Shipping container dimensions — the full Australian reference

External dimensions

These are the numbers to use when you are working out whether the container fits on the block, through the gate and under the wires. Standard containers are built to the international specification, so figures are consistent across manufacturers within a few millimetres.

Size	Length	Width	Height
10ft	2.99 m	2.44 m	2.59 m
20ft general purpose	6.06 m	2.44 m	2.59 m
20ft high cube	6.06 m	2.44 m	2.89 m
40ft general purpose	12.19 m	2.44 m	2.59 m
40ft high cube	12.19 m	2.44 m	2.89 m

In imperial, the width is 8 ft on everything, standard height is 8 ft 6 in and high cube height is 9 ft 6 in. A 40ft is a true forty feet long. A 20ft is very slightly short of twenty, at about 19 ft 10.5 in, so that two of them plus the gap between them equal one 40ft in a ship's cell. The 10ft is shorter again in the same way.

Internal dimensions

Internal figures are what actually matters once you are loading. The walls are corrugated, so internal width is measured between the corrugation troughs — the usable flat width between the peaks is a little less, which catches people racking or lining a unit.

Size	Length	Width	Height
10ft	2.83 m	2.35 m	2.39 m
20ft general purpose	5.90 m	2.35 m	2.39 m
20ft high cube	5.90 m	2.35 m	2.69 m
40ft general purpose	12.03 m	2.35 m	2.39 m
40ft high cube	12.03 m	2.35 m	2.69 m

Door openings

The door opening is always smaller than the internal dimensions, because the door frame steals width and the header steals height. This is the measurement people forget, and it is the one that stops a vehicle, a ride-on or a piece of plant at the threshold.

Size	Door width	Door height
10ft	2.34 m	2.28 m
20ft general purpose	2.34 m	2.28 m
20ft high cube	2.34 m	2.58 m
40ft general purpose	2.34 m	2.28 m
40ft high cube	2.34 m	2.58 m

Note that on a general purpose container the door opening is around 110 mm lower than the internal height. If you are loading something close to the ceiling, it has to clear the door first. Note also that the floor sits above ground level once the container is on pads or sleepers, so a ramp or a lip has to be planned for.

Cubic capacity and tare weight

Size	Cubic capacity	Floor area	Tare weight
10ft	15.9 m³	approx 6.6 m²	approx 1,300 kg
20ft general purpose	33.2 m³	approx 13.9 m²	approx 2,200 kg
20ft high cube	37.4 m³	approx 13.9 m²	approx 2,350 kg
40ft general purpose	67.7 m³	approx 28.3 m²	approx 3,800 kg
40ft high cube	76.4 m³	approx 28.3 m²	approx 3,900 kg

Tare weight is the weight of the empty container, and it is stencilled on the door of every unit along with the maximum gross and the payload. Treat published tare figures as close rather than exact — a used unit that has been repaired, had a timber floor replaced or been repainted several times can vary by a hundred kilograms or so either way. If you need an exact figure for a lift or an engineering calculation, read it off the plate on the actual container.

Maximum gross and payload

Maximum gross weight is the total the container is certified to carry, including its own weight. For most 20ft and 40ft general purpose containers that figure is 30,480 kg, which gives a payload of roughly 28,000 kg on a 20ft and roughly 26,500 kg on a 40ft. Some newer 40fts are rated to 32,500 kg. A 10ft is typically rated well below the others.

These ratings matter for sea freight and almost never for storage, because road mass limits will stop you long before the container's own rating does. If a container is being trucked loaded, the road limit is the binding number, not the plate. Tell us what is going in it and how far it is travelling.

Clearances you need around the container

Dimensions on their own do not tell you how much space to leave. Three extra allowances make the difference between a container that works and one that annoys you daily.

• Door swing. The doors open past ninety degrees and swing right back against the sides. Allow around 2.5 m of clear space in front of the door end. Not a garden bed, not a fence, not where you park.
• Working space at the sides. Leave enough to walk around it and to get a brush or a spray gun down the side later. Hard against a fence means you can never paint that side or check the rail for rust.
• Height on the route, not just at the spot. A high cube is 2.89 m tall sitting still, plus the pad height, plus the truck deck while it is being delivered. Every wire, branch, carport beam and awning along the route has to clear the truck mid-delivery, which is higher again.

Which dimension usually decides it

In our experience the deciding measurement is rarely length. It is one of these three.

1. Door height. Machinery, vehicles, plant, a caravan, a tall shelving unit. Measure the tallest thing and compare it to 2.28 m, not to 2.39 m. If it is close, a high cube buys you 300 mm at the door and in the ceiling.
2. Internal length. Anything longer than 5.90 m will not go in a 20ft, whatever you do with it. That single number sends more people to a 40ft than price ever does.
3. External width at the gate. 2.44 m of container, on a truck, through an opening. The container is the same width whatever length you buy, so if the gate is the problem, a smaller container does not fix it — a different truck might.

Working out what fits inside

Two quick methods save a lot of guessing. For palletised goods, standard Australian pallets are 1165 mm square and standard export pallets are 1200 by 1000 mm. A 20ft takes ten Australian pallets on the floor in a single layer, or eleven of the export size at a squeeze; a 40ft takes twenty and twenty-two respectively. Stack them and the limit becomes height, not floor area.

For household goods, a 20ft holds roughly the contents of a modest three-bedroom house packed properly, and a 40ft comfortably takes a large one with a shed's worth of gear on top. Those are rules of thumb rather than promises, because how well something is packed changes the answer by a surprising margin.

For long items, work in internal length and remember you cannot load anything longer than the internal length even diagonally — the door opening is narrower than the box, so a length that theoretically fits on the diagonal still has to come in through a 2.34 m gap.

Other configurations

Standard general purpose and high cube containers cover most requirements, but a few variants change the numbers.

A side opening container has doors along one full side as well as, or instead of, the end. External dimensions are unchanged, but the access is transformed — you can reach anything without unloading what is in front of it, and you can load with a forklift across the full length. Internal height and cubic capacity are marginally reduced by the extra door framing.

A double-door or tunnel container has doors at both ends. Same external dimensions, drive-through access, slightly less usable wall.

Dangerous goods containers are built to a different standard again, with bunded floors, forced ventilation and shelving, so their internal dimensions and capacities are specific to the unit and its rating.

If you want the sizes with current stock and grade options against them, the container range lists them all. If you have a measurement you cannot make work, ring 0477 410 500 — there is often a configuration that solves it.