Twenty-foot equivalent unit - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The twenty-foot equivalent unit (often TEU or teu) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity often used to describe the capacity of container ship

Container ship

Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.-History:...

s and container terminal

Container terminal

A container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example trains or trucks, in which case the terminal is described as a maritime...

s. It is based on the volume of a 20 feet (6.1 m) intermodal container

Intermodal container

An intermodal container is a standardized reusable steel box used for the safe, efficient and secure storage and movement of materials and products within a global containerized intermodal freight transport system...

, a standard-sized metal box which can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains and trucks.

One TEU represents the cargo capacity of a standard intermodal container

Intermodal container

, 20 feet (6.1 m) long and 8 feet (2.44 m) wide. There is a lack of standardisation in regards to height, ranging between 4.25 and 9.5 ft (1.3 and 2.9 m), with the most common height being 8.5 feet (2.6 m). Also, it is common to designate 45 feet (13.7 m) containers as 2 TEU, rather than 2.25 TEU.

Equivalence

TEU capacities for common container sizes
Length	Width	Height	Volume	TEU
20 ft (6.1 m)	8 ft (2.44 m)	8.5 ft (2.6 m)	1360 cu ft (38.5 m³)	1
40 ft (12.2 m)	8 ft (2.44 m)	8.5 ft (2.6 m)	2720 cu ft (77 m³)	2
45 ft (13.7 m)	8 ft (2.44 m)	8.5 ft (2.6 m)	3060 cu ft (86.6 m³)	2 or 2.25
48 ft (14.6 m)	8 ft (2.44 m)	8.5 ft (2.6 m)	3264 cu ft (92.4 m³)	2.4
53 ft (16.2 m)	8 ft (2.44 m)	8.5 ft (2.6 m)	3604 cu ft (102.1 m³)	2.65
High cube
20 ft (6.1 m)	8 ft (2.44 m)	9.5 ft (2.9 m)	1520 cu ft (43 m³)	1
Half height
20 ft (6.1 m)	8 ft (2.44 m)	4.25 ft (1.3 m)	680 cu ft (19.3 m³)	1

As noted above, the TEU is an inexact unit, and hence cannot be converted precisely into other units. The related unit forty-foot equivalent unit (often FEU or feu) however is defined as two TEU. The most common dimensions for a 20 feet (6.1 m) container are 20 feet (6.1 m) long, 8 feet (2.44 m) wide, and 8.5 feet (2.6 m) high, for a volume of 1360 cubic feet (38.5 m³). However, both 9.5 feet (2.9 m) High cube and 4.25 feet (1.3 m) half height containers are also reckoned as 1 TEU. This gives a volume range of 680 to 1520 cu ft (19.3 to 43 m3) for one TEU.

While the TEU is not itself a measure of mass, some conclusions can be drawn about the maximum mass that a TEU can represent. The maximum gross mass for a 20 feet (6.1 m) dry cargo container is 24000 kilograms (52,910.9 lb). Subtracting the tare mass

Tare weight

Tare , from the Middle French word tare "wastage in goods, deficiency, imperfection" , from Italian tara, from Arabic tarah, lit. "thing deducted or rejected," from taraha "to reject" weight, sometimes called unladen weight, is the weight of an empty vehicle or container...

of the container itself, the maximum amount of cargo per TEU is reduced to approximately 21600 kilograms (47,619.8 lb).
Similarly, the maximum gross mass for a 40 feet (12.2 m) dry cargo container (including the 9.5 feet (2.9 m) cube container) is 30480 kilograms (67,196.9 lb). After correcting for tare weight, this gives a cargo capacity of 26500 kilograms (58,422.5 lb).

Twenty-foot, "heavy tested" containers are available for heavy goods such as heavy machinery. These containers allow a maximum weight of 67200 pounds (30,481.4 kg), an empty weight of 5290 pounds (2,399.5 kg), and a net load of 61910 pounds (28,081.9 kg).

Equivalence

See also