45 ft high cube
45 ft high cube container calculator
The container built to match a European trailer. Internal dimensions for the 45 ft high cube, the pallet count that makes it useful, and a 3D plan for your cargo — the planner below opens on a 45 ft HC.
Free, and you can run one calculation before signing in at all.
The short answer
27 euro pallets or 24 industrial on the floor. 86 m³, about 25.7 tonnes.
Single tier, no overhang. The pallet-wide variant takes 33 euro pallets.
A 45 ft high cube is 13.56 m long inside, which is the floor of a 13.6 m semi-trailer, and the pallet-wide version takes the same 33 euro pallets a trailer does. That is the whole point of the size: short-sea and intermodal freight that would otherwise move on a trailer, loaded once. Payload is the lowest of the dry boxes at about 25.7 tonnes, because the box itself is heavier.
45 ft dimensions, and what it replaces
The 45 ft high cube and its pallet-wide variant, against the 40 ft high cube below it and the 13.6 m trailer it competes with.
| Container | Internal L × W × H | Pallets, one tier (euro · industrial) | Payload · volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 ft high cube | 13.56 × 2.35 × 2.69 m | 27 · 24 | ~25,700 kg · 86 m³ |
| 45 ft pallet-wide high cube | 13.56 × 2.44 × 2.69 m | 33 · 26 | ~25,500 kg · 89 m³ |
| 40 ft high cube, for comparison | 12.03 × 2.35 × 2.69 m | 25 · 21 | ~26,500 kg · 76 m³ |
| EU 13.6 m trailer, for comparison | 13.62 × 2.48 × 2.70 m | 33 · 26 | ~24,000 kg · 91 m³ |
Nominal figures. Pallet-wide boxes are 2.44 m inside and take two euro pallets across; standard-width boxes do not. Measure the allocated box before planning to the centimetre.
Pack a 45 ft high cube
The planner is already set to a 45 ft high cube. Enter your cartons or pallets — or describe the shipment — and it places every piece, reports the fill, and says what did not fit.
This is the planner itself, not a demo. Enter your own cargo and it packs it — the figures above are the starting point, not the answer for your load.
What changes the answer
Four reasons the floor count on a 45 ft is a starting point rather than an answer.
- Volume is not capacity
- 68 m³ of box holds far less than 68 m³ of cartons. Rows that do not divide the width evenly, the gap above the top tier and odd sizes at the end take 10–25% on a good day. The fill percentage the planner reports is the honest figure.
- Road limits arrive before the rating
- A 40 ft may be rated for 26.7 tonnes, but the truck collecting it may not be: many European routes cap the loaded box plus chassis at 40–44 tonnes gross, and US roads at 80,000 lb. Plan to the tightest leg, not to the plate on the door.
- Overhang
- Cargo that extends past the pallet edge changes the footprint the trailer sees. A few centimetres per pallet is what turns 33 into 30, and it is the single most common reason a published count does not survive contact with real cargo.
- What may sit on what
- Double-stacking doubles a count only if the lower tier can carry the upper one and the total clears the roof. Fragile, non-tiltable and crush-limited items break that arithmetic, and they are the norm rather than the exception.
Questions
How many euro pallets fit in a 45 ft container?
27 in a standard-width 45 ft high cube, 33 in the pallet-wide version — the same as a 13.6 m trailer, which is what the pallet-wide 45 ft was built to match.
What are the internal dimensions of a 45 ft high cube?
About 13.56 m long, 2.35 m wide and 2.69 m high, 86 m³. The pallet-wide variant is 2.44 m wide and about 89 m³.
How does a 45 ft compare with a 40 ft high cube?
1.5 m more floor and 10 m³ more volume, for two more euro pallets in a standard-width box and eight more in a pallet-wide one. Payload is slightly lower. If the extra pallets do not matter, the 40 ft HC is more widely available.
Are 45 ft containers accepted everywhere?
Not everywhere. They are common in European short-sea and intermodal services and less so on deep-sea routes and in ports set up for 20 and 40 ft slots. Check the lane before planning to the size.
Plan the 45 ft
Your cargo in a 45 ft high cube, with the fill and the weight, in 3D.
Open the planner