Carton and container calculator,
CBM and cartons per container.

Enter the carton size and the order to see its volume, and how many cartons a 20 ft, a 40 ft and a 40 ft high cube can hold.

Carton CBM

CBM, cubic metres, is the width, the height and the length multiplied together. Measure the carton in centimetres and divide each side by 100 first: a 60 × 40 × 40 cm carton is 0.6 × 0.4 × 0.4 = 0.096 m³.

The three containers

Inside, a 20 ft standard container measures 5.900 × 2.352 × 2.395 m and holds 33.2 m³; a 40 ft standard 12.032 × 2.352 × 2.395 m, 67.7 m³; a 40 ft high cube 12.032 × 2.350 × 2.700 m, 76.3 m³. These are a carrier's published examples; containers vary a little by maker.

The maximum payloads in the same examples are 28,130 kg for the 20 ft, 28,750 kg for the 40 ft and 28,600 kg for the high cube.

Cartons that fit, and a real load

The calculator lays whole cartons in layers. The floor of a layer can mix two orientations, and the gap above the last full layer takes cartons standing another way. For 60 × 40 × 40 cm cartons that is 261 in a 20 ft, 560 in a 40 ft and 660 in a high cube.

It is a good layout, not a proven optimum, and it leaves out stacking limits, pallets and the space needed to load. For cargo secured by form locking, the CTU Code, the international code for packing cargo transport units, says the sum of the void spaces in any horizontal direction should not exceed 15 cm.