IICL grade

What you'll actually see tagged in our yard

Every container on our lot carries one of three labels: cargo-worthy, wind and watertight, or one-trip. None of them say IICL. If you've been shopping the leasing side of the container market and expected to see an IICL grade sticker on a box here, you won't, because retail dealers and container lessors sort inventory by two different rulebooks.

That's the physical reality on the ground. The rule behind it is what IICL grading is actually for.

What the IICL standard actually covers

IICL stands for the Institute of International Container Lessors, a trade association whose members are large leasing companies that own most of the world's shipping container fleet. Their grading system sets cosmetic repair criteria used mainly to judge a container's condition when a lease ends, standardizing how a leasing company checks a returned box against a strict cosmetic bar before it goes back into the fleet.

It's a fleet-management tool built around lease turnover, not a grading system aimed at someone buying one container to keep.

Why a dealer yard grades differently

Cargo-worthy, wind and watertight, and as-is describe what matters to someone keeping a container on their own land: is it structurally sound, does it stay dry, and how rough is the cosmetic wear. IICL grading answers a different question aimed at lease-pool logistics: does this returned box meet a leasing company's repair standard closely enough to reissue. Both systems are legitimate, they just serve different buyers.

Does the IICL grade matter for a storage container?

Usually not. If you're buying or renting a container to keep on your property, cargo-worthy, wind and watertight, and one-trip tell you everything you need: whether it's dry, whether it's certified sound, and how it looks. If a listing elsewhere cites an IICL grade, ask what that means in plain terms, structural condition, dryness, cosmetic wear, and compare it against the same questions our grades already answer.