20ft or 40ft container: dimensions and how much furniture fits

What are the dimensions of a 20ft and a 40ft container?

Inside, a 20ft container is 5.90 m long, 2.35 m wide and 2.39 m high; a 40ft has the same width and height with 12.03 m of length; and a 40ft High Cube gains 30 cm in height, up to 2.70 m. Those are the reference figures published by the forwarder DSV; each container can differ by a few centimetres depending on its maker and age, and its CSC safety plate is what counts.

Why does furniture fill a container by volume, not weight?

Because it weighs little for the space it takes. To reach its maximum payload, a 40ft container would need about 408 kg per m³ (27,600 kg over 67.7 m³). A boxed wooden chair is a small fraction of that per m³: a 0.25 m³ box holding a 7 kg chair, for example, comes to 28 kg per m³.

So when you budget furniture freight, the figure that matters is the volume of the boxes, listed on the packing list, not the weight.

How many chairs fit in a container?

It depends on the box size and how well the space is used. Boxes never fit without gaps, and fragile pieces cannot take much weight on top, so you never fill 100% of the nominal volume. This example uses assumed box sizes and 85% of the volume used:

The real numbers come from your order's packing list: the volume of each box times the number of boxes. Ask the maker for that list before booking freight, and ask whether any piece travels knocked down, because a table with its legs off takes far less space.

Full container or groupage?

A full container, FCL, if your order fills a good part of one; groupage, LCL, if it is small. In groupage you share the container with other goods and pay per m³, but the cargo is handled more: taken to a warehouse, consolidated, shipped and split up again at destination. In a full container the cargo is sealed at origin and not touched until it arrives.

Beyond a certain volume, worth working out with your forwarder, a full 20ft container is cheaper and safer than groupage.

What fits through the door?

Any piece under 2.34 m wide and 2.28 m high, or 2.58 m on a High Cube. In practice, the door rarely limits hospitality furniture; length does more, for long tables or one-piece bar tops. A 40ft container takes pieces up to 12 m long, but think too about how they will get from the quay to the site.

How is the cargo protected in transit?

With packing designed for a long, humid voyage. The trip from Java takes weeks and the container passes through very different climates, which encourages condensation.

• Strong cartons, with corner protectors and blankets or foam on delicate parts.
• Desiccants inside the container, and well-dried timber before packing.
• Wooden pallets and crates must comply with the international standard ISPM 15, which requires them to be treated against pests and stamped.
• Cargo stowed and lashed so it does not shift with the ship's motion.

ISPM 15 applies to wood packaging, not to the furniture: a finished teak piece travels with its own legality documents.

Which documents travel with the container?

The commercial invoice, the packing list, the bill of lading and the timber legality documents, which in Indonesia are issued under the SVLK system. The agreed Incoterm decides who books and pays for each leg. The whole process, from factory to site, is covered in the guide to buying furniture from Indonesia, and the timber paperwork in the guide to EUDR, SVLK and FSC.

On Kadek's projects, one person in Madrid follows each order from the factories in Java until delivery to site. For a made-to-measure order, ask for the box volumes to be worked out from the approved drawing; the custom furniture page explains how an order works.