How many 5-gallon buckets fit in a 40ft container?
A 40ft container fits 2,400–2,800 five-gallon buckets. Nestable empty buckets fit even more.
2,400–2,800
standard 5-gallon (19L) round pails, stacked
- Full pails (stacked)
- 2,400–2,800 pails
- Empty (nested)
- 5,000+ pails
- Pail dimensions
- Ø 30×37 cm
- Container volume
- 67.5 m³
Full vs empty
Empty buckets nest. Stack 5–6 empty pails into each other, reducing height per pail from 37 cm to about 5 cm. This 7× density improvement makes empty bucket shipping extremely efficient.
Full buckets don't nest. Paint, chemicals, or food products in sealed 5-gallon pails stack 6–7 high. Weight limit matters for heavy contents (paint = ~25 kg per pail).
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