What is a TEU?
A TEU is a term used in the container freight industry and is short for ‘Twenty Equipment Unit’. Basically, when we use the acronym TEU, we’re describing a single 20 foot (6.1 meter) long container.
A 40-foot (12.2 meter) long container equals two TEUs.
TEUs are the most common way to measure container traffic around the world. The use of TEU’s allows for easy comparison of vessel and port capacities. For example, a container ship that can carry 3,000 TEUs can transport six times as much cargo as a ship that can carry 500 TEUs.
Ports are often measured in terms of the number of TEUs they can handle. A large port may be able to handle 10 million TEUs per year, while a smaller port may only be able to handle 1 million TEUs.
Brisbane 670,000 TEU.
To give you some idea of Australian ports and what then can cope with in terms of TEU, Brisbane is a busy port for containers, recording a 17.2% growth in import containers for FY21 at 670,000 TEU. In total, the Port of Brisbane handled 1.39 million TEU in FY21, according to Jamie Wardle, Trade Development Executive at the port.
Sydney 2.5 million TEU.
Whereas Port Botany in Sydney handles 99.6% of New South Wales’ container volume (2.5 million TEU each year) and has capacity to handle over 7 million TEU. Current port infrastructure supports vessels carrying up to 15,000 TEU.
Dimensions of a standard TEU in Australia.
A standard 20ft shipping container in Australia is typically 5.898m long x 2.352m wide x 2.393m high. The internal usable capacity is 32.6M2. There are literally thousands of combinations of boxes, cartons, loose items and pallets that can be placed into a container. In terms of freight, it is best to pack a shipping container leaving as little space as possible
How many TEU are in one container?
A TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) is a measure of volume in units of twenty-foot long containers. For example, large container ships are able to transport more than 18,000 TEU, with some carrying more than than 21,000 TEU.
What is the difference between TEU and container?
A single TEU container’s internal dimensions measure 20ft (6.1 meter) in length, nearly 8ft in width, and approximately 8ft high.
A TEU is the size of a 20-foot (6.1 meter) long shipping container. These are the most common type of containers.
There are also 40-foot (12.2 meter) and 45-foot (13.7 meter) containers, but their TEU value is simply double and 2.5 times that of a 20-footer respectively TEUs are also sometimes referred to as FEU, or forty-foot equivalent units To calculate TEU, simply multiply the length in feet by the width in feet and divide by twenty.
What is the weight of 1 TEU?
The average weight of a 20 FT TEU is about 2,500kg.
1 TEU = 2,500 kg
1 TEU = 2.69 NZ tonnes
2 TEU = 5.29 m
So the average net weight of a loaded 20-foot shipping container is 24,000kg. The maximum gross weight for a 20-foot shipping container is 30,480kg.
How much volume fits in a 20ft container?
Depending on the size and volume of your shipment can make the difference between packing a container well and making the most of every square metre. A standard Australian pallet can hold 60 boxes, so if a container fits 10 pallets of 60 boxes on average, the number of boxes in a 20ft container is 600. This is of course just an estimate.
Soon, we will have a One World Courier pallet calculator where estimating the precise number of boxes and pallets will save time and money on your next shipment.
If you’re sending pallets and they will be shipped inside a 20ft container, you can expect to fit 10 Standard Pallets. Remembering that the height of a 20ft container is approximately 2.393m high. To make sure there are no nasty surprises allow for the height of the pallet.
It’s also important to be compliant when transporting dangerous (DG) goods inside shipping containers. To find out more about dangerous goods, read our dangerous goods guide here.