40ft High Cube Refrigerated Container

By Paul LeBlanc, owner, and Christian LeBlanc, second-generation operator, Van Blanc Ent. Inc.

A 40ft reefer container is a refrigerated shipping container built on the high cube shell. It has insulated walls, an aluminium T-bar floor that carries cold air under the load, and a refrigeration unit set into the front wall. The 40HC reefer carries roughly two and a half times the cargo volume of a 20ft reefer. For operations where the use case actually fills 67 cubic metres, the 40HC is the economical choice on a per-cubic-foot basis. For operations that need less than 30 cubic metres of refrigerated space, the smaller 20ft reefer holds that load, and we price both sizes during the quote. First-time reefer owners usually have a second question about winter operation, and our notes on how the defrost cycle holds set-point through a cold snap answer most of it.

Buyers calling about 40HC reefers in our service area fall into five main categories. Regional cold-storage operations serve multi-county distribution, and federally licensed cannabis cultivators expanding flowering or post-harvest cure capacity need climate rooms. Larger Holland Marsh growers stage full-truckload harvest overflow, and food banks operate regional distribution hubs. The fifth group is mid-sized food-service (multi-location restaurants, catering operations serving large-venue work). Each application has slightly different temperature, humidity, and access-control requirements, and the 40HC reefer’s larger envelope provides the working volume to handle them with proper airflow and stacking room.

40ft Reefer Container for Sale in Ontario

Van Blanc sells the 40ft High Cube reefer container outright, one container number at a time, from stock spread across our four Brantford yards. Before you pay anything, we run the unit for you. Drive in and stand beside it while the display pulls the box down, or watch the same test on a video call from your office. Read the hours off the controller, then look at the door gaskets and the T-bar floor with your own eyes. Payment is on delivery, never a deposit.

A 40HC reefer reaches most Ontario addresses in 1 to 3 days. Ottawa, Kingston and the rest of Eastern Ontario take the same 1 to 3 days, and far-north sites are quoted route by route. Forty feet of tilt-deck needs a straight approach at least 12 ft wide and at least 14 ft of overhead room, with more height for a high cube. Run through the site-clearance checklist for delivery day first. When the pad sits beyond the tilt-deck’s reach, a HIAB crane placement is the other way to land it.

Wire the power before the truck books. A 40ft reefer container runs on 380/460 V three-phase power through a 32 A plug, never a 240 V single-phase household circuit. Carrier’s T-372 PrimeLINE manual gives the same nominal 380/460 volt, 3-phase, 50/60 Hz supply for the base unit. Most farmhouses and many rural shops in Ontario only have single-phase service, which is where a rotary phase converter and the 32-amp reefer plug come into the plan. Ask us for the voltage, phase and amperage on the plate of the unit you pick, so your electrician can set the right receptacle in advance.

40ft Reefer Dimensions, ISO 45R1

The table is the unit as the factories build it. The working numbers a buyer plans around are the 38 feet of cargo length and the 8 feet 4 inches of clear height. That is why the cold-chain set-points a 40HC will hold and the pallet count below matter more than the external envelope.

The code reading: 4 for 40-foot length, and 5 for 9-foot-6-inch height (high cube), the same shell the 40HC dry box uses. R1 marks a thermal container that is mechanically refrigerated and heated, which is how Shipping Container Info describes the 45R1 code. The heating side lets the unit hold a set-point above the outside temperature, which counts in an Ontario January. Every 45R1 we sell carries a CSC plate confirming ocean-shipping certification.

The internal height of a 40 ft high cube container depends on the build. CN Intermodal’s 40-foot sheet gives a dry high cube 106 in (2.692 m) inside, which is the 8 ft 10 in listed for the dry 40HC we sell. The reefer version gives up about 14 cm of that to its insulated roof and T-bar floor. So the 40HC reefer measures 2.548 m inside, which rounds to 2.55 m or 8 ft 4 in. Outside, the high cube stands 9 ft 6 in (2.895 m), a foot taller than a standard-height 40ft.

How Much Does a 40ft Reefer Weigh?

A 40ft reefer weighs 4,575 kg (10,086 lb) empty on the Van Blanc listing, more than any dry box among the 40-footers we sell. Loaded to its 34,000 kg maximum gross weight, it carries 29,425 kg (64,871 lb) of cargo. Hapag-Lloyd’s container specification lists seven 40′ high cube reefer series, and the Van Blanc figures fall inside its range on every weight and volume line.

The load line matters on a reefer. Hapag-Lloyd paints a red line inside each unit at the maximum stowage height, so cold air can travel over the top of the cargo. Stacking above it starves the back of the box. Blue Water Shipping, a freight forwarder, rates the 40ft reefer high cube at up to 23 EUR pallets, depending on pallet height and the airflow the load needs. For the same weights on dry boxes, compare tare and payload across every container size. Our dry 40HC tops out at 30,480 kg gross, so the reefer’s 34,000 kg rating gives it the higher ceiling of the two.

40ft Reefer vs a Dry 40ft High Cube

A 40ft reefer and a dry 40ft high cube share the same outside shell: 40 ft long, 8 ft wide and 9 ft 6 in tall. Inside, they are different boxes. The reefer’s insulated walls, T-bar floor and refrigeration unit take room that a dry box keeps for cargo. CN Intermodal’s 40-foot sheet gives the dry figures below, and our full set of dry 40ft measurements has the rest. The reefer column is our listing, which sits inside Hapag-Lloyd’s range for its own 40′ reefer high cube fleet.

On CN’s figures, a dry high cube holds about 12% more than a standard 40, and our high cube versus standard cube comparison walks through where that space goes. A reefer high cube gives that extra space back: its 67.0 m³ sits about 12% under the dry high cube’s 76.1 m³ and lands close to a standard-height dry 40. What the buyer gets for the space is a box that holds a set-point anywhere from -30°C to +30°C. For pallet planning, CN rates both dry 40s at 20 standard 48 by 40 in pallets on the floor. A reefer load is planned around airflow instead. Keep the T-bar channels open and stay under the red load line described in our notes on loading a container so air can move.

Van Blanc carries reefers and dry boxes in standard and high cube height, so the choice comes down to the cargo. Chilled and frozen product needs the reefer. Tall dry stock, racking and machinery go in a dry 40ft high cube from our yards. An insulated box without a refrigeration unit covers products that only need protection from frost and summer heat.

40ft Reefer vs a 20ft Reefer

The 40HC reefer is the same envelope concept as the 20ft reefer we also sell: an insulated steel box with an integrated refrigeration unit at the front. It is scaled up to roughly 2.5 times the cargo volume.

Three practical differences are worth knowing:

1. Volume per dollar favours the 40HC. A 40HC reefer carries roughly two and a half times the cargo volume of a 20ft reefer. The landed quote is nowhere near two and a half times higher, so volume per dollar strongly favours the bigger unit. If your application can fill the volume, each cubic metre of refrigerated space costs less in the 40HC.

2. Multi-zone cooling becomes practical. The 40HC’s longer cargo zone allows partition walls to create two or three independently controlled temperature zones inside one container. A cannabis cultivator can run a two-zone configuration in a 40HC reefer (cure room at 15-18°C + dry-storage room at 4°C). Holding two set-points off one unit is where the defrost cycle starts to matter. The 20ft reefer is too short for practical multi-zone partitioning.

3. Same power supply, harder cycling. Size does not change the plug. Carrier’s PrimeLINE manual and Hapag-Lloyd’s specification put a standard marine reefer of either length on nominal 380/460 volt, 3-phase power through a 32 A plug. The unit’s data plate is the final word on any box. Its compressor runs at a higher duty cycle to hold temperature across the larger cargo volume. Annual electricity cost runs roughly 1.4 to 1.7 times what a 20ft reefer consumes under equivalent ambient and set-point conditions. It stays short of double because the larger thermal mass moderates short-cycle losses. On a commercial site, a three-phase supply is the usual answer.

40ft Reefer Grades From New to As-Is

On a reefer the grade describes the box and the hours describe the machine, and the second number moves the price more than the first. A refrigeration technician’s pre-purchase check is the hour that tells you which unit you are really buying. A new (one-trip) 40HC reefer leads on both counts, with one loaded voyage behind it, factory gaskets and a unit under 5,000 hours.

The quote lands the unit at your site: reefer plus delivery priced by distance and access, stated together up front. Multi-bin orders get a per-box discount on delivery starting at three units. Electrical installation is paid separately to a licensed Ontario electrician and quoted against the service on site, and the ESA inspection that follows the hookup is part of that scope.

Cold-Chain Uses Across Ontario

1. Federally licensed cannabis cultivation expansion

Health Canada licensed cannabis facilities scaling beyond their initial vegetative or flowering room footprint can use 40HC reefers as additional grow rooms (single or multi-zone). They can also run post-harvest cure rooms (15-18°C, 60-65% RH for 30-60 days) and finished-product cold storage in them. The 40HC’s longer envelope allows independent zone partitioning for cure-then-dry-then-trim workflow within one container. A phased expansion can add modular 40HC reefers to an existing facility footprint, planned with the same humidity discipline a fruiting room needs.

2. Regional food distribution hubs

Multi-location restaurant groups, catering distribution operations, and small-scale specialty distributors (gourmet, ethnic, organic) use 40HC reefers as regional cold-chain hubs serving 8 to 15 outlets within a 200-kilometre radius. Tying a reefer into a restaurant’s walk-in workflow is the piece for the outlet end of that chain. The 40HC’s 67 m³ volume holds roughly 24 to 28 standard reach-in’s worth of inventory at multi-temperature zones.

3. Holland Marsh full-truckload harvest staging

Larger Holland Marsh vegetable operations (carrots, onions, celery at scale) running full-truckload outbound shipments need cold-buffer capacity sized to a 53-foot truck-trailer load. A 40HC reefer holds approximately one truckload of palletised produce at 4°C, providing 24-72 hours of holding time between field harvest and outbound truck departure. Multi-bin orders of 2 to 5 40HC reefers are common at the larger Holland Marsh operations, and the Bradford delivery route runs those in October.

4. Brewery distribution and aged-beer warehousing

Mid-sized Ontario craft breweries (10,000+ hL annual production) and barrel-aging beer programs use 40HC reefers for fermented-beer warehousing at 0-4°C, sour-program barrel storage at 15-18°C, and chilled distribution loading docks. The 40HC’s larger envelope accommodates full pallet racks of 750ml bottles or 30-litre kegs at proper conditioning temperature. The glycol-cooled brewery build is the next step for the ones that outgrow it.

5. Food bank regional distribution

Food banks and regional food-rescue organizations use 40HC reefers as mobile cold-chain capacity expansion during peak donation cycles (post-harvest, holidays, disaster-response). The 40HC’s longer envelope holds roughly 20-25 pallets of mixed refrigerated and frozen donations at multi-zone temperature, loaded on the standard two-across pallet pattern.

6. Pharmaceutical and specialty cold-chain

Smaller pharmaceutical distributors, specialty veterinary supply operations, and biotech cold-chain serving the GTA innovation corridor use 40HC reefers as temporary expansion capacity during facility construction. Others run them as permanent cold-room replacements that move with operations. Temperature stability documentation and access control are critical. We provide unit specifications and refrigeration-service history matching standard pharmaceutical-grade quality assurance requirements, and the reefer field guide explains what each line of that history means.

Running Two or Three Temperature Zones

The 40HC reefer’s 38-foot interior cargo length supports two or three independently controlled temperature zones with a partition wall. Hapag-Lloyd lists a multi-temperature setting (MTS) option for its own 45R1 fleet, which shows the unit family is built with split loads in mind. Common configurations we deliver:

Two-zone cure-and-dry for cannabis: Front zone (closest to refrigeration unit) at 15-18°C / 60-65% RH for post-harvest cure (30-60 days). Rear zone at 4-8°C for finished-product cold storage. Partition wall is insulated and includes a small air-balance port to maintain zone integrity while the single refrigeration unit serves both zones via duct work. The insulated container page covers the panel and foam options that wall is built from.

Two-zone refrigeration-plus-freezer for food distribution: Front zone at 4°C for refrigerated produce and dairy. Rear zone at -18°C for frozen items. Some Daikin units support dual-temperature setpoints natively; others require a separate add-on freezer module retrofitted into the rear zone.

Three-zone specialty for high-margin operations: Front zone at 18°C (room temperature controlled), middle zone at 4°C, rear zone at -18°C. Used for operations needing transitional thermal control across multiple product categories. Requires custom HVAC retrofit; not a standard delivery configuration.

Partition walls are quoted per build; insulation thickness, door inclusion, and air-balance ducting set the scope. Van Blanc delivers the 40HC reefer without a partition, and the wall itself is a job for a refrigeration contractor. The doors, vents and lockbox on the shell are ours to fit before it leaves.

40ft Reefer Pricing Factors

A 40ft reefer quote from Van Blanc is one landed figure for the unit and its delivery, with the condition report attached. These five inputs set it:

1. The grade of the box, from new (one-trip) through cargo worthy and wind and water tight down to as-is.
2. The machine itself: which unit is fitted, its controller generation and the hours on its meter.
3. How cold you plan to run it, since a freezer set-point works the compressor harder than chilled storage.
4. Kilometres from our Brantford yards to your postal code, because delivery is charged by distance.
5. How many units travel together, with the per-box delivery discount starting at three.

Quotes hold 14 days. The bare reefer is what we sell; electrical installation is paid to a licensed Ontario electrician separately. Multi-zone partition builds are a separate scope of work paid to a refrigeration contractor. Delivery runs on the standard Ontario window once the unit is chosen.

The 1,000 Dollar Facebook Scam, 40HC Reefer Edition

40HC reefer Facebook Marketplace scams are less common than the 20ft variety because the price point is too high to plausibly half-discount, but they do happen on the lower end. Listings claim cargo worthy or one-trip 40HC reefers at a fraction of any yard’s price, with the same Toronto/Vaughan/Hamilton seller claim and a deposit ask of about a thousand dollars. The reefer does not exist.

Defence: walk the rows at one of our Brantford yards. Van Blanc can fire up the refrigeration unit for you while you read the temperature display. You also see the interior lining, gasket condition, T-bar floor structure, and refrigeration hours-of-use. No supplier in Ontario whose price is one-tenth of market is going to start the refrigeration unit for you to inspect, because there is no unit to start. Our policy is no deposit on phantom inventory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

Placement requirements vary by municipality. A quick call to your local planning office before delivery is the easiest way to confirm what works for your property.

Watch the Unit Run Before You Pay

Related Reading

• The 20ft reefer, ISO 22R1 sizes and grades
• Step up to a 40-foot High Cube dry
• Reefer buyer’s guide: power, hours and grades
• How farm co-ops order containers in bulk
• When a 40HC reefer outlasts a rented trailer
• Reefer and cold-storage modifications
• Every 40ft container measurement in one place
• How fake reefer listings work