45ft high cube vs 45ft pallet-wide container

The 45ft pallet-wide container is 91 mm wider inside than the ordinary 45ft high cube, on the same length. That takes the floor from 27 to 33 EUR1 pallets and from 24 to 26 1200×1000 pallets, the counts DP World publishes for its boxes.

By Oliver Bennett · Published 29 October 2026 · Data as of 27 October 2026, from spec sheets retrieved that day

Two 45ft containers share a length and a height but are built for different markets. The ordinary 45ft high cube is a stretched 40ft high cube with ISO's standard 8 ft outside width. The pallet-wide version, used mainly within Europe, is built a little wider so that European pallets fit the way they do on a truck.

The two boxes in numbers

The pallet-wide box is 62 mm wider outside, at 2,500 mm, against the ISO width of 2,438 mm. Inside, the extra width shows as 91 mm more between the walls. Its published outside length differs between the two sources, 13,600 mm and 13,716 mm.

Weight runs against intuition. The pallet-wide sheets give a lighter typical tare, 4,500 kg against 4,735 kg, and a higher gross rating, so the typical payload is 1,400 kg higher. Both ranges are narrow and come from few sources, so a particular box can differ.

What the width buys

Every gain on the pallet-wide floor comes from one dimension: both boxes have the same 13,556 mm planning length, and only the width changes, from 2,350 mm to 2,440 mm.

The British and Asian 1200×1000 pallet shows it best. In the ordinary 45ft box it fits 24 times; the width is 50 mm short of two 1,200 mm sides, so the pallets cannot all be turned across. With 2,440 mm the pallet-wide floor takes two across with 40 mm to spare, and the count rises to 26. The EUR1 moves from 27 to 33, as set out in the EUR1 vs 48×40 comparison.

The square pallets gain nothing: 1165×1165 (AU), 1100×1100, 1067×1067, CP3 keep the same count in both boxes, because two of them across fit in the ordinary width already and a third does not fit in either. The biggest gain in pallets is the 600×400 quarter pallet, 12 more places, because small pieces find a use for every extra centimetre.

Checked against DP World

DP World publishes counts for its own pallet-wide boxes, and both line up with the computed maximum: 33 for the EUR1 and 26 for the 1200×1000. The margin is thin for the EUR1. With 20 mm of play per pallet side the count falls to 32, while the 1200×1000 count holds at 26. Three EUR1 lengthwise across use 2,400 mm of the 2,440 mm width, leaving 40 mm for the whole row.

A container that loads like a trailer

The pallet-wide box is designed to swap cargo with the European 13.6 m trailer, and the numbers show how close it gets. Its floor is 64 mm shorter and 40 mm narrower than the curtainsider's, yet eight of the 11 pallets fit the same number of times on both. No pallet does better in the container than on the trailer. A load planned for one can usually go in the other without being rebuilt.

Height

Both boxes are high cubes, with smallest published inside heights of 2,697 mm and 2,694 mm. At a 1,200 mm unit height each takes two layers: 54 EUR1 in the ordinary box and 66 in the pallet-wide one. Try other heights in the load planner.

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