A container raising/lowering conveyance apparatus has a supporting structure (a secondary traveling body) which supports four gripping raising/lowering bodies capable of being raised and lowered, and has an X-direction drive means by which the four gripping raising/lowering bodies are moved closer to and away from each other synchronously and symmetrically with respect to a Y-direction center line and a Y-direction drive means by which the four gripping raising/lowering bodies are moved closer to and away from each other synchronously and symmetrically with respect to an X-direction center line. Both the X-direction drive means and the Y-direction drive means are used to enlarge and shrink a right-angled parallelogram surrounded by the four gripping raising/lowering bodies, without changing the center position and the orientation of the right-angled parallelogram.