20ft vs 40ft vs 40ft high cube containers

A 40ft container has 2.04 times the floor of a 20ft but takes more than twice as many of most pallets: 25 EUR1 against 11. The 40ft high cube has exactly the same floor as the standard 40ft, so floor counts are identical; what it adds is 306 mm of inside height, enough for two layers of pallets up to 1,347 mm tall instead of 1,195 mm.

By Oliver Bennett · Published 27 October 2026 · Data as of 27 October 2026, from spec sheets retrieved that day

These are the three dry containers most people choose between, and they are usually compared by volume. For pallets the floor matters more than the volume, and the floor is where the 20ft loses out.

The dimensions side by side

The high cube is 12 in taller outside (2,896 mm against 2,591 mm), and inside that turns into 306 mm more height and 8.7 m³ more volume. Length and width are the same as the standard 40ft. The door is 305 mm taller.

Payload does not follow size. The typical published payload is 28,330 kg for the 20ft, 27,600 kg for the 40ft and 28,720 kg for the high cube. The 40ft box weighs 3,695 kg empty against 2,150 kg for the 20ft. Both have the same typical maximum gross of 30,480 kg, and the heavier box has the lower payload.

How many pallets each one takes

The 40ft floor is 2.04 times the 20ft floor, yet for 9 of the 12 pallet types the count grows by more than that. The reason is the 20ft length: 5,897 mm leaves awkward gaps for most pallets, and a longer floor gives a layout more room to mix rows and recover them. On average the best layout covers 84.4% of a 20ft floor and 91.0% of a 40ft floor.

The EUR1 shows the effect clearly: 11 in a 20ft (76.2% of the floor) and 25 in a 40ft (84.9%). The Australian 1165×1165 pallet is the outlier the other way. Two of them across need 2,330 mm of the 2,350 mm width, and five rows need 5,825 mm of the 5,897 mm length, so the 20ft is almost a made-to-measure box for it: 10 pallets and 97.9% of the floor.

What the high cube adds: a second layer

On the floor the high cube adds nothing. Its value for pallets is height. Taking the smallest published inside heights, the standard boxes give 2,390 mm and the high cube 2,695 mm. With the 1,200 mm unit height used on PalletSpec's load plans, that is 1 layer in the 20ft and 40ft and 2 layers in the high cube.

Put the other way, two layers fit in a standard box only while each loaded pallet stays at or under 1,195 mm; in the high cube the limit is 1,347 mm. If your loads sit between those two figures, the high cube doubles the number of pallets for the same floor. Whether the goods can be stacked at all is a question for the shipper, not a geometry one.

At a 1,300 mm unit height the difference is stark. A 20ft container still takes 11 EUR1 pallets and a 40ft 25, because neither has room for a second layer, while the high cube takes 50.

Volume and weight per TEU

Container capacity is often quoted per TEU, the twenty-foot equivalent unit, so that a 40ft box counts as two. On that basis the 20ft and 40ft are close in volume: 33.2 and 33.9 m³ per TEU. The high cube gives 38.2 m³. Payload per TEU is a different story: 28,330 kg for the 20ft against 13,800 kg for the 40ft and 14,360 kg for the high cube. If the full volume were filled evenly, the published payload would allow about 853 kg per cubic metre in the 20ft and 408 kg in the 40ft. The 20ft box gives up volume and floor efficiency, but it carries more weight for its size than either 40ft box.

Doors

All three have a door opening 2,340 mm wide, 10 mm narrower than the typical inside width. That is wider than any pallet in the data turned either way, so the door does not limit the floor plan. The height of the opening does matter for tall loads: 2,280 mm on the standard boxes and 2,585 mm on the high cube.

Try your own unit height in the load planner, or read the full pages for the 20ft, 40ft and 40ft high cube.

More guides: EUR1 vs 48×40 pallets: which fits more? · Why some pallet and container pairs waste floor space · Pallet sizes by region · European vs North American trailers · How to use the pallet load planner