A Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) is a standardized measurement used in the shipping and logistics industry to describe the capacity of container ships and terminals. One TEU represents the space taken up by a standard 20-foot shipping container.
Length: 20 feet (6.1 meters)
Width: 8 feet (2.44 meters)
Height: 8.5 feet (2.59 meters)
Volume: ~33 cubic meters
Max Gross Weight: ~24,000 kg (varies slightly by container type)
TEU is the universal yardstick for:
Measuring ship capacity:
Example: A vessel rated for 10,000 TEU can carry 10,000 standard 20-foot containers.
Terminal throughput:
Ports use TEU to report how much cargo they've handled over a period (e.g., “Port of Shanghai handled 47 million TEU in 2023”).
Freight pricing and planning:
Freight rates and space allocations are often quoted “per TEU” on FCL (Full Container Load) shipments.
1 TEU = 1x 20-foot container
1 FEU (Forty-foot Equivalent Unit) = 2 TEUs
A 40-foot container takes up the space of two TEUs, even though it's not exactly double in usable volume due to structural considerations.
If you're booking a container shipment from China to the UK or USA:
A 20-foot container = 1 TEU
A 40-foot container = 2 TEUs
Your freight forwarder may refer to “TEU capacity” when checking vessel space or negotiating rates