What can you fit into a shipping container?

What can you fit into a shipping container?

CARU Containers often gets this question. Our somewhat oversimplified answer: pretty much anything. Look around you and you will realise that almost every product has been in contact with a container at some point. Of course you can’t fit literally everything into a container, but you can fit in anything that suits the size of the container in question. We’ll talk more about that later on.

So, what kinds of things can you put in a container?

Taking the two most common types of container as the starting point, here’s exactly what you can fit into a container in concrete terms.

What you can fit into a 20 ft container

With a loading weight of up to 28 tonnes and a volume of 30 to 35 cubic metres, you can fit the following into a 20 ft container:

• The household effects of an average Dutch household

• 11 europallets

• 200 double mattresses

• 48,000 bananas

• 50-60 refrigerators

• 400 flat-screen TVs

• 100 washing machines

• 487,000 eggs

• 9,600 bottles of wine

• 4,000 shoe boxes

• 2 passenger cars

What you can fit into a 40 ft container

With a loading weight of 27 tonnes and a volume of up to 70 cubic metres, this is what you can fit into a 40 ft container:

• The household contents of an apartment with two or three bedrooms, living room, dining room, study and kitchen

• 27 europallets

• 400 double mattresses

• 8,000 pairs of sneakers

• 10 million cigarettes

• 5 regular cars, 3 SUVs or 6 to 8 small cars

Container dimensions: from modest to huge

As shipping containers are an American invention, their dimensions are specified in feet (1 foot = 30.48 centimetres). In terms of length, the following container sizes are available:

8 feet

The 8 ft container is a small container with a big storage capacity. At 2.44 metres long, you can be sure it won't take up too much space on your construction
site, parking lot or wherever you put it. The interior space measures 2.29 m (L) x 2.11 m (W) x 2.06 m (H)
and the maximum load capacity is 5050 kilos.

10 feet

The 10 ft container is approximately 3 metres long. Although still a relatively small container, it is big enough for a CSC certificate. The interior space measures 2.84 m (L) x 2.35 m (W) x 2.39 m (H) and the maximum load capacity is 8860 kilos.

20 feet

You see the 20 ft container and its 40-ft bigger brother almost everywhere. With a length of 20 feet (6.06 metres) and a capacity of around 30 to 35 m3, it offers plenty of storage space. To be precise: the interior dimensions are 5.90 m (L) x 2.35 m (W) x 2.39 m (H) and the maximum load capacity is 28,300 kilos.

40 feet

The 40 ft is a large container. At 12.19 metres long and with internal dimensions of 12.03 m (L) x 2.35 (W) x 2.39 (H), you could even call it colossal. With about 70 m3 of storage space and a maximum load capacity of 27,160 kilos, this giant will instantly put an end to all your storage problems.

Dimensions of special containers: High Cube

The High Cube is a container of an unusual size. One extra foot in height makes it 2.90 metres tall. Very handy for high materials, for example. Or to stack things up in when you only have a small site.

Container with CSC certificate: Guaranteed safe

All containers supplied by CARU have a CSC certificate (except for 8 ft containers, which are too small for certification). CSC stands for Container Safety Certificate and means that the container has been tested for aspects such as robustness, construction, watertightness and whether the frame has bent. A CSC certificate is required for international transport. And it’s also extremely convenient for storage purposes, because you can be sure that the container meets strict safety requirements. Want to find out more about the CSC certificates of CARU Containers? If so, read our FAQ.

Rent or buy the perfect container

Interested? Want to find out which container would suit you best? Whether you are looking for a new or used model, visit the CARU Containers webshop to rent or buy a container that is perfect for your requirements.