Shipping containers, no matter where you find them in the world, are designed and built to standard sizes. This makes packing them with goods, loading them on ships, and transporting them around the world incredible efficient. More specifically, container manufacturers adhere to ISO (International Standards Organization) regulations with respect to size, materials, and production processes. That being said, there are some variations that you’ll find in the market place.

When discussing shipping containers, the primary metric used is the length, specifically the external length. The primary sizes of containers used in shipping are either 20ft or 40ft long. Once the length is determined, the second metric is the height of the shipping container. Originally, containers were manufactured to be 8’ 6” tall. However, in recent years many shipping lines have opted to transport with taller containers called “high cubes”. High cubes are one foot taller, making them 9’ 6”. The width is the one measurement that remains relatively constant at 8ft. The only variation in width is with some European containers that are 2.5 meters wide.

Weight capacity of shipping containers is also standardized, while allowing variations related to the length.

Read more about shipping container weights and payloads.