How many pallets fit in a 40ft container?

A 40ft container takes 25 EUR1 pallets edge to edge and 23 once each pallet has 20 mm of play, which is where the usual "23–24" comes from. 48×40 pallets fit 18 times loaded straight and 20 with one lane turned. A high cube has the same floor but room for two 1.2 m layers: 50 EUR1 in total.

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

Ask a forwarder how many pallets go in a 40ft container and you may hear 23, 24 or 25 for EUR1 pallets and 18 or 20 for 48×40s. All of those numbers are real. They answer slightly different questions, and once you see which question each one answers, choosing the right one for a booking is easy.

EUR1: 25 at the limit, 23 with room to work

The planning floor is 12,030 × 2,350 mm, the smallest inside size published for a standard 40ft box. The best layout runs two lanes the full length: 15 pallets turned across in a 1,200 mm lane, and 10 lengthwise in the remaining 1,150 mm. That makes 25 pallets and covers 84.9% of the floor, but the turned lane uses all but 30 mm of the length.

Add 20 mm to every pallet side and the turned lane holds 14 instead of 15, the lengthwise lane 9 instead of 10. The count becomes 23. That is where the familiar "23 to 24" comes from: it is the maximum with a realistic gap, not a different floor. Loading everything lengthwise, with no plan at all, gives 20.

48×40: 18 straight, 20 mixed

Two 48×40 pallets side by side, 40 in sides across, need 2,032 mm and leave 318 mm. Nine rows of 1,219 mm fit, so straight loading gives 18. Hale Trailer's dealer guide quotes exactly that ("9 rows of 2"). The ISO table on Wikipedia gives 20, and the geometry agrees: turn one lane so its 48 in side crosses the box and it holds 11, while the other lane takes 9 straight. Here the extra room survives the 20 mm test, so 20 is also the practical figure.

All pallets in the three 40ft boxes

High cube: the same floor, twice the pallets

The 40ft high cube has exactly the same planning floor as the standard box, so every single-layer count is identical. The difference is height: 2,695 mm inside against 2,390 mm. At a 1,200 mm unit height that is two layers instead of one, 50 EUR1 pallets or 40 of the 48×40 in total. The ceiling for two layers rises from 1,195 to 1,347 mm per unit, so loads between those heights are exactly where the high cube pays for itself. The 20ft, 40ft and high cube comparison covers volume and payload.

The typical published payload is 27,600 kg for the standard box and 28,720 kg for the high cube. Over 25 EUR1 pallets that is about 1,104 kg each; double-stacked to 50 in the high cube it falls to about 574 kg per pallet. A full second layer is only possible for light goods.

The 40ft high cube reefer

Insulation takes the reefer floor down to 11,580 × 2,280 mm. EUR1 pallets lose two positions, falling to 23, while the 48×40 holds at 20 and covers 93.8% of the smaller floor. The 1165×1165 Australian pallet is the worst casualty: one across instead of two, 9 pallets. At 2,537 mm high the reefer still takes two 1.2 m layers, with a two-layer limit of 1,268 mm per unit.

Check a specific load in the load planner, or open the pages for the 40ft container, 40ft high cube and 40ft high cube reefer.

More guides: How many pallets fit in a 20ft 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? · Container weights: tare, payload and max gross · Reefer vs dry container: what the insulation costs · All guides