standard 40-foot ocean container specifications
inside dimensions:
39-feet, 3/8-th of an inch - long
by 7-feet, 8 and 3/8-th inches - wide
by 7-feet, 9 and 5/8-th inches - high
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Similar to: How big is a hole? It really depends. What kind of container is it? A single card-board box is called "a container". A milk carton is also called "a container". So, to avoid confusion, let's review some basics. Steel ocean shipping containers come in several sizes and types. If you are moving overseas and plan to include your furniture, lets keep things simple - and think mainly in terms of 20-foot and 40-foot standard ocean containers. In terms of shipping household goods and personal effects, a 20-foot container is pretty big. Outside, it's about 8-feet wide by 8-feet high by 20-feet long, and it comes to you already on a chassis with wheels. This chassis raises the container up about 4 feet up, off the ground. 
It comes attached to a tractor in the front, with a trucker driving it. He's the guy that picks the container up at the port container yard, and brings it back to the pier after it's been loaded and sealed. Container truckers do not get involved with labor, nor extraneous paperwork - not directly related to his specific task. Containers show up empty. No cartons, no ramps. If you want movers and packing materials, they are separate from the container. So, how about if you are moving your entire household overseas? A 20-ft container can hold the contents of a typical medium sized apartment. That includes the typical amount of boxes used to hold all the various personal effects belonging to a pair of adults and perhaps a child: a lot of books, clothes, dishes, pictures, pillows, rugs extra "stuff" already stored in cartons, and so on... -- let's say, regarding all those miscellaneous cartons of personal effects, this could be / may be / might be... quite "liberally" estimated ... to take up around 300-cubic feet. 
"liberal containers..." Since a standard 20-ft ocean container can hold over 1,050 - cubic feet of volume, this would mean there would still be a lot of room left over inside that 20-ft container, for furniture.
This is just to give you a good idea regarding how much "stuff" you can actually load and fit into your container, when moving overseas. The actual volume of household goods that can be loaded into a container will vary, depending on how good of a "fit" one can achieve inside the container. Things tend to fit in, like a "jigsaw puzzle". The total weight can also vary. A full 20-ft container can hold an average weight of approx. 6,000-lbs worth of goods, although if your goods are dense and tightly packed, the overall weight can exceed 7200-lbs. Pointer to remember: Usually professional "origin" export packers/movers will base their charges on either the weight or the measure of the goods, whichever is higher. If you have excessively heavy items, inquire as to extra changes for origin packing/handling. But if you pack and load the goods yourself, then the weight is not really relevant. If you do the work to pack and load it yourself- and if it can fit into the container, then it can go. Learn more about origin packing services, here: www.sefco-export.com/origin.htm A standard 40-foot ocean container (pictured at the top of this page) is twice as long as the standard 20-foot container. That means twice the internal volume, as well. That means you can fit a very big "average household" into a 40-foot container. If your home has "quite a few" rooms of furniture... ...and storage goods, and new purchases such as large appliances, bath fixtures, extra sets of mattresses, large trunks, a large amount of china... ... a grand piano (specially crated), artwork also specially crated.... THEN... ...quite possibly you may need to use multiple containers. IF... ...you have such a move and will need good quality "origin packing" by professional export packers/movers... THEN, by all means... ...please feel free to contact us. Sefco Export Management Company, Inc. can provide you with high quality origin/export packing services. Our export packers can come into your home and take care of the entire job. If you have the budget for it: Professional movers, including all materials, special export crating and handling... ...our designated Sefco packing agents will physically pack your delicate items into special dishpacks, linen cartons, book cartons and wardrobe cartons. They inventory everything and load the goods into the container, typically right in front of your home. If there is difficult access to your pickup residence, sometimes the goods will first need to be loaded into our packers moving truck, trucked back to our packers "home base" warehouse, and then loaded into the ocean container there - "off site". We always prefer to load our containers right in front of the pickup residence - "on site". This allows you to avoid otherwise unnecessary double handling and extra trucking costs. Load it once - into the container, in front or your door... ...and unload it once - out from the container, at your overseas address... this is what is best. |
For further guidance and advice
to help you figure out
how much volume you have...
Please go to: www.sefco-export.com/cubesheet.htm
Learn more: www.sefco-export.com/about-volume.htm
Want to learn more about container shipping?
Please have a look at our www.sefco-export.com/fclfactsheet.htm
Do you have a much smaller load to be shipped?
Read our advice on sending
LCL - "less than container-loads":
Please go to: www.sefco-export.com/lcladvice.htm
and www.sefco-export.com/lclfactsheet.htm
and www.sefco-export.com/lcltips.htm
Need a shipping rate?
Please go to www.sefco-export.com/form.htm
Would you like to proceed?
Please go to www.sefco-export.com/toproceed.htm
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