Intermodal Container Sea Freight

20 feet container from China, 40 feet container from Asia, 40HC container from India are some of the requests we hear everyday. We spend a lot of time explaining to many of our new clients what the various names of the containers mean and their sizes and dimensions.

Importing container from Asia to Europe is extremely easy. However, several importers and businesses face difficulties without proper knowledge and information. This blog post will help you understand the various intermodal container sizes and their dimensions. We should already warn you that there are several specialized containers for various goods. We will discuss the major container sizes that are used by over 90% of businesses everyday.

A standardized shipping container is also known as an intermodal container. These containers are designed and built for transport on various modes of transport. You can put these containers on a ship from China to Hamburg, you can then put the container on rail to France, and finally put it on a truck to head to your warehouse somewhere in Luxembourg. You do not have to unload or reload their cargo as their shape and size is consistent across the globe and designed for intermodal transport. Cargo container, freight container, ISO container, ocean container, sea container are one and mean the same but various names are used by various companies or individuals. Majority of these containers are dry freight or general purpose containers which are basically durable metal boxes.

The basic containers that any importer is usually using are 20 feet or 40 feet containers. The other two popular containers are 40 feet high cube or 45 feet high cube container. If you are not already having an aha! moment, our company name is derived from the largest size container available for dry freight, the 45HC or 45 feet high cube container.

Since these containers have standard sizes, it is easy for importers and freight forwarders to stack, move and put them in perfect Tetris type formation on ships, dock yards and warehouses. The dimensions, size and permissible weights of freight containers are largely determined by two ISO standards. ISO 668:2013 Series 1 freight containers for classification, dimensions and ratings. The other ISO 1496-1:2013 series 1 freight containers for specification and testing.

Containers are usually transported by container ships, trucks and freight trains and no special modifications have to be done to them as they move between the various transport. Every container is marked with an unique BIC code. The code can be founded on the outside for identification and tracking. On 45HC.com we offer track and trace for all containers booked 24/7 on our platform, so always know where your container is.

You can refer to the chart below for further information about the various container types and their dimensions.

		20’ Container		40’ Container		40’ High cube container		45’ High cube container
		US	Intl.	US	Intl.	US	Intl.	US	Intl.
External Dimensions	length	19′ 10.5″	6.058 m	40′ 0″	12.192 m	40′ 0″	12.192 m	45′ 0″	13.716 m
	width	8′ 0″	2.438 m	8′ 0″	2.438 m	8′ 0″	2.438 m	8′ 0″	2.438 m
	height	8′ 6″	2.591 m	8′ 6″	2.591 m	9′ 6″	2.896 m	9′ 6″	2.896 m
Maximum Gross Weight		66,139 lb	30,400 kg	66,139 lb	30,400 kg	68,008 lb	30,848 kg	66,139 lb	30,400 kg
Empty Weight		4,850 lb	2,200 kg	8,380 lb	3,800 kg	8,598 lb	3,900 kg	10,580 lb	4,800 kg
Net Load		61,289 lb	28,200 kg	57,759 lb	26,200 kg	58,598 lb	26,580 kg	55,559 lb	25,600 kg

Still have questions? Mail us at info@45hc.com anytime.