TEUEquipment & Weight

Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit

Definition: The standard unit of measurement used in container shipping based on the dimensions of a standard 20-foot intermodal container.

Detailed Freight Guide & Operational Context

A Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) is the universal statistical and operational unit of measure in container shipping. It corresponds to the volume of a standard 20-foot long, 8-foot wide, and 8.5-foot high ISO intermodal freight container.

Container ship carrying capacities, port terminal annual throughputs, and global container traffic statistics are universally reported in TEUs. For instance, a 40-foot container (FEU) represents 2 TEUs, while an ultra-large container vessel (ULCV) may boast a capacity of 24,000 TEUs.

Real-World Example in Practice

The Port of Shanghai handles over 49 million TEUs annually, representing millions of 20ft and 40ft container movements.