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Freight equipment

40ft High Cube Container

A high cube is a dry shipping container built with additional internal height compared with a standard box of the same length. It is the answer to volume, not to weight.

Mode
Ocean
Published figures
7, each with a named publisher
A tractor unit hauling a forty-foot shipping container on a skeletal chassis along a main road.

What it is and what it is for

A high cube is a standard steel dry container with a taller body. Its footprint and its handling are the same as any other box of that length; what differs is the internal height, and therefore the volume available inside it.

That makes it the equipment of choice for cargo that fills a container by volume before it approaches any weight limit. Which constraint binds first depends on the density of the goods, and it is worth working out per shipment rather than assuming. Dense cargo gains nothing from the extra height and may reach its weight limit in a smaller box.

Loading through the doors

A dry container opens at one end. Everything goes in and comes out through those doors, which shapes what can practically be carried. Long items that cannot be manoeuvred into the opening, and awkward pieces that would need to be lowered in from above or slid in from the side, do not suit a dry box at all.

Where the shape of the cargo is the problem rather than its size, the answer is different equipment — an open top for loading from above, a flat rack for pieces that overhang. Trying to force awkward cargo through the doors of a dry container usually ends in damage, delay or an unusable stow.

The height follows the box inland

At sea the extra height is invisible. On the road it is not. A high cube carried on a chassis sits taller than a standard box on the same chassis, and that additional height has to clear whatever the inland route contains: bridges, tunnels, overhead structures, gantries, height-restricted approaches and the door of the building the container is delivered to.

It is also a question of premises. A warehouse door that admits a standard container on a chassis may not admit a high cube, and discovering that on arrival is expensive. Where the inland leg is long or the destination is unfamiliar, the height should be checked against the route and the site before the equipment is booked.

Whether a particular container type is available at a particular place at a particular time is an operational question that depends on the trade and on where empty equipment happens to be. It is confirmed at booking, not assumed from the type existing.

Packing is the shipper's responsibility

Whoever packs a container is responsible for how it is packed, and a container on a vessel is subject to motion in every direction. Cargo has to be blocked, braced and restrained so it cannot shift, and weight has to be distributed rather than concentrated at one end or over one side. A badly packed box endangers the ship's crew as well as the goods.

The gross mass of a packed container must be verified and declared before it can be loaded on a vessel. How that is done and who is responsible for doing it are set by the rules in force and by the carrier's requirements, and must be confirmed for the specific shipment.

Two further points that catch shippers out. A dry container moving between climates can produce condensation inside it, which is a packaging and desiccant question rather than an equipment fault. And timber packaging and dunnage are subject to treatment and marking requirements that vary by destination, so what is used to secure the cargo can itself hold the consignment up.

Suited to

What this equipment is for.

  • Cargo that fills a container by volume well before it approaches any weight limit
  • Palletised goods that can take an additional tier where the extra internal height allows it
  • Light, bulky products where the cost per unit shipped is driven by how many boxes are needed
  • Full container loads where the whole box is packed for one consignee and moves sealed
  • Consignments that can be loaded and unloaded through end doors without special handling
  • Routes and destination premises already known to accommodate the additional height on the road

Specifications

Published figures, and who publishes them.

These are not industry constants. Each figure below is one named publisher’s statement about its own equipment on the date it was checked, and where publishers disagree the row says so. For a specific shipment, the specification that matters is the one for the actual vehicle or container being used.

40ft High Cube

Internal dimensions
12,032 x 2,350 x 2,700 (L x W x H) mmInternal length 12,032 mm unanimous across all four publishers. Internal height, the whole point of a high cube, varies 2,695-2,700 mm (ONE 2,695; Maersk 2,697; CIMC 2,698; Hapag-Lloyd 2,700). Width 2,350-2,352 mm. The roughly 300 mm of extra internal height over a 40ft standard is the real, publishable distinction.Hapag-Lloyd — source, checked 2026-08-14
Door opening
2,340 x 2,597 (W x H) mmWidth 2,340 mm unanimous. Door height spread is the widest in the dry range at 20 mm: Maersk 2,577, ONE and CIMC 2,585, Hapag-Lloyd 2,597 mm.Hapag-Lloyd — source, checked 2026-08-14
External dimensions
12,192 x 2,438 x 2,896 (L x W x H) mmConfidence caveat on the source: the page breadcrumb, the product title and the part number all read 40FT High Cube / CIMC-40HC, and the spec content is unambiguously a high cube (2,896 mm external, 2,698 mm internal, 76.4 m3), but the spec table's own caption on that page reads '40' Standard Container - Technical Details' — a copy-paste error in the caption. Corroborated by ONE, which prints the identical 12,192 x 2,438 x 2,896 as the outside measurement of its 40ft HC reefer and 40ft HC flat rack. The 2,896 mm height is the figure that matters for low-bridge and warehouse-door clearance.CIMC Intermodal Equilink (container manufacturer, part number CIMC-40HC) — source, checked 2026-08-14
Tare weight
3,700-3,900 (ONE 3,700; CIMC 3,730; Maersk 3,880; Hapag-Lloyd 3,900) kg200 kg spread across four publishers.Ocean Network Express (low endpoint); high endpoint Hapag-Lloyd at https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/services-information/cargo-fleet/container/40-standard-high-cube.html — source, checked 2026-08-14
Maximum gross weight
32,500 (Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, CIMC); ONE states '30,480kg / 32,500kg' for this type kgONE's table header for this type literally reads 'Specifications for 9'6'' / 30,480kg / 32,500kg', i.e. ONE itself declines to give one rating and publishes both. Its own tare and payload rows (3,700 + 28,800) reconcile to the higher 32,500 figure. Treat 32,500 kg as the common rating but never state it as universal.Hapag-Lloyd; the dual rating is Ocean Network Express at https://www.one-line.com/en/dry-containers — source, checked 2026-08-14
Payload
28,600-28,800 (Hapag-Lloyd 28,600; Maersk 28,620; CIMC 28,770; ONE 28,800) kgOnly a 200 kg spread here because all four reconcile to a 32,500 kg gross — much tighter than the 40ft standard, where the gross rating itself diverges. Note a high cube gives more volume but essentially no more weight capacity than a 40ft standard; that is a genuinely useful, sourced point for the page.Hapag-Lloyd (low endpoint); high endpoint Ocean Network Express at https://www.one-line.com/en/dry-containers — source, checked 2026-08-14
Cubic capacity
76.0-76.4 (Maersk 76; ONE 76.2; Hapag-Lloyd 76.3; CIMC 76.4) m3Maersk rounds to whole cubic metres. Roughly 8.6 m3 more than a 40ft standard on the same footprint — that ratio is consistent across all four publishers and is safer to state than any single absolute figure.Hapag-Lloyd (76.3); low endpoint Maersk (76) at https://www.maersk.com/~/media_sc9/maersk/local-information/files/africa/south-africa/important-information/container-type-and-sizes/dry-equipment-specifications-updated.pdf — source, checked 2026-08-14

Considerations

What constrains it.

  • The advantage is volume; dense cargo may reach its weight limit in a smaller box and gain nothing
  • Access is through the doors only — cargo needing top or side loading requires different equipment
  • The extra height must clear bridges, tunnels, overhead structures and the destination's own door on the inland leg
  • Packing, blocking, bracing and weight distribution are the responsibility of whoever packs the box
  • The packed gross mass has to be verified and declared before vessel loading, under the rules in force at that port
  • Condensation inside a dry box on a route crossing climates is managed through packaging and desiccants
  • Timber packaging and dunnage carry treatment and marking requirements that vary by destination
  • Availability of any specific container type varies by trade and location and is confirmed at booking

From equipment to load plan

Confirm the unit against the actual cargo.

Suitability depends on the goods, loading method and the specification of the equipment that will actually be used.

European road freight