20ft Container Load Calculator
Work out how many 1200 x 1000 mm pallets or boxes fit on the floor of a standard 20ft dry container, with floor utilisation and a load diagram.
How the 20ft fit is calculated
A standard 20ft dry container has a usable interior of 5898 x 2352 x 2393 mm and a maximum payload near 28,200 kg. The calculator divides that floor into whole footprints of the item you load, keeping a single orientation per pass:
`` along length = floor(5898 / item length) across width = floor(2352 / item width) floor count = along length x across width ``
It then runs the same division with the footprint rotated 90 degrees and keeps the larger of the two results. Floor utilisation is the area the items cover divided by the full floor area (5898 x 2352 mm = 13.87 m2). Stack count multiplies the floor count by floor(2393 / stack height).
Worked example (page defaults)
The defaults are a 1200 x 1000 mm industrial pallet, 1150 mm tall when loaded.
- Along length:
floor(5898 / 1200) = 4 - Across width:
floor(2352 / 1000) = 2 - Floor count: 4 x 2 = 8 pallets
- Floor utilisation:
8 x 1.20 x 1.00 / 13.87 = 69.2% - Height layers:
floor(2393 / 1150) = 2, so up to 16 pallets if goods are stackable
Rotating the footprint (1000 along length, 1200 across) yields floor(5898/1000)=5 by floor(2352/1200)=1, only 5, so the calculator keeps the 8-pallet layout. Real loads often reach 10 by mixing orientations across the width; this single-orientation figure is the conservative, guaranteed fit.
20ft interior reference
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Usable length | 5898 mm |
| Usable width | 2352 mm |
| Usable height | 2393 mm |
| Floor area | 13.87 m2 |
| Internal volume | ~33.2 CBM |
| Max payload | ~28,200 kg |
Common footprints in a 20ft, single orientation, floor only:
| Pallet | Footprint | Floor count |
|---|---|---|
| Industrial / EUR 2 | 1200 x 1000 mm | 8 |
| Euro / EPAL 1 | 1200 x 800 mm | 8 |
| GMA | 1219 x 1016 mm | 8 |
This tool models footprint fit and stacking only; it does not plan weight distribution or partial top layers. To compare the 20ft against a longer box, use the 40ft container load calculator, and to estimate the cubic volume of your cargo first, use the CBM calculator. For a pallet-count cross-check see pallets in a 20ft container.