Start with the floor you actually get
The 40ft listings on the site give an internal length of 12,032 mm, an internal width of 2,352 mm and 2,385 mm of internal height for a standard unit. The high cube is the same 12,032 mm by 2,352 mm on the floor, with 2,698 mm of height. That is 28.3 square metres of floor to pack, and the high cube gives 313 mm more headroom without changing the footprint at all.
Every pallet count below is that floor divided by the pallet, with the leftover millimetres shown. Nobody gains pallets by guessing.
Australian standard pallets: 20
An Australian standard pallet is 1,165 mm square. Two side by side take 2,330 mm of the 2,352 mm width — they fit with 22 mm left over, 11 mm a side. Ten rows deep use 11,650 mm of the 12,032 mm length, leaving 382 mm at the doors.
So: 2 across x 10 deep = 20 pallets. An eleventh row needs another 1,165 mm and there is only 382 mm, and a third pallet across needs 3,495 mm. Twenty is the ceiling, not a rule of thumb.
That 22 mm of total clearance is the part that bites on the day. A forklift driver has to set every pair dead square, and a pallet with a load overhanging the boards will not drop in beside its neighbour. Load the first pair hard against one side wall rather than centred, and keep the rows tight at the door end so the 382 mm slack sits in one place.
Euro pallets: 25, with a two-lane layout
A Euro pallet is 1,200 x 800 mm. Load them the obvious way — 800 mm across the width, 1,200 mm down the length — and you get two across (1,600 mm) and ten rows (12,000 mm): 20 pallets, with 752 mm of width going to waste and no way to use it.
Run two lanes instead and you pick up five more. One lane sits 1,200 mm across the width and 800 mm along the length: 15 pallets down the container (15 x 800 = 12,000 mm). The other lane, in the 800 mm of width left beside it, lies the other way: 10 pallets at 1,200 mm each (10 x 1,200 = 12,000 mm). That is 15 + 10 = 25 Euro pallets, using 2,000 mm of the 2,352 mm width with 352 mm spare.
The lanes finish at different points — 15 pallets of 800 mm against 10 pallets of 1,200 mm — so you cannot fill one side and then the other. Load the pattern as one, or you will end up with a 600 mm gap you can't fill.
| Pallet | Pallet size | Layout on the 12,032 x 2,352 mm floor | Pallets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian standard | 1,165 x 1,165 mm | 2 across, 10 rows deep | 20 |
| Euro | 1,200 x 800 mm | Two lanes: 15 + 10 | 25 |
| Euro | 1,200 x 800 mm | 2 across, 10 rows deep | 20 |
When a high cube helps with stacked loads
A 40ft high cube gives 2,698 mm of clear height against 2,385 mm in a standard: 313 mm more, same floor, same 20 or 25 pallet base. It does not make double stacking work on its own — the arithmetic decides.
Measure the height of a loaded pallet, then double it. If two loaded pallets come to under 2,385 mm, a standard 40ft takes both layers and the high cube buys you nothing but air. If the pair comes to between 2,385 mm and 2,698 mm, the high cube is the container that closes — that 313 mm is exactly the band where a standard unit fails and a high cube loads. Above 2,698 mm, neither 40ft will take a double stack and you are looking at a single layer or a bigger plan.
Where the high cube earns its keep in practice: tall single-layer loads — racking uprights, insulation panels, tall crates, machinery that won't lie down — and mixed loads where a low, heavy pallet carries a lighter one on top. Measure the tallest thing you intend to lift in before you pay for the extra height.
Weight runs out before floor space
The 40ft standard one-trip listing on the site shows a maximum gross weight of 30,480 kg and a tare of 3,750 kg, which leaves about 26,730 kg of payload. Spread across 20 pallets that is roughly 1,336 kg a pallet; across 25 Euro pallets, about 1,069 kg. The high cube we checked tares at 3,900 kg, so its payload is about 26,580 kg.
Those figures move with the unit — used, insulated and modified containers all weigh differently, and every listing states its own. Check the listing for the container you are actually quoting, and weigh the load before it goes on a truck. Overloading is the one mistake that damages the floor and the door alignment at the same time.
Before you book the container
- Measure a loaded pallet, not an empty one. The pallet boards are the easy part; the load overhanging them is what decides your count and your stack height.
- Check the pallet condition. Australian standard pallets with a bowed deck do not slide in two across in 2,352 mm — 22 mm of total clearance is not enough to forgive a bad pallet.
- Plan the unload as well as the load. The same clear approach the container needs on delivery is what a forklift needs to work the doors. See what to put a container on for base and ground.
- Delivery is free to any address in Australia, and it is a tilt-tray or side-loader that sets the container down — read how delivery works so the site is ready when the truck arrives.
The full range of 40ft units, standard and high cube, new and used, is on the 40ft shipping container page. If you are still choosing between the two lengths, the container buying guide covers sizes, grades and what each one is good for.
