How many units fit in your container?
Enter your cargo's length, width, height and weight, pick a container, and see exactly how many fit - rendered in 3D.
Cargo Planner load planning software has been a great fit for our international container shipping operation's needs. We find the program to be very simple, customizable, and easy to use. The developers are extremely helpful and supportive when addressing our specific needs.
Brian Winkelman | International Operations Manager, La-Z-Boy Inc
Mixed containers
Prioritize Center of Gravity
Load on Flat racks
Load on Open tops
Load with pallets
You can even load "out of gauge" cargoes on pallets.
Breakbulk vessels
Utilize containers better and plan faster
Cargo-planners benefits are accessible at first use and allows you to
Save money
Load more cargoes in your containers and increase efficiency.
Save time
Thousands of cargoes, multiple containers - it usually takes a few seconds to create your load plan
Gain Clarity
With our 3D-visualizations, you and your stakeholders can see, edit and share clear information.
Save environment
Reduce the number of trucks used to ship your boxes - a direct positive impact on the environment
Planning and coordination from the start to the end of the project! In order to determine the required shipping space and/or container requirements for our projects as precisely as possible in advance, we have been successfully using Cargo-Planner for many years.
Philipp-Christopher Ebbo Schopnie, Branch Manager, EMS Log GmbH
What is container loading?
Container loading is the process of deciding how a shipment is arranged inside a shipping container: which cargo goes in which container, where each item sits, which way round it faces, and what stacks on top of what. Done well, it fills the container to the limit that actually binds - volume, payload, or the door opening - while keeping the load stable enough to survive the voyage. Done badly, it ships air, or it ships damage.
A container loading calculator turns that from a judgement call into a computation. You give it your cargo list and your available equipment, and it returns a load plan: a 3D arrangement, a container count, and step-by-step instructions the people doing the physical stuffing can follow.
The three limits that decide a load
Almost every container ships out constrained by one of three things, and knowing which one is binding tells you what to change.
Volume
The container runs out of space before it runs out of weight. Typical for light, bulky goods - furniture, packaging, empty containers-within-containers. The lever here is geometry: better orientation, tighter stacking, or a taller high-cube container.
Payload
The container hits its maximum weight with space to spare. Typical for dense cargo - machinery, liquids, tiles, paper. Adding volume-efficiency gains you nothing; the answer is usually splitting the load across more containers, or moving to equipment with a higher payload rating.
The door opening
The most commonly missed one. A container's door is smaller than its interior, so cargo that fits inside on paper may not be able to get in. Over-height or over-width pieces need an open top or a flat rack, where the cargo is loaded from above or from the side instead of through the doors.
Why stability matters as much as fit
A container that is packed full but badly balanced is a problem in transit. Weight concentrated at one end shifts the centre of gravity away from the middle, which affects how the container behaves when it is lifted by crane, sits on a chassis, and is stacked on a vessel. Some ports and carriers will refuse a container whose centre of gravity is too far off-centre.
The same applies inside the load. Heavy items belong at the bottom, lighter items on top, and cargo that cannot take weight on it needs to be marked as such so nothing gets stacked onto it. These are constraints a spreadsheet cannot check for you and a person doing it by eye will eventually get wrong on a busy day.
Cargo-Planner applies all of this automatically - it keeps the centre of gravity within tolerance, respects stacking and orientation rules per item, and checks that everything it loads can physically get through the door of the container it assigned it to.
Shipping container dimensions
Internal dimensions, capacity and maximum payload for the container types used in most sea freight. These are the same figures Cargo-Planner loads against, taken from our equipment library - so a load plan you build uses exactly the numbers you see here.
Internal dimensions vary between manufacturers and build years. Treat these as the standard values to plan with, and check the container's CSC plate when a few centimetres decide whether the cargo fits.
Standard dry containers
The general-purpose boxes that carry the majority of containerised freight.
| Container | Internal L × W × H | Capacity | Max payload |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20ft DV | 5.85 × 2.35 × 2.40 m 19.2 × 7.7 × 7.9 ft | 32.9 m³ 1,163 ft³ | 20,000 kg 44,092 lbs |
| 40ft DV | 12.03 × 2.35 × 2.40 m 39.5 × 7.7 × 7.9 ft | 67.7 m³ 2,391 ft³ | 22,000 kg 48,502 lbs |
| 40ft HC | 12.03 × 2.35 × 2.70 m 39.5 × 7.7 × 8.9 ft | 76.3 m³ 2,696 ft³ | 25,000 kg 55,115 lbs |
| 45ft HC | 13.56 × 2.35 × 2.70 m 44.5 × 7.7 × 8.9 ft | 86.1 m³ 3,040 ft³ | 26,000 kg 57,320 lbs |
Refrigerated (reefer) containers
Insulation and the cooling unit cost internal space - a reefer is always smaller inside than the dry container it is derived from.
| Container | Internal L × W × H | Capacity | Max payload |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20ft RF | 5.45 × 2.28 × 2.16 m 17.9 × 7.5 × 7.1 ft | 26.8 m³ 947 ft³ | 22,000 kg 48,502 lbs |
| 40ft RF | 11.56 × 2.28 × 2.25 m 37.9 × 7.5 × 7.4 ft | 59.3 m³ 2,094 ft³ | 27,700 kg 61,068 lbs |
| 40ft RF HC | 11.59 × 2.29 × 2.42 m 38.0 × 7.5 × 8.0 ft | 64.4 m³ 2,273 ft³ | 29,400 kg 64,816 lbs |
Open top and flat rack
For cargo that is too tall or too wide to go through a standard container door.
| Container | Internal L × W × H | Capacity | Max payload |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20ft OT | 5.89 × 2.35 × 2.38 m 19.3 × 7.7 × 7.8 ft | 33.0 m³ 1,164 ft³ | 28,000 kg 61,729 lbs |
| 40ft OT | 12.03 × 2.35 × 2.38 m 39.5 × 7.7 × 7.8 ft | 67.3 m³ 2,376 ft³ | 22,000 kg 48,502 lbs |
| 40ft OT HC | 12.03 × 2.35 × 2.68 m 39.5 × 7.7 × 8.8 ft | 75.8 m³ 2,678 ft³ | 22,000 kg 48,502 lbs |
| 20ft FR | 6.04 × 2.44 × 2.23 m 19.8 × 8.0 × 7.3 ft | 32.8 m³ 1,159 ft³ | 42,000 kg 92,594 lbs |
| 40ft FR | 12.05 × 2.44 × 2.23 m 39.5 × 8.0 × 7.3 ft | 65.5 m³ 2,313 ft³ | 40,000 kg 88,185 lbs |
| 40ft PL | 12.20 × 2.35 m 40.0 × 7.7 ft | — | 49,000 kg 108,026 lbs |
Need a size that isn't listed - a 53ft rail container, a roll trailer, or your own custom box? The full equipment library has every type Cargo-Planner ships with, and you can build your own container when your equipment doesn't match a standard.