Container loading calculator
Enter the package and pick the box. The calculator tests both floor orientations, stacks to the roof or to your crush limit, applies a stow loss and tells you which of cube or payload runs out first.
Cargo and equipment
Load plan
Weight limited against volume limited
Every container load is one or the other. Dense cargo, ores, concentrates, metal scrap and most liquids in drums, hits the payload plate long before the box is full, which is why it moves in 20ft equipment: you pay for a smaller box and fill it to the same weight. Light cargo, dried herbs, cork, wool, packaging waste and most bagged spice, fills the cube with tonnes of payload left unused, which is why it moves in 40ft high cubes.
Knowing which side you are on is what makes a freight quote comparable. A per container rate is cheap or expensive only against the tonnes you can actually get in the box.
Why the theoretical number is never the loaded number
A container needs dunnage between tiers, lashing at the door, sometimes a liner bag, sometimes desiccant poles along the walls, and the last metre by the doors is rarely usable at full height. The stow loss input exists for this. Five per cent is a reasonable default for palletised cargo, ten per cent for loose bagged cargo that has to be hand stowed.
Payload figures also vary by box owner and by road limit. The plate on the door is the authority for the equipment you are actually given, and the road weight limit in the origin and destination countries can bind before the plate does. In the European Union, a laden 40ft box on a standard tractor unit is usually capped by the 44 tonne gross combination limit rather than by the container itself.
Verified gross mass
Since 2016 the SOLAS amendment on container weight has required the shipper to declare a verified gross mass for every packed container before it is loaded. The figure this tool produces is cargo gross weight, not VGM. Add the tare of the container, which is stencilled on the door, to get the VGM you must declare.
Questions
How many tonnes fit in a 40ft container?
The payload is typically about 26.5 tonnes for a 40ft, but the cargo you can actually load is whichever is lower: that payload, or the tonnage that fits the 76 cubic metres of internal volume in a high cube. Light commodities routinely load 12 to 18 tonnes in a box that could legally carry 26.
What is the difference between a 40ft and a 40ft high cube?
About 30 cm of internal height, which is roughly 8.5 extra cubic metres. For volume limited cargo that is a 12 per cent increase in what fits, usually for a small freight premium.
Should I ship heavy cargo in a 20ft or a 40ft?
A 20ft. The payload of a 20ft is higher than a 40ft in absolute terms on most equipment, and the freight is cheaper. Two 20ft boxes carry substantially more weight than one 40ft.
Does this calculator account for pallets?
Only if you enter the pallet as the package: use the pallet footprint, the loaded height and the gross weight including the pallet itself. For loose loaded cargo, enter the individual bag or carton.
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