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Container load calculator
See how much of a 20ft, 40ft or high cube container your cargo fills, by volume and by weight, and how many packages fit in one. It works in your browser — nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
40 / 67.7 m³ · 27.7 m³ left
18,000 / 26,730 kg · 8,730 kg left
Containers needed by type
Loose-volume estimate. Real stow factor (pallet footprints, stacking limits, non-cuboid cargo) will reduce usable capacity — treat these figures as an upper bound.
Reading the result
What each number means.
- Volume
- Your cargo's cubic metres as a share of the container's inside capacity — 76.3 CBM for a 40ft high cube, for example.
- Weight
- Your cargo's weight as a share of the container's payload: its maximum gross weight less the weight of the empty box.
- Weight- or volume-limited
- Whichever fills first. Dense cargo reaches the payload with space to spare; light cargo fills the space long before it gets heavy. The plan is bound by the stricter of the two.
- Containers needed
- How many boxes of each type carry the whole lot on both limits at once, so a 40ft high cube can be weighed against two 20fts.
- Packages per container
- In package mode, how many identical packages fit as a straight grid — upright, one orientation per layer, stacked only if you allow it — and then capped by the payload.
Where it stops
What it will not do.
Worth knowing before you book a box on these numbers.
- It plans by volume and weight limits. It is not a stowage plan or a lashing and securing plan, and it does not check how the weight is spread along the floor or where the centre of gravity sits.
- Real loads need room the arithmetic does not see: dunnage and stringers that keep lumber bundles at least 10 cm off the floor, bracing, forklift clearance and space to close the doors. Treat every figure here as an upper bound.
- The package count is a straight grid. Patterns that turn some packages can fit a few more; packages that must stay a certain way up, or cannot bear weight, can fit fewer.
- Container figures are nominal. Boxes vary by carrier, manufacturer and build year, so check the spec sheet for the unit you are booked on.
- Road and rail weight limits at either end can be lower than a container's payload, and it does not check them.
- Flat racks and tanks are rated differently and are not planned here. It covers enclosed boxes: standard, high cube, reefer and open top.
Questions
What people ask.
What are the inside dimensions of 20ft and 40ft containers?
A 20ft standard container is about 5.898 × 2.352 × 2.393 m inside (length × width × height), 33.2 CBM. A 40ft standard is 12.032 × 2.352 × 2.393 m, 67.7 CBM, and a 40ft high cube is 12.032 × 2.352 × 2.698 m, 76.3 CBM. These are nominal figures; the box you are given can differ by a few millimetres.
How do I calculate CBM?
Multiply length × width × height in metres. A 1.2 × 1.0 × 1.0 m pallet is 1.2 CBM, and twenty of them are 24 CBM. From cubic feet, divide by 35.315. Measure the outside of each package, including its pallet, wrapping and banding.
How much weight can a 40ft container carry?
A 40ft standard container's payload is about 26,730 kg and a 40ft high cube's about 26,540 kg: the 30,480 kg maximum gross weight less the box's own weight. A 20ft standard carries about 28,250 kg. Road weight limits at origin or destination are often lower than that, so the weight you can actually load may be less.
How many pallets fit in a 40ft container?
It depends on the pallet size and whether pallets can be stacked. On one layer, a straight grid of 1.2 × 1.0 m pallets gives 20 in a 40ft container and 8 in a 20ft. Euro pallets (1.2 × 0.8 m) pack better when some are turned, so a straight grid undercounts them. Enter your own pallet above, and ask your forwarder which loading pattern they use.
What is the difference between a 40ft standard and a high cube?
About 30 cm of height. Inside, a 40ft high cube is 2.698 m tall against 2.393 m, which adds 8.6 CBM (76.3 against 67.7). The payload is about the same, so a high cube helps light, bulky cargo and does nothing for heavy cargo that already reaches the weight limit.
Why does my load say weight-limited?
Because the cargo reaches the container's payload before it fills the space. Dense cargo — green hardwood, steel, stone, liquids in drums — weighs out with room to spare, and a bigger box will not help. Light cargo fills the space first. The calculator shows both and plans on whichever fills first.
Is this calculator free?
Yes. It needs no account and runs in your browser, and the figures you enter are not sent to Senda. The optional form under your result sends only what you type into it, together with the plan's figures.
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