40ft dry and High Cube guide
How Many Pallets Fit in a 40ft Container?
A conservative floor plan often uses 24 Euro pallets or 20 industrial/US pallets. With the representative 12,032 × 2,352 mm dry floor and zero added clearance, the tested geometric layouts place 25 Euro, 22 industrial or 21 US pallets. Keep the operating baseline and geometric capacity separate.
Equipment and source review: 9 August 2026. Results below are single-floor planning values, not booking or safety guarantees.
Single floor layerDry equipment0° / 90° rotationEditable pallet gapEditable wall clearanceAxis-aligned rectangles
Interactive layout
Compare the geometry with the planning baseline.
Choose a pallet and add realistic allowances. The geometric result changes immediately; the operational baseline remains a separate reference.
Representative equipment dimensions. Source: equipment specification.
25 geometric placements; 24 pallets · common Euro planning baseline.
Reproduce a 25-Euro-pallet floor drawing
On the stated 12,032 × 2,352 mm floor, make one 1200 mm-wide strip with fifteen pallets whose 800 mm side runs along the length, and one 800 mm-wide strip with ten pallets whose 1200 mm side runs along it. Both strips use 12,000 mm of length; together they use 2000 mm of width. That constructs 15 + 10 = 25 positions, leaving 32 mm length and 352 mm total width before required clearances.
For coordinates, start the first strip at y=0 with x=0, 800, …, 11,200; start the second at y=1200 with x=0, 1200, …, 10,800. The result depends on permitted rotation, identical bare footprints and zero added gaps. At a 10 mm gap, those strips need 12,140 and 12,090 mm, so the same 25-position drawing fails. Recalculate; this does not prove a different layout cannot fit.
A hypothetical 2300 mm loaded height fits the 2395 mm interior but exceeds the 2292 mm door by 8 mm, before handling clearance. With a hypothetical 24,000 kg cargo allowance, 25 loads at 900 kg total 22,500 kg, while 25 at 1100 kg total 27,500 kg. That allowance admits at most 21 identical 1100 kg loads; it does not establish a permitted floor distribution or secure load.
Calculate cases per pallet in TI-HI, then check gross pallet mass and measure the completed envelope. The assigned unit and loading team must supply the door, clearance, mass and securing requirements.
Footprint comparison
The same equipment gives different answers for different pallets.
“Verified” refers to the geometry fixture under the stated zero-gap assumptions. A common baseline is a planning convention, not an algorithmic maximum.
| Pallet | Footprint | Planning baseline | Zero-gap geometry | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Euro | 1200 × 800 mm | 24 | 25 · verified | +1 depends on a tight mixed layout |
| Industrial | 1200 × 1000 mm | 20 | 22 · verified | +2 with zero added clearance |
| US GMA | 1219.2 × 1016 mm | 20 | 21 · verified | +1 with a mixed layout |
| AU | 1165 × 1165 mm | No universal baseline | 20 · area-proven | Confirm equipment width and loading access |
| JP | 1100 × 1100 mm | No universal baseline | 20 · best found | No optimality proof for this custom case |
Equipment is not universal
Use the assigned unit’s internal and door dimensions.
Nearby equipment types can have materially different usable space. Height affects stacking, while the floor calculation uses internal length and width.
| Equipment | Published interior | Door / note |
|---|---|---|
| 40ft Standard dry preset | 12,032 × 2,352 × 2,395 mm | 2,340 × 2,292 mm |
| 40ft High Cube dry preset | 12,032 × 2,352 × 2,700 mm | 2,340 × 2,597 mm |
What High Cube changes
Standard High Cube equipment mainly adds about 305 mm of internal height. For the same floor dimensions it does not automatically add floor positions.
Pallet-wide is another equipment type
A 40ft High Cube pallet-wide container has a wider floor and door and can change pallet counts. It must not be treated as a standard High Cube preset.
Use your actual pallet and equipment dimensions.
Open the full calculator with this equipment preset, then change the pallet, gap, clearance, stack height and units without losing the assumptions.
Sources
Equipment references used on this page.
Checked 9 August 2026. Manufacturer and carrier data describes equipment families; confirm the serial or assigned unit before loading.
- Hapag-Lloyd Container Specification — 40ft Standard and High Cube dry dimensions, door openings, fleet-series variation and tolerances.
- CMA CGM Container Technical Brochure — General-purpose, reefer and pallet-wide equipment dimensions and published pallet-capacity references.
- CMA CGM Containers — Current equipment categories and the non-contractual status of representative technical data.
FAQ
Common planning questions.
How many Euro pallets fit in a 40ft container?
A conservative operating plan often uses 24 Euro pallets per floor layer. The zero-added-clearance mixed layout used here places 25 on a representative 12,032 × 2,352 mm dry floor. Confirm the assigned unit and required clearances before using the higher figure.
How many 1200 × 1000 pallets fit?
A conservative plan often uses 20. The tested zero-added-clearance geometric layout places 22 on the representative floor, but handling and securing requirements can reduce that count.
Does a 40ft High Cube fit more pallets on the floor?
Not automatically. A standard High Cube mainly adds internal height while keeping a similar floor footprint. Pallet-wide and refrigerated equipment are different types and require separate dimensions.
Are these counts guaranteed?
No. The page separates geometric capacity from a conservative operating baseline. The carrier’s assigned equipment and accepted load plan control.
Compare another equipment class.
Keep the pallet footprint constant and compare how the interior, door and operating assumptions change.
Decide whether the extra position changes your shipment
Suppose an order produces 25 Euro pallets. A twenty-four-position operating plan leaves one pallet for another movement; a twenty-five-position geometric candidate places the full order on the modeled floor. That difference can matter commercially, but the candidate should be reviewed as a specific drawing. Verify measured footprints, rotation permission and the loading sequence before treating the extra position as available. A generic statement that a forty-foot container holds twenty-five pallets omits the conditions that create that result.
The ordinary unrotated grid on 12032 × 2352 mm is floor(12032 / 1200) × floor(2352 / 800) = 10 × 2 = 20. A uniformly rotated grid is floor(12032 / 800) × floor(2352 / 1200) = 15 × 1 = 15. The mixed twenty-five-pallet fixture is a different arrangement. Area division alone gives floor((12032 × 2352) / (1200 × 800)) = 29, but that loose ceiling is not a usable twenty-nine-position layout. Empty strips cannot necessarily be combined into another pallet-sized rectangle.
| Question | Example answer | Next decision |
|---|---|---|
| How many finished pallets? | 25 from the order record | Measure the final pallet separately |
| How many floor placements? | 25 in the zero-gap fixture | Review coordinates and clearance |
| Will tall loads enter? | Depends on actual door | Compare complete loaded height |
| Will cargo meet weight conditions? | Not established by floor count | Review gross cargo and distribution |
Compare height without changing the floor problem
Keep the same twenty-five footprints when comparing Standard and High Cube. On the site presets their floor dimensions are identical, so the floor search receives the same length and width. High Cube increases modeled interior height from 2395 to 2700 mm and door height from 2292 to 2597 mm. A hypothetical 2500 mm loaded pallet exceeds the Standard preset door and interior but sits below both High Cube preset heights. This is a dimensional screening example, not permission to stack or tilt the load.
The carrier page for High Cube currently has a table width of 2350 mm and a diagram width of 2352 mm. That inconsistency deserves a request for the assigned unit specification. It does not justify choosing whichever dimension preserves a desired count. Sensitivity checks at both widths may reveal whether the discrepancy matters to your drawing, while the final plan should use the accepted equipment record.
The engine accepts one identical footprint per run and searches a finite family of strip and MaxRects candidates. A supported zero-gap fixture can receive an optimal label, while a modified footprint or clearance often receives best found. Keep that status with the quantity. The search does not evaluate combined pallet sizes, stacked tiers, center of gravity or installation of restraint materials.
Compare Standard with High Cube fairly
Run the forty-foot Standard preset with 1200 × 800 mm footprints and zero spacing. Switch to the High Cube preset while leaving the footprint inputs unchanged. Check that floor count remains the same. Make a separate record of the actual loaded height and the two door dimensions before deciding which equipment type to request.
Write your own input record beside this example: equipment identifier; dimension source and date; actual loaded footprint; rotation; gap; wall clearance; loaded height; result count and proof status. Retain the record with the layout.
Primary sources and scope
Hapag-Lloyd 40-foot standard: Current representative floor, door and mass data.
Hapag-Lloyd High Cube: Representative added height; the current width table and diagram differ.