Sea cargo reference
40' High-Cube
About thirty centimetres more inside height. The figures below are the inside of the box, the door, and the weights.
- Internal length
- 12.024 m
- Internal width
- 2.350 m
- Internal height
- 2.697 m
- Door opening, width
- 2.340 m
- Door opening, height
- 2.597 m
- Cubic capacity
- 76 m³
- Empty weight
- 4020 kg
- Payload
- 26460 kg
How a 40' High-Cube is used
A 40' standard with roughly thirty centimetres of extra internal height. That adds around nine cubic metres through the roof, not the floor.
The extra height costs almost nothing in payload, so this is the default box when cargo fills the space before it hits the weight. For light, bulky cargo the high cube is usually cheaper per unit than the standard box.
Outside it stands nine feet six inches, not eight feet six. Check road and rail clearances on the inland legs. Not every route, bridge or tunnel will take the extra height.
Cargo it suits
How the box is made
- A welded steel frame with a corner casting on each of the eight corners. Those castings take the crane spreader, the twistlocks that hold the box to the deck, and the lashings that secure it.
- Side walls and roof are pressed from corrugated low-alloy weathering steel. The corrugation stiffens the panel. The alloy grows a protective oxide skin instead of rusting through.
- Double doors sit at one end. Vertical locking bars with cam fittings pull each door tight against the frame.
- A rubber gasket runs the full edge of the door opening and seals against driven rain and dust.
- The floor is thick marine plywood, usually film-faced, bolted to steel cross-members that carry forklift wheel loads.
- Lashing points run along the side rails and at floor level so cargo can be secured inside.
- Outside it is 2,896 mm (9 ft 6 in) tall, against 2,591 mm (8 ft 6 in) for a standard container. The extra height is in the panels. Frame, doors and floor follow the standard 40 ft build.
- Lashing rings rated to 1,000 kg sit on the front top-end rail, the bottom cross member and the corner posts.
- A recess in the floor at the front end seats the box on a gooseneck chassis. It rides lower on the road, so it can stand taller and still stay inside height limits.
- It suits light, bulky cargo and over-height pieces up to roughly 2.70 m.
Why shippers choose it
- Running costs stay low. Upkeep is mostly dents, door seals and floor boards.
- The same sealed box moves by ship, rail and road. The cargo is not handled again at each change of mode.
- Corner castings sit in the ISO positions, so any crane, spreader, chassis or railcar can take the box.
- The box is weatherproof and can be locked, which limits both moisture damage and theft.
- This is the most widely available equipment, so a booking rarely fails because no box is free.
- The frame supports itself and stacks, so a retired unit is still useful for site storage or a modular building.