Container glossary
What is an FEU?
An FEU (forty-foot equivalent unit) is the space of one 40 ft container and equals 2 TEU. It is a unit of count used for freight rates and capacity; it says nothing about height or weight, so a 40 ft high cube is also exactly one FEU.
FEU and TEU by container size
| Container | TEU | FEU | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 ft container | 0.50 | 0.25 | 15.9 m³ |
| 20 ft container | 1 | 0.50 | 33.2 m³ |
| 40 ft container | 2 | 1 | 67.7 m³ |
| 40 ft high cube container | 2 | 1 | 76.4 m³ |
| 45 ft high cube container | 2.25 | 1.13 | 86.0 m³ |
Data: ISO 668:2020
How FEU and TEU count the same ship
Container shipping counts slots, not boxes. The base unit is the TEU, the length of one 20 ft container; the FEU is simply two of them end to end. A vessel described as 24,000 TEU could equally be called 12,000 FEU, and in practice it carries a mix of both lengths.
Port and fleet statistics stay in TEU. The FEU belongs to pricing: a 40 ft container is the unit most cargo actually moves in, so trades where forties dominate — the transpacific above all — quote their rates per FEU. The table above shows how each size counts in both units.
Where the letters FEU appear
On a freight quotation or a rate sheet, as “USD per FEU” or “/FEU”, sometimes written “per 40′”. Freight indices and market reports use it the same way. A rate per FEU is the price of moving one forty-foot box on that route, whatever is inside; standard and high cube forties are normally quoted at the same figure.
When you see it, check two things: which box the quote assumes (40 ft standard or high cube), and what the figure leaves out. Surcharges and terminal handling are billed per container on top of the base rate, so two quotes “per FEU” are only comparable once both are complete.
Halving a per-FEU rate to price a twenty
Because 1 FEU = 2 TEU, people divide a per-FEU rate by two and expect that to be the 20 ft price. It is not. The equivalence is about space on the ship, not about money: on most deep-sea lanes a forty costs only about 25–30% more than a twenty, so the twenty costs far more than half. A budget built on the halved figure is short before the cargo is packed. The arithmetic and the crossover point are in 20 ft vs 40 ft.
The second error is reading FEU as a measure of cargo. One FEU of feathers and one FEU of tiles occupy the same slot; how much fits is decided by the container’s volume and payload, not by the unit.
Frequently asked questions
How many TEU is one FEU?
Two — 1 FEU equals 2 TEU, because a 40 ft container takes the space of two 20 ft containers. The reverse also holds: a 20 ft box is half an FEU.
Is a 40 ft high cube more than one FEU?
No — a 40 ft high cube is exactly 1 FEU, the same as a standard 40 ft. The unit counts length only, so the extra foot of height adds volume (76.4 m³ against 67.7 m³) without changing the count.
What does “per FEU” mean on a freight quote?
It means the price is for one 40 ft container on that route. It is not a price per tonne or per cubic metre, and it usually excludes per-container surcharges, which are listed separately.