The 20 foot container, is one of the most widely used standard shipping containers for ocean freight.

Everybody knows sea freight is the most common used shipping type.

In fact, over 90% of the world’s trade is carried by sea and containerization.

20-foot-shipping-container-freightpaulLast year, I personally served one US client for more than 750 containers from China to United States and Canada.

And among the project orders,  80% are 20 foot shipping container. That brings 20 foot container a very vital role in shipping.

To speed up your inquiry and booking, here are 5 important things you should be pay attention to when using 20 ft container:

1. 20 ft container dimensions

20ft container dimensionsThe meaning of accurate 20′ shipping container dimensions is to help confirm whether cargo can be put into the container.

The 20-foot container’s dimensions are usually measured using the imperial system (feet) and specifies both the exterior dimensions and the interior (usable) dimensions.

Anyway, 20′ container dimensions are:

  • Exterior Dimensions (in feet): 20’ long x 8’ wide x 8’ 6” high
  • Exterior Dimensions (in meters): 6.10m long x 2.44m wide x 2.59m high
  • Interior Dimensions (in feet): 19’ 4” long x 7’ 9” wide x 7’ 10” high
  • Internal Dimensions (in meters): 5.898m long x 2.352m wide x 2.393m high

Why need to know the internal dimension ?

Next time, when your supplier told cargo packing dimension is oversize ( Exceed any above data ), you should know you can’t use 20’ft container.

2. 20ft container weight

How much does a 20ft shipping container weigh ?

When we talked about how much does a 20 foot shipping container weigh, there are 2 concepts.

Tare Weight

Means 20 footer container weight itself.

Tare Weight2300kg 5,071.5 lbs

Payload of 20ft container

Means the legal weight limit for a 20 foot container.

Max Payload28130kg 62016 lbs

20ft container weightWeight limit is very important for shipping.

You may want load as much as possible, but shipping line need to protect the shipping safety, that’s why VGM are required.

So you can see, a 20 foot shipping container’s tare weight is 2,300 kg.

And in theory, the maximum cargo weight ( payload ) that can be safely and legally loaded is 28130 KG.

But pay attention that it is just a theoretical data, you definitely can’t load 28 TON in practice.

Why ? The following 3 factors matters :

  • restrictions and limitations of the shipping line
  • requirements of different shipping routes.
  • the nature, and size of the cargo.

How much weight is allowed in 20ft container ?

According to my experience, I would say maximum 22 Ton. Within 18 Ton is recommended.

20ft container volume

20ft container volumeHow many cbm in 20ft container ？

As we already learn the internal dimension of 20ft shipping container : 5.9 x 2.3 x 2.4 M

So we can easily calculate the theoretical data of the capacity is 32-33 CBM

But just like the weight limitation, you can’t load 32 CBM for a 20ft shipping container in most of the time.

If you know cargo is about 30 CBM, be note 20ft container may not be enough.

The cargo packing size can’t perfectly match the container size, unless you customize the packing or what you ship is water or air:)

In some cases, like consolidated shipments of vairous cargo in different packing materials, it really test the loading level and abilities of warehouse workers.

Then how many CBM does a 20ft container hold?

Again, it depends on the cargo nature, packing as well as shipper’s loading abilities.

In most cases, volume under 25 CBM is recommended to use a 20ft container.

4. How many pallets fit in a 20 foot container ?

How many pallets can you fit in a 20ft containerAs we talked that 20ft can load 32 CBM in theory, but only about 25-28 CBM in most real practice situation.

Loading with cartons with uniform size can make full use of the container space.

If loaded with pallets, it be more safety for shipping, but the downside is more space will be wasted.

For dimension for standard shipping pallets, normally it is 1.2 M X 1 M. ( Length x Width ) . So you have the calculation :

  • Length : 4 Pallets （ 1.2 x 4 = 4.8 M, 5 pallets can’t be loaded as 1.2 X 5 = 6 M , exceed internal length 5.9 M )
  • Width : 2 pallets ( 1 x 2 =2 M , 3 pallets can’t be allowed as 1 x 3 =3 M, exceed internal width 2.35 M )
  • Height : 2 pallets . As long as height of the pallet less than 1.2 M, pallets can be piled up for 2 floors ( Won’t exceed internal height 2.4 M )

So total 4 x 2 x 2 = 16 standard pallets can be fit in 20ft container.

Or just 8 pallets when palleting height exceed 1.2 M or pallets can’t be piled up.

20 foot container shipping cost

20ft-shipping-container-priceHow much does it cost to ship a 20 ft container ?

Firstly, you should know 20ft container shipping belong to FCL shipping service.

So with our freight tool FCL container shipping cost calculator , you can find rough sipping costs for 20ft container to global countries from China.

And if you want know more accurate price for 20ft shipping container, you need to specify POL, POD and cargo information.

Conclusion

Shipping abbreviation terminology pdfThat’s all you need to know when need to book 20 foot container for shipping.

Now I want to turn it over to you.

Here is a test question for your understanding of today’s knowledge :

Can cargo with 6 Meter length fit in 20ft container ? And what if you have 15 pallets ?

Let me know by leaving a quick comment below right now

or contact FreightPaul team.