How many euro pallets fit in a 40ft container?
The short answer is 25 on the floor. But the real answer depends on your cargo height, weight limits, and stacking rules. Here's the breakdown.
- Stacked 2-high
- 50 pallets
- Stacked 3-high
- 75 pallets
- Container volume
- 67.5 m³
- Max payload
- 26,580 kg
The dimensions
| Length | Width | Height | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Euro pallet (EUR 1) | 1200 mm | 800 mm | 144 mm |
| 40ft container (internal) | 12,032 mm | 2,352 mm | 2,393 mm |
| 40ft HC container (internal) | 12,032 mm | 2,352 mm | 2,698 mm |
The floor arrangement uses mixed orientation: some pallets placed lengthwise (1200 mm along the container length), others crosswise (800 mm along the length). This mixed layout yields 25 pallets per layer — more than a uniform orientation would achieve.
Why "it depends"
25 per layer assumes empty pallets with no cargo on top. In practice:
Cargo height matters. If your palletised goods are 1.2 m tall, you can stack two layers (total height 2.4 m) and just barely fit inside a standard 40ft container (2.39 m internal height). A High Cube container (2.70 m internal) gives you more headroom.
Weight limits matter. A 40ft container's max payload is ~26,580 kg. 50 euro pallets of dense goods (steel parts, bottled liquids) can easily exceed this before the volume is full.
Stacking rules matter. Fragile goods, uneven loads, and "do not stack" constraints all reduce the count. The floor-only number (25) is the safest answer for fragile cargo.
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