For tanks and silos with corrugated shells, the corrugation direction is usually determined as a function of the decisive load direction. Tank structures, whose main stability problem often results from the circumferential pressure, are therefore usually designed with horizontal profiles. Conversely, this means that axial loads must be transferred perpendicular to the main load-bearing direction of the shell. The aim of the numerical investigation presented here was to answer application-orientated questions that stem directly from the daily practice of design engineers and manufacturers. The treatment of imperfections in the design of tanks is considered to be particularly problematic. Since there are no specific imperfection reduction factors for corrugated steel shells, those for unstiffened circular cylindrical from DIN EN 1993-1-6, Annex D are used. Conservatively, some engineers interpret the shaft amplitude itself as the imperfection amplitude. Furthermore, the application of the DIN EN 1993-1-6 design rules is only permitted for structures with r/t ratios ≤ 5000. However, agricultural tank structures often exceed this slenderness ratio. Based on the hypothesis that the profiling of the shell generates an increased circumferential bending stiffness, which prevents buckling in certain short-wave modes, a numerical study was carried out to visualise the imperfection sensitivity of corrugated steel tanks under axial load compared to smooth steel tanks. Although only a selection of possible parameters could be covered in the numerical investigation, the results of the GMNIA calculations show a greatly increased load-bearing capacity for corrugated steel shells, especially for large Δwk/t ratios. The assumption that corrugated steel tanks can be regarded as smooth shells with imperfections at the level of the wave amplitudes was shown to be extremely conservative. Although such an approach is on the safe side, it fails to recognise the existing potential of the construction method and should be rejected against the background of resource efficiency.