Shipping container types and sizes: which one fits your cargo

Most China ocean freight moves in a standard dry container, but "standard" hides a few important choices. Pick the wrong type or assume the wrong capacity, and you either waste paid space or find your cargo doesn't fit.

What are the standard container sizes?

The three you'll meet most often:

• 20ft dry: about 33 cubic meters interior, roughly 28 CBM usable in practice
• 40ft dry: about 67 CBM interior, roughly 58 CBM usable
• 40ft high cube (HQ): about 76 CBM interior, roughly 68 CBM usable — same footprint as a 40ft, just taller

"Usable" is always less than interior volume because real cartons leave gaps. Plan on the usable figure, not the theoretical maximum.

What's the difference between a 40ft and a 40ft high cube?

Footprint is identical; the high cube is about 30 cm taller. That extra height adds roughly 10 CBM of capacity — useful for light, bulky goods that fill volume before they hit weight. If your cargo is dense and heavy, the standard 40ft is usually fine. To see how your cartons load into each, run them through our container load calculator.

When do I need a special container?

• Reefer (refrigerated): temperature-controlled goods — food, pharma, anything in the cold chain
• Open top: cargo too tall to fit through standard doors, loaded by crane from above
• Flat rack: oversized or heavy items with no side or top walls — machinery, vehicles
• Out-of-gauge: anything that exceeds the container envelope, which moves as oversized cargo

Special equipment costs more and has tighter availability, so book it earlier.

How do I know which container to book?

Work it backwards from your total volume and weight. Under roughly 15 CBM, LCL is usually cheaper than a whole box. Between 15 and 28 CBM, a 20ft FCL often wins. Above that, you're into 40ft or 40HQ territory. Weight matters too — a container has a payload limit, so dense cargo can hit the weight cap long before it fills the space.

Match the box to the cargo, then price it

The right container is the one that fits your volume, weight, and any special handling — without paying for air you don't ship. Work out your cubic meters first with the CBM calculator, check the fit with the container load calculator, then get an indicative rate for the lane from our estimator.