CONTSIZE

40 guides

Container Guides

Yuri Kan  Updated

40 guides, 7 sizes, 10 container types and 9 free tools answer 455 questions about shipping containers, and each page opens with its answer and the figure before any explanation. Search them below, or start from the errand you came with.

The eight questions most readers arrive with

Each answer is the opening sentence of the guide it comes from, so it carries the figure you need. The guide behind it has the table, the drawing and the exceptions.

Is there one chart with every container size?

ISO 668 makes a container 8 ft (2.438 m) wide, 8′6″ or 9′6″ (2.591 / 2.896 m) high and 10, 20, 40 or 45 ft (2.991 / 6.058 / 12.192 / 13.716 m) long; this chart gives all 17 containers: outside, inside, door, weights and pallets, in metres and feet.

Full guide: Container size chart (all 17)
Should I book a 20 ft or a 40 ft?

A 20 ft container is 6.058 m (19′10½″) long and a 40 ft 12.192 m (40′), on the same 2.438 × 2.591 m (8′ × 8′6″) cross-section.

Full guide: 20 ft vs 40 ft container
How many pallets fit in a 40 ft?

A 40 ft container takes 25 Euro pallets (EUR, 1200 × 800 mm, 47.2 × 31.5 in) or 21 US GMA pallets (48 × 40 in, 1219 × 1016 mm) floor-loaded in one tier with every pallet tight, as our pallet calculator lays them: the EUR pallets in two bands, one lengthwise…

Full guide: Pallets in a 40 ft container
How much does a container weigh?

An empty 20 ft container weighs about 2,230 kg (4,916 lb), within 2 % of what 8 of 18 published sheets print (they range 2,080–2,570 kg), a 40 ft about 3,700 kg (8,157 lb) and a 40 ft high cube about 3,830 kg (8,444 lb), within 2 % of what 9 of 16 and 10 of…

Full guide: Shipping container weight
How do I work out my cargo volume?

A 20 ft container holds 33.2 m³ (1,172 ft³) inside, a 40 ft 67.7 m³ (2,391 ft³) and a 40 ft high cube 76.4 m³ (2,698 ft³) — as 18 of 18, 15 of 16 and 19 of 19 published line and maker sheets print them; a 45 ft holds about 86.0 m³.

Full guide: Container CBM guide
What does a container cost to buy?

A used cargo-worthy 20 ft container costs $1,700–2,800 in the US in October 2026 and a used 40 ft high cube $2,100–3,500; new (one-trip) they run $2,800–4,400 and $4,000–5,600.

Full guide: Shipping container prices
Which condition grade should I buy?

Container grades from best to worst: one-trip (single loaded voyage, effectively new), IICL (passes the strictest leasing-industry inspection), cargo-worthy (CW — certified for ocean shipping, valid CSC), wind & water tight (WWT — weatherproof but not…

Full guide: Container grades & condition
Can I build a home from containers?

A shipping container home is built from 20 ft boxes (13.9 m² / 149 ft² of inside floor each) or, far more often, 40 ft high cubes (28.3 m² / 305 ft² each, 2.698 m / 8′10″ inside height — about 2.5 m after 200 mm of floor build-up and ceiling insulation), the…

Full guide: Container home dimensions

One question, one page

Seven questions answered in a page each: the figure first, in both unit systems, then one table and where the figure comes from.

Three reading paths

Most people come with an errand, not a topic. These are the guides for the three commonest ones, in the order the decisions actually come up.

Shipping cargo for the first time

You have goods and need to know which container to book and how to fill it.

  1. Container size chart (all 17)Know the inside of each box before anything else: internal size, door opening, volume.
  2. 20 ft vs 40 ft containerChoose the size. It is decided by cargo density, not by how much you have.
  3. Container CBM guideTurn your cartons into cubic metres, the unit every quote is written in.
  4. Shipping container weightCheck weight. Payload, the road limit and the VGM rule can each stop a full box.
  5. Pallets in a 40 ft containerLay out the floor: how many pallets, and in which pattern.

Then put your own numbers into the calculators.

Buying a container

You want a box of your own for storage, a workshop or a project.

  1. Shipping container pricesStart with what the market charges, by size and condition.
  2. Container grades & conditionLearn the grades, because "cargo-worthy" and "wind and watertight" are not the same promise.
  3. Buying a container: checklistInspect before paying: a checklist of what fails and where to look.
  4. Moving a shipping containerPlan delivery. The truck and the access often cost more thought than the box.
  5. Container foundationsPrepare the ground it will stand on.

Then compare the sizes side by side.

Building with a container

You are turning a box into a room: a home, an office, a cabin.

  1. Container home dimensionsSee what the dimensions allow and what they do not, starting with the 2.35 m internal width.
  2. Container foundationsGet the foundation right; everything else sits on the four corner castings.
  3. Container insulationInsulate. A steel box is the hardest envelope there is to keep dry and warm.
  4. Ventilation & condensationVentilate, or condensation undoes the insulation.
  5. Container flooringDeal with the floor, which was treated for cargo, not for living on.

Then read the page for the size you plan to use.

Every guide, by what you are trying to do

Reading time is counted from the text; the date is when the guide last changed in substance.

Dimensions and units

What size a container is, in which unit, and how to read the codes painted on it.

Loading and pallets

Choosing a size and filling it: volume, weight limits and floor patterns.

Buying and owning

Prices, condition grades, inspection, delivery and keeping a box secure.

Building with containers

From the first plan to the envelope: what a steel box needs to become a room.

Around the box

The container types, the ships that carry them and their air-freight counterparts.

Our own research

Things we measured ourselves because nobody had published them.

Answers and terms

Short answers to common questions, and the trade vocabulary defined.

Every size, drawn

Each size has a page that opens with its dimension sheet: outside, inside, the door, the floor with its pallets, and the weights.

Every container type

The types with a page of their own; the atlas shows all of them side by side and helps you choose. All types in one atlas →

Tools for your own numbers

The guides explain the rules; the tools apply them to your cargo. All free, nothing to sign up for.

All 455 questions, and where each is answered

Every question the guides, size pages, type pages and tools answer, grouped as above. A link opens the answer itself.

Dimensions and units 36 questions
Loading and pallets 51 questions
Buying and owning 43 questions
Building with containers 75 questions
Around the box 25 questions
Our own research 18 questions
Answers and terms 34 questions
Sizes 47 questions
Container types 62 questions
Tools 64 questions

Recently revised

The five guides that changed last. A date moves only when the content does.

How these guides are made

  • Every figure comes from one dataset, the same one behind the specification tables, so a guide and a table cannot disagree.
  • Each of the 191 container figures carries its status and the documents behind it: 44 set by ISO 668 and ISO 1496-1 (read in IS 6566:2001, ГОСТ Р 51876-2008 and ГОСТ Р 53350-2009), 114 printed alike by most of the published sheets, 21 where the sheets spread and 12 from a single sheet. The data sources page gives them figure by figure; the citations page lists all 308 documents read.
  • Where the sheets differ, a page gives the most common figure and the span the sheets print, never one number as if it were the only one.
  • A guide opens with its answer. If the first sentence does not carry the verdict and the figure, we treat that as a defect.

How we verifySourcesHow much specifications vary