aylmer opened in 2007, the same year the Imperial plant closed. Farmtario calls IGPC Canada’s second-largest ethanol producer and a major buyer of the region’s corn. In 2019 Motif Labs opened a cannabis operation in a 2,000-square-metre former tobacco plant in town. Organigram bought Motif in December 2024 and says the deal made it Canada’s largest cannabis company by market share. That same month the Belgian energy company Alco finalized its purchase of IGPC, and the plant now runs as AlcoEnergy Canada. The buildings did not move. The corn fields did not move. The container demand did not move either, it just adapted.
That is the one-paragraph version of why Van Blanc has been delivering shipping containers into Aylmer and the surrounding Elgin County concessions for 30 years. The buyer is rarely a brand new operation. It is usually a third-generation farm working on its second or third crop. Or it is an industrial site that absorbed the previous occupant’s footprint, or a contractor doing the build-out for whichever business arrived next. They all need a sea can, whatever they call it. They all want a real lead time. They all want to walk a yard before paying.
Aylmer in one paragraph for the buyer
A town of about 8,500 people by its own count, on the Highway 3 spine and about 20 minutes from Highway 401. It serves a primary market of over 20,000 across East Elgin. Elgin County farmland surrounds it on every side. The employers include the AlcoEnergy Canada ethanol plant, PFI metal products, Rem-Tech Industries (a 31,700-square-foot machine shop), Motif Labs, and the Ontario Police College just northeast of town. Aylmer container orders come from that mix. Corn-belt agriculture sits on one side and light industrial and contractor businesses on the other. Then there are homeowners replacing a rotting backyard shed with a 20-foot sea can that will not rot.
That economic shape decides what an Aylmer buyer needs from a container. The corn comes off in the fall, and a cannabis facility wants secure storage with power. The contractor needs a bin on the job site Monday morning. The farmer wants to walk the yard before he writes a cheque.
What Aylmer Farmers and Contractors Actually Buy
Two buyer characters dominate the Aylmer service area: the working farmer and the working contractor. Their containers do different jobs but they share one trait, the bin has to earn its keep on the day it lands on site. We size and grade Aylmer orders around that.
The Aylmer farmer’s sea can
Most farmers in Elgin County still call them sea cans. The Aylmer farmer’s sea can is usually a Wind & Water Tight 40-foot, parked on a gravel pad at the back of the lot. Used shipping containers in Aylmer come in that grade and in Cargo Worthy. It holds the season’s grain-handling spares, the spray equipment that lives there from October to April, and the irrigation manifolds. It also holds the tooling for whatever the farm has converted to since the tobacco kilns came down. Kept painted and set level, one of these boxes outlasts several cropping cycles on a working farm.
The 20-foot version is the second most common Aylmer farm order. It fits down a narrow concession road and slides off the tilt-deck onto the yard pad without needing extra clearance. Two of them placed end-to-end give the operator the floor space of a 40, with the option to relocate one without the other. The Cargo Worthy grade suits a farm order too. The frame and floor are inspected to a shipping standard, and a few dents and surface marks do no harm behind a corn crib. For farmers wondering what other shapes a 20-foot can take, the jobs a 20ft sea can ends up doing on Canadian farms and sites covers grain-handling, workshop and jobsite layouts.
Christian LeBlanc, second-generation operator: “Aylmer farms are some of our easiest deliveries. The driveways are wide, the pads are usually already there from the last bin, and the operator knows exactly what grade he wants because his neighbour has the same one. We do a lot of repeat orders out of Elgin County, the farm calls back twelve years later and says they need a second one for the field office.”
The Aylmer contractor’s c-can
Contractor crews working in and around Aylmer use a different word for it, the c-can, shorthand they picked up on Hamilton and Toronto job sites and brought home. The c-can is the rolling steel office that gets dropped on Monday and pulled on Friday. It is the secure tool storage that holds a crew’s trade equipment overnight, and the materials cage that keeps copper and rebar from walking off the site between trades. Aylmer’s building work, from plant retrofits to the new business park the town started on 65 acres of industrial land, runs on crews like that.
The 20-foot Cargo Worthy is the contractor’s default. CSC-plated, lockbox-ready, structurally sound enough to take a forklift hit at the corner without complaining. A new one-trip box straight off its first voyage gives a contractor the longest service life, the best resale value and a clean face for a client walk-through. A used Cargo Worthy unit keeps its CSC plate and takes jobsite knocks in stride.
The Aylmer residential buyer
The third use case is steady but quieter. It is the homeowner replacing a wood shed that has rotted into the lawn, who has decided a 20-foot steel container will outlast everything else on the property. Storage containers in Aylmer used as a shed lock up with a steel lockbox over the handles. New (one-trip) keeps its factory paint and looks right beside a house for years. Wind & Water Tight seals out the weather and takes a coat of paint to match the siding. Either one sits well on a gravel base at the back of the lot.
What size and grade fits an Aylmer working property?
Aylmer placements range from a tight in-town residential driveway to a 60-acre tobacco-belt working farm with multiple service entrances. For buyers weighing 20-foot versus 40-foot versus 45-foot against an unfamiliar placement, our sea can size breakdown, mini to high cube, starts with the 8ft mini. It sets the 20ft, 40ft, 45ft, and High Cube dimensions side by side, along with the clearance a concession-road farm needs compared with an Aylmer residential lane.
Aylmer delivery is the same inventory we keep at our 4 Brantford yards. Nothing is “Aylmer-only” or marked up for distance. Pricing is by size and grade, the delivery fee reflects the 93-kilometre haul, and you see both line items separately on the quote.
| Size | External (m) | Internal volume | Best fit for Aylmer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20ft standard for Aylmer lots | 6.06 × 2.44 × 2.59 | 33.2 m³ | Residential, hobby farm, contractor jobsite, narrow-concession farm yard |
| 40ft standard for Elgin farms | 12.19 × 2.44 × 2.59 | 67.8 m³ | Working farm, ethanol-plant retrofit storage, cannabis production buffer |
| 40ft high cube, the tall one | 12.19 × 2.44 × 2.90 | 76.1 m³ | Pallet-stacked inventory, tall equipment, conversion-to-office candidate |
| 45ft high cube for big yards | 13.71 × 2.44 × 2.90 | 86.0 m³ | Larger industrial yards, max single-unit volume on the property |
| 53ft high cube, intermodal length | 16.15 × 2.59 × 2.90 | ~110 m³ | North American intermodal length for industrial buyers needing one large unit |
| 20ft reefer for farm cold storage | 6.06 × 2.44 × 2.59 | ~28 m³ | On-farm cold storage, cannabis flower buffer, food-business climate control |
| 40ft high cube reefer for processors | 12.19 × 2.44 × 2.90 | ~67 m³ | Larger food-processing or pharmaceutical climate-controlled inventory |
Shipping Container Sizes to Buy: Inside Dimensions
The outside measurements above tell you whether a box fits the pad. The inside measurements tell you what fits in the box, whether that is a sprayer boom, a row of pallets or a run of shelving. Van Blanc sells the 20ft and 40ft standards, the 40ft, 45ft and 53ft high cubes, and the 20ft and 40ft high cube reefers. The short 8ft to 12ft boxes rotate through the yards in smaller numbers. The figures below come from the spec tables on our own product pages.
| Container | Inside L x W x H (m) | Inside L x W x H (ft) | Door opening W x H (m) | Volume | Empty weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20ft standard | 5.898 x 2.352 x 2.385 | 19’4″ x 7’8″ x 7’10” | 2.340 x 2.292 | 33.2 m³ (1,172 cu ft) | 2,260 kg (4,982 lb) |
| 40ft standard | 12.040 x 2.337 x 2.388 | 39’6″ x 7’8″ x 7’10” | 2.340 x 2.292 | 67.8 m³ (2,395 cu ft) | 3,780 kg (8,333 lb) |
| 40ft high cube | 12.040 x 2.337 x 2.692 | 39’6″ x 7’8″ x 8’10” | 2.340 x 2.597 | 76.1 m³ (2,689 cu ft) | 3,980 kg (8,775 lb) |
| 20ft reefer | 5.440 x 2.270 x 2.240 | 17’10” x 7’5″ x 7’4″ | 2.290 x 2.210 | 27.7 m³ (978 cu ft) | 3,000 kg (6,613 lb) |
| 40ft high cube reefer | 11.583 x 2.294 x 2.548 | 38’0″ x 7’6″ x 8’4″ | 2.294 x 2.520 | 67.0 m³ (2,366 cu ft) | 4,575 kg (10,086 lb) |
The 40ft high cube gives about 31 cm (roughly a foot) more inside height than the standard 40ft, the difference between clearing a tall implement and not. A reefer gives up some inside room to its insulation and its refrigeration unit, so a 20ft reefer holds 27.7 m³ against 33.2 m³ in a 20ft dry box.
Reefer buyers around Aylmer range from cannabis producers to farms that now grow produce where tobacco used to stand. The reefer guide we wrote for Canadian buyers walks through temperature-range tiers, three-phase power requirements, and the Carrier-versus-Thermo King unit differences. Those decide whether a 20-foot reefer at the farmstead or a 40HC at the processing line fits an Aylmer-area operation better.
Most Canadian buyers call them sea cans or shipping containers. The industry shorthand is c-can, the supply-chain procurement systems log them as intermodal containers, and military-trade buyers still call them conex boxes. They are all the same eight-foot-wide steel box that ocean ships move around the world. We deliver every size and every grade from our 4 Brantford yards.
The four grades and what each one does
- New (One-Trip). The container made one journey from the manufacturer in Asia carrying paying cargo, then sold here. Cosmetically near-new with original factory paint, minor handling marks, full CSC certification. Right grade for an office conversion, a residential placement that needs to look new for the next decade, or any cannabis or pharma facility that wants pristine inventory. It also holds the best resale value of the four.
- Cargo Worthy (CW). CSC-plated, structurally sound, certified for international shipping. Surface wear consistent with prior commercial use, the steel is not pristine but it is rated. Right grade for industrial yard storage, jobsite security, and farm equipment shelter where the bin is a working asset rather than a feature.
- Wind & Water Tight (WWT). No longer rated for ocean shipping but remains weather-sealed and structurally sound for stationary storage. Doors close, no light leaks, no rust holes. Right grade for farm storage, household storage and equipment shelter, anything that stays put and needs the weather kept out.
- As-Is. Older units with floor, frame or door issues, sold as donor shells for heavy custom cutting. We carry them and tell you plainly what each one is fit for.
The cost of a 20 ft or 40 ft shipping container comes down to its grade, its size and the kilometres to your address. An Aylmer quote rolls all three into one number, and our container price ladder by grade shows how the steps work. For shipping container prices in Aylmer, the quote form or a call to 519-754-6844 gets you that number. A sea can on Facebook listed far under every Ontario yard’s quote is the scam pattern described below.
Brantford to Aylmer in 1 to 3 Days
The Aylmer delivery is a straight southwestern Ontario run. The north edge of Aylmer sits 93 kilometres by road from our Brantford yards, about an hour and a quarter by car and longer for a loaded tilt-deck. Sea cans for sale in Aylmer make that run and arrive in 1 to 3 days. The route is Highway 403 west for about 39 km and Highway 401 west for about 30 km, then south on Highway 73 into Aylmer. Highway 3 takes it to addresses east or west of town. Our driver calls before the run and places the container where you point, and our tilt-deck drop walkthrough lays it out step by step.
What 1 to 3 Days Means for an Aylmer Order
From the moment you confirm the order, expect the container to arrive in 1 to 3 days from our 4 Brantford yards. We do not run “5 to 10 day windows” any more, that was the old policy and it is dead. The Aylmer corridor sits in the southwestern Ontario zone our trucks serve, alongside London, Ingersoll, Woodstock, and Tillsonburg. If you need same-week delivery, tell us at quote time and we will tell you honestly whether we can hit it. Every quote comes with a real lead time, not a hopeful one.
Road Distances to Aylmer and East Elgin Stops
The table gives road distance and car time from east Brantford to points around Aylmer, measured on open-source routing (OSRM) in October 2026. A loaded truck runs slower than the car time, and delivery is charged on these kilometres.
| Stop | Road distance | Car time | Last leg after the 401 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tillsonburg, up Highway 19 | 79.5 km | 68 min | Highway 19 |
| Springfield (Malahide) | 85.9 km | 70 min | Elgin Road 30 |
| Belmont (Central Elgin) | 87.8 km | 67 min | Elgin Road 74 |
| Aylmer, north edge on Highway 73 | 93.1 km | 76 min | Highway 73 |
| Straffordville (Bayham) | 93.7 km | 79 min | Oxford Road 10, then county roads |
| Aylmer, town centre | 95.0 km | 78 min | Highway 73 |
| Vienna (Bayham) | 102.3 km | 90 min | Oxford Road 10, then county roads |
| Port Bruce | 110.5 km | 97 min | Highway 73 |
| St. Thomas, the county seat west of Aylmer | 112.2 km | 85 min | Highway 4 |
Farms between those points, from the Bayham concessions down to the lakeshore, are covered by our sea cans for Elgin County page. The same 4 Brantford yards serve every one of them.
Tilt-deck placement on Aylmer farms and yards
Our trucks are tilt-deck flatbeds, meaning the deck lifts hydraulically and the container slides off onto your prepared site under controlled gravity. We place the container exactly where you point. We do not require a forklift, we do not require a crane, we do not require a poured concrete pad. A level gravel base is ideal, a level patch of compacted dirt works, and an existing concrete slab is fine. If a spot would put your driveway or the container at risk, the driver will tell you before the box comes off the deck.
What you need on site for an Aylmer delivery
- A level placement spot, gravel, compacted dirt, or concrete pad. The bin should sit flat or it will twist over time.
- A path at least 12 ft wide from the road to the spot, with room for the truck to line up straight. We confirm the run your size needs when we quote, and the tilt-deck delivery space guide has the details.
- At least 14 ft of overhead clearance along the path and over the spot, so check for low branches, hydro lines and barn eaves.
- An adult on site to point the driver to the exact placement and to handle payment when the container is on the ground.
That is it. The driver places the bin, you inspect it, you pay, the truck leaves. Our delivery-day clearance checklist covers the rest.
The Facebook Trap and Why You Pay on Delivery
Every week we get the same call. An Aylmer-area buyer phones to ask if Van Blanc can match a Facebook Marketplace listing that is cheaper than our quote. Two weeks later, sometimes the same week, that buyer phones back to say the listing was a scam, the wire transfer cleared, and the container never arrived. We do not enjoy taking that call. We have been taking it for thirty years.
How the Container Scam Works, and the Rule Against It
Every container scam we have seen hinges on one thing: the buyer pays before the container is on the property. The Better Business Bureau’s shipping container scam alert describes the same move, a seller who insists on payment first. Wire transfer, bank draft mailed to a holding address, cryptocurrency, e-transfer to an unverified email, “escrow” through a third-party site that does not exist. Once the money has moved, the container never does, and the seller’s phone number stops working.
The rule: if anyone asks you to pay for a shipping container before it is on your property and you have inspected it, walk away. Our used container buying walk-through shows what to check on the unit itself. At Van Blanc you pay on delivery, when the bin is on your ground and you have looked it over, not before.
Pay on delivery is Van Blanc’s standing policy. Paul has 19 years specifically in the container industry and four decades in Asian trade going back to import-export of footwear and bulk goods. Christian, Paul’s son, has been working the Brantford yards full-time for four years and travelling to Asia with his father since he was 15.
If you want a deeper read on the Canadian container scam pattern, our write-up of the container scam red flags walks through the ten red flags every buyer should know.
Sold outright. Delivered in 1 to 3 days.
Van Blanc sells new and used shipping containers outright from our 4 Brantford yards, with delivery in 1 to 3 days and payment on delivery. We do not rent, lease or offer rent-to-own. Request a sale quote or call the yard at 519-754-6844.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a shipping container cost in Aylmer?
In Aylmer the price of a shipping container depends first on grade (Wind & Water Tight is the most affordable, Cargo Worthy mid-range, New/One-Trip the highest). Then come size (a 20ft sits well under a 40ft) and the delivery distance from our Brantford yards. The steel market and our stock matter too, and reefer units sit higher again. Container prices are posted on our list of sea can prices, and the Aylmer delivery is added once we have your postal code. Call 519-754-6844 or request a quote and we will price your exact container and delivery to Aylmer the same day, payment on delivery, nothing hidden.
Where can I buy a shipping container in Aylmer?
You can buy from Van Blanc in Brantford and have it delivered to Aylmer in 1 to 3 days from our 4 Brantford yards. Our 90 Morton Avenue East yard is open during business hours for in-person inspection before purchase, which is the safest way to buy a sea can in Ontario. Some Aylmer-area buyers drive the 93 kilometres up the 403 to walk the inventory, others quote and order over the phone, both are normal.
What is the difference between a sea can and a shipping container?
Nothing. They are the same eight-foot-wide steel box. “Sea can” is the rural Canadian term, “shipping container” is the global industry term, “c-can” is contractor shorthand, “intermodal container” is the procurement-system word, and “conex” is the military-origin term. They all describe the same product, the words just identify which kind of buyer is talking.
How long does delivery from Brantford to Aylmer take?
1 to 3 days from our 4 Brantford yards from order confirmation. Aylmer is 93 kilometres up Highway 403 to 401 to 73 to 3, about an hour and twenty minutes of driving for a tilt-deck flatbed. We will give you a real ETA at quote time, not a hopeful one.
Can a container be modified into an office or shop in Aylmer?
Yes. New (one-trip) units are the right grade for conversions, the steel is pristine and the modifications hold up. Van Blanc does the work at the yard before delivery: roll-up doors, man doors, windows, vents, insulation, lockboxes, shelving and paint. Final electrical, plumbing and gas connections go to your licensed trades on site. The full list is on our page of yard-built container modifications.
Do you charge extra for Aylmer delivery compared to Brantford?
Delivery is priced by route distance, not by city or postal code. The Aylmer rate reflects the 93-kilometre Brantford-to-Aylmer drive. We quote it as a separate line item on the invoice, you see the math, you decide.
Can I rent a shipping container in Aylmer for a seasonal farm or harvest project?
No. Van Blanc sells containers outright and does not rent, lease, or offer rent-to-own. Past a few months, buying a used wind-and-watertight box normally costs less than renting one, and you can sell it on or ask us about buyback when you are done.
Is there a closer storage container yard than driving to Brantford from Aylmer?
You do not need to drive to buy. Van Blanc delivers to Aylmer in 1 to 3 days from our 4 Brantford yards. You can pick your exact unit by its container number over a video call, with photos of the unit and its CSC plate. If you would rather walk the rows, the public yard at 90 Morton Avenue East is 93 kilometres from Aylmer and open Monday to Friday.
Is there a portable storage or pod dealer in Aylmer, or is there a local alternative?
Van Blanc is a family-run alternative to portable storage. You buy a steel container outright, choose it at our Brantford yards or over a video call, and keep it on your property as long as you need it. Delivered to Aylmer in 1 to 3 days.
Sources
- Elgin County Archives, Tobacco in Elgin County: A Quick History, checked October 2026.
- Elgin County Archives, Tobacco in Elgin: Imperial Tobacco Plant, Aylmer, checked October 2026.
- Farmtario, IGPC Ethanol acquired by Belgian energy company (January 22, 2025), checked October 2026.
- New Cannabis Ventures, Organigram’s purchase of Motif (December 6, 2024), checked October 2026.
- Business View Magazine, Aylmer, Ontario town profile (October 3, 2021), checked October 2026.
- Town of Aylmer, Invest in Aylmer, checked October 2026.
- Project OSRM, open-source road routing on OpenStreetMap data (distances and car times from east Brantford), checked October 2026.
- Better Business Bureau, scam alert on shipping container sellers who demand payment first, checked October 2026.
Your Aylmer Container Quote
Aylmer quotes usually come back the same day. Call 519-754-6844 or send the Aylmer details through our contact page. Tell us the size, grade, and Aylmer delivery address. We respond with a real number and a real lead time, and you pay on delivery.
Visit the yard: 90 Morton Avenue East, Unit 1-B, Brantford, ON N3R 7J7. Worth the drive for unbeatable quality and family customer service with 30 years of experience.
Related Reading
- Containers delivered to London, the regional centre north of Aylmer.
- Containers delivered to Ingersoll, north of Tillsonburg up Highway 19.
- Container scam red flags for Ontario buyers, the ten red flags every Canadian container buyer should know.
- Every size and grade for sale in the Brantford rows, stock across all 4 Brantford yards.
- Doors, windows and insulation we add, modifications for office, shop, and farm use.
Price a Sea Can for Aylmer
Tell us the size and your postal code and we’ll send back an honest, all-in number, container, delivery, and placement, usually the same day. No pressure, no mystery fees.
Family-run in Brantford since 1995 · 200+ containers in stock · 4.9★ across 140+ Google reviews · every box graded by a person, walk it before it lands.