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TEU shipping: What TEU Means, Containers And Capacity

Before choosing transportation for your shipment, shipping capacity is a vital factor you should consider. In container shipping, the standard size used is Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU). So on this page, let’s explore TEU’s meaning in shipping, how it works, and where to get the best TEU container shipping.

What is TEU shipping?

TEU shipping containers, also known as intermodal shipping containers, are used spreadly as a unit of measurement for overseas shipping. A TEU container’s standard dimension (L x B x H) is 20ft x 8ft x 8ft, and it generally can hold 9 to 11 pallets and weigh around 8,000 pounds.

Typically, TEU container shipping carries out via ocean freight and plays a central role in international trade and e-commerce. According to Statista research, the combined capacity of TEU container ships worldwide came to around 25 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2021. It is projected that TEU capacity will continue to grow in the following years, reaching a year-on-year growth rate of 3 percent in 2023 and 7.7 percent in 2024.

Why is it necessary to learn TEU?

First, TEU is the most commonly used measurement of container capacity in the shipping market. So when negotiating the shipping capacity with carriers or freight forwarders in the industry, it’s critical to understand what TEU is and how it works.

Second, the TEU container is a good metric for container shipping size. It can help you compare the different ships or evaluate routes before starting transportation.

Finally, TEU shipping is always used to calculate the cost of shipping containers, so it is essential to understand TEU when budgeting for shipping costs. For these reasons, it is necessary to familiarize TEU shipping containers. Look through the below article and get more detailed information.

teu shipping

How is the TEU shipping container used?

TEU freight is commonly used to determine cargo capacity on container shipping vessels and measure the terminals and port activity, involving throughput and efficiency. It aims to provide exhaustive information about how much cargo is going through the port, especially when transporting heavy machinery, building materials, etc.

For each TEU port’s statistics report, the twenty-foot equivalent unit is always the criterion unit of measurement. You can use various shipping units to scale the size of the port and the value of cargo handled per year.

But not all units reflect the volume of the container port, which is where TEU comes in. For example, we can say that the port of Los Angeles, the largest port in the US, For example, we can say that the port of Los Angeles, the largest port in the US, has over 9 million TEU containers trade volumes.

What is the TEU capacity in shipping?

A TEU shipping container has a containment of 28-29CBM that can fit cargo up to 19ft in length, 7ft in width, and 7ft in height. But you should notice that a TEU container only has a door height of 7 feet. If your goods are over than and can not be collapsible, it may be hard to take them into the container.

In addition, the shipping TEU corresponds to the transporting vessel’s containment and size. So the classification of the ships can be based on their capacity for the twenty-foot equivalent unit. Such as Ultra Large Container Vessels(ULCV) support TEU containers capacity of 14,500 TEU and above. The small feeder is always up to 1000 TEU capacity or less.

Besides ULCV and small feeders, there are still feeders with 1,000 to 2,000 TEU and Feedermax with 2,000 to 3,000 TEU containers size. The more large-scale and common type of ship is called a Panamax vessel which has TEU shipping containers between 3,000 to 14,500. Look for more TEU containers that meet your need, click the below button, and get in touch with Airsupply right now!

How to calculate TEU for a container?

Generally speaking, a container capacity ship is measured in twenty-foot equivalent units that refer to the length of a twenty-foot container. It means a twenty-foot container as 1 TEU. To calculate how many TEUs are in a container, you can divide the actual length in feet of the shipping container by twenty.

Thereby, how many TEUs are in a 40-container?

As well as the 20ft containers, the shipping market also uses 40ft lengths standard containers known as FEU. Combined with the above calculating formula, a 40ft container will be 2TEU.

What is the difference between TEU and FEU?

Contrasted by TEU shipping, a forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU) is a measurement unit of 40-foot-long containers. Though both TEU and FEU shipping describes the capacity of a shipping container, it still has differences.

TEU is used to describe a 20ft container, while FEU describes a 40ft container. Furthermore, TEU is the minimum unit size of a shipping container. An FEU can consider as 2 TEUs that outer dimensions (L x W x T) is 40 x 8 x 8ft. It usually can take 20-24 pallets. 

Where to get the best TEU container shipping?

Want to find the perfect TEU container to ship your cargo? Airsupply Logistics supports you with various types of container shipping. It provides a platform where you can integrate with renowned companies such as Maersk and COSCO TEU shipping in the industry.

Airsupply is one of the leading companies enabling you to lease or buy TEU containers worldwide seamlessly. All you need is to convey your requirements and get support from ASL official team. After gaining the shipping information they need, it will arrange the TEU shipping solution that suits you the best.

Below are the extra prime services:

  • Basic logistic services fit your needs

  • Charter flights that can reduce your shipping cost

  • E-commerce shipping like Amazon FBA shipping

  • One-stop custom clearance and delivery

  • Repackage and relabel warehousing service

  • Safe dangerous goods shipping

For more professional service, please feel free to contact Airsupply and get a free quote!

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