40ft & 40HC Container Dimensions

The 40ft container and its taller sibling the 40HC (High Cube) are the workhorses of long-haul ocean freight. Together they carry the majority of containerised volume on Asia–Europe and trans-Pacific lanes. Plan your load with the numbers below and confirm the fit in our container capacity calculator or the main CBM calculator.

40ft standard container

• Internal length: 12.03 m (39.5 ft)
• Internal width: 2.35 m (7.7 ft)
• Internal height: 2.39 m (7.8 ft)
• Door opening: 2.34 m × 2.28 m
• Internal volume: ~67.7 CBM (2,390 ft³)
• Usable volume: ~58 CBM after stacking gaps
• Max payload: ~26,500 kg
• Tare weight: ~3,800 kg
• Pallets: 20–21 Euro pallets or 20 US/GMA pallets, single layer

40HC High Cube container

• Internal length: 12.03 m (39.5 ft)
• Internal width: 2.35 m (7.7 ft)
• Internal height: 2.69 m (8.8 ft) — 30 cm taller than standard
• Internal volume: ~76.4 CBM (2,700 ft³)
• Usable volume: ~68 CBM
• Max payload: ~26,500 kg
• Tare weight: ~3,900 kg

40ft vs 40HC — which to book?

The 40HC adds ~30 cm of extra height for nearly the same freight rate on most lanes, which makes it the better choice for tall, light cargo — furniture, foam, plastics, textiles, electronics. Standard 40ft is preferred for dense, heavy cargo that maxes out weight before volume, or when destination port height restrictions or warehouse door clearance rule out a high cube.

40ft and 40HC vs 20ft

A 40ft offers roughly twice the volume of a 20ft container but only about 5–15% more payload capacity. If you have ~30 CBM or more of light cargo, two 20ft containers are almost always more expensive than a single 40ft or 40HC. For loads of ~55+ CBM, the 40HC is the default choice on most trade lanes.

Common 40ft / 40HC FCL use cases

• Furniture, sofas, mattresses (tall, light cargo — 40HC wins)
• Garments, footwear, toys, plastics
• Consumer electronics and appliances
• Auto parts, bicycles, sporting goods
• Project cargo and partial machinery loads

Compare with 20ft container dimensions, run a fit check in our container capacity calculator, or plan layer-by-layer in the pallet calculator.