Container sizes
A 20 ft container holds about 33 cubic metres inside, a 40 ft about 66 to 68 and a 40 ft high cube about 76. Type the volume of your move, or bring the estimate from the calculator, and see roughly how much of each it takes up, as a range. It shows space, not a promise: your removal company plans the load and confirms the container.
These are the sizes the comparison uses, explained in full further down this page. With JavaScript on, this card becomes a comparison for your own volume.
An estimate to help you describe your move. It isn't a quotation. Your removal company confirms the volume and the container.
The options
Three standard steel containers are the ones usually discussed when a household shipment goes by sea. They share the same width and differ in length and height. The measurements below are the inside figures published by shipping and freight companies. They differ a little from source to source, because containers vary by manufacturer, age and owner, so each one is a range. Your removal company confirms the container actually used.
33 to 33.2 m³
inside, about 1,170 cubic feet
Half the length of a 40 ft container, with the same width and height.
66 to 67.7 m³
inside, about 2,330 to 2,390 cubic feet
Twice the length of a 20 ft container, with the same width, height and door opening, so about twice the space.
76 to 76.4 m³
inside, about 2,680 to 2,700 cubic feet
The same length and width as a standard 40 ft, but about 30 cm taller inside, with a taller door opening. In the carrier specification that is about 13% more space than a standard 40 ft (76.4 against 67.7 m³).
The measure
A cubic metre is the space inside a box one metre long, one metre wide and one metre high. Removal companies and shipping lines measure loads this way. Many people in the UK still think in cubic feet instead, and one cubic metre is about 35.3 cubic feet.
Some everyday sizes help. Taken from the volume calculator's item list, a three-seat sofa is about 1.3 m³, a double bed with its mattress about 1.9 m³, and a medium packing box about 0.09 m³. These are planning figures from published tables, not measurements of your own furniture.
Capacity and reality
The capacity of a container is the volume of the empty box. A load never uses all of it, for reasons your removal company allows for when it plans the stow.
That is why this guide shows a share of the space, with a range, and never says that a load will go in. Your removal company works out where each piece goes and confirms.
Other equipment
Two other types appear in carrier lists. An open top container has no solid roof, so tall or heavy items can be lowered in from above. A flat rack is a platform without sides or roof, for loads that overhang a standard box. Both exist for cargo that is too tall, wide or heavy for a standard container. For an ordinary household shipment your removal company will usually propose a standard container, and will say if an item such as a large vehicle or machinery needs something else.
These figures come from one carrier's list, so they are not shown as ranges. The carrier's capacity for the 20 ft open top is about 11% more than its inside length, width and height multiply to (about 29 m³), so treat the figures as that carrier's own numbers. A 20 ft high cube also exists (the same carrier lists about 37.3 m³), but it is left out of the comparison because only one source gave its size.
What next
The international moving checklist puts the tasks in date order, and the international moving planner builds one plan for the whole move, including questions to put to a removal company. When you send an enquiry, we pass it to a suitable partner removal company, which assesses the move, confirms the volume and the container, and gives you a written quotation.
Sources
Questions
Shipping and freight companies publish an inside capacity of about 33 to 33.2 cubic metres for a 20 ft container, which is roughly 1,170 cubic feet. That is the size of the empty box. Furniture and boxes never use all of it, so a load's volume and the container's capacity are not the same thing.
Both are about 12 metres long and 2.35 metres wide inside. The high cube is about 30 cm taller, 2.69 to 2.70 metres inside against 2.36 to 2.39, so it holds about 76 cubic metres where a standard 40 ft holds 66 to 67.7. Its door opening is taller too.
This guide can't say, and no website can. It compares your estimated volume with the inside space and shows the share as a range. Whether a particular load goes in depends on the furniture, how it's packed, the weight and the door opening. Your removal company plans it and confirms, usually after a survey or video call.
It is a container that carries goods from more than one household or business, and you use only the space your goods take. It is also called part load, groupage or LCL (less than container load). Usually the loads are combined before the container leaves and separated at the destination. Your removal company explains how it handles yours.
Containers vary slightly by manufacturer, age and owner, and sources round their figures in different ways. Some say outright that their measurements are a guideline only. This page gives a range for each figure and lists where it comes from.
No. The comparison is worked out in your browser. If you saved a list, copied a private link or sent a list from the volume calculator on this device, the guide reads that saved estimate from this device. Nothing is sent to us unless you choose to send an enquiry.
Your enquiry goes to a suitable partner removal company, which assesses the move, quotes for it and carries it out. The introduction is free. Anything you worked out here can go with it.