How many pallets fit in a 20ft container?

A 20ft container takes 11 EUR1 pallets if you mix orientations, against 8 with every pallet lengthwise. 48×40 and 1200×1000 pallets fit 9 times, and the square 1165×1165 Australian pallet fits 10 times, covering 97.9% of the floor. Every count is a single layer: the 2,390 mm inside height has no room for a second layer of 1.2 m units.

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

A 20ft box is the container most small exporters book, and its floor is awkward for pallets. The smallest inside size any of our sources publishes is 5,897 × 2,350 mm, and neither side is a neat multiple of the common pallet sizes. That is why the answer changes so much from one pallet to the next, and why the way you turn them matters more here than in any longer box.

EUR1 pallets: eight, seven or eleven

Load EUR1 pallets the obvious way, long side along the container, and two fit across with 750 mm spare: 4 rows, 8 pallets. Turn them all across and only one fits in the width, so you get 7. Neither is the best answer.

The best layout splits the floor into two lanes. One lane is 1,200 mm wide and takes 7 pallets turned across, each using 800 mm of length. The other lane, 1,150 mm wide, takes 4 pallets lengthwise. That is 11 pallets, 76.2% of the floor, and it still holds at 11 when every pallet is given 20 mm of extra room on each side.

Some loading tables give ten EUR1 pallets for a 20ft box. That count matches neither simple pattern, and the mixed layout reaches 11 with handling room to spare, so a plan built on ten leaves a position empty for no reason.

Every pallet in the dry box and the reefer

The 48×40 and the 1200×1000 both come out at 9. For the 48×40 the fit is tight: the best layout leaves just 5 mm of length at the doors. Read the 1200×1000 figure for the EUR2 and EUR3 as well, since they share its footprint.

The square Australian pallet: perfect on paper

Two 1165 mm pallets side by side need 2,330 mm, leaving 20 mm of the width, and five rows use 5,825 of the 5,897 mm length. The result is 10 pallets covering 97.9% of the floor, the closest fit of any pallet in this box. The catch is the margin. Give each pallet 20 mm of play and two no longer fit across, and the count collapses to 4. In practice that means the load either goes in with no clearance at all or does not go in as planned, so check the actual box before you build a shipment around it.

What the reefer costs

A 20ft reefer is 457 mm shorter and 62 mm narrower inside, and it never fits more of any pallet than the dry box. EUR1 drops from 11 to 10. The square Australian pallet suffers most: at 2,288 mm the reefer is too narrow for two across, so only 4 fit. Five of the 12 pallet types keep the same count in both boxes, among them the 48×40. More on the insulation penalty is in reefer vs dry containers.

One layer, and what each position may weigh

With the 1,200 mm unit height used throughout, the 2,390 mm inside height of the dry box takes a single layer. Two layers fit only while each loaded pallet stays at or under 1,195 mm; in the reefer the limit is 1,131 mm. The double-stacking guide lists that limit for every closed unit.

The typical published payload of a 20ft dry box is 28,330 kg. Spread over 11 EUR1 pallets that is about 2,575 kg per position; over nine 48×40 pallets it is about 3,147 kg. This is plain division, not a loading limit: weight has to be spread along the floor, and a dense cargo can reach the payload long before the floor is full.

Try your own pallet and unit height in the load planner, or see the full specification of the 20ft container and the 20ft reefer.

More guides: How many pallets fit in a 40ft container? · How many pallets fit in a 53 ft trailer? · How many pallets fit on a European truck? · How many pallets fit in a 26 ft box truck? · How many pallets fit on a flatbed or step deck? · Shipping container door dimensions · Container weights: tare, payload and max gross · All guides