Freight equipment

Open top container

An open top is a standard container without a fixed roof. It exists for one reason: some cargo can only go in from above.

Mode: Ocean
Published figures: 14, each with a named publisher

Shipping containers stacked in rows across a port container park, seen from above.

The door is the constraint it removes

A standard container is loaded through doors at one end. Anything that goes in must fit through that aperture and be moved the length of the box, which rules out items that are tall, awkwardly shaped or simply too heavy to push.

An open top replaces the fixed roof with removable bows and a tarpaulin. A crane lifts the cargo straight down into the box, and the roof closes over it. The floor, walls and corner castings are otherwise those of an ordinary container, so it handles and stacks like one.

A tarpaulin roof is a cover, not a structure

A steel roof sheds water, takes the weight of another container and seals. A tarpaulin over bows does the first of those imperfectly and the second not at all. Cargo that must stay dry through a long sea passage in weather is better served by a closed box if it will fit through the doors.

The sheet is also the security boundary, which makes an open top a poorer choice for cargo that is attractive to theft than a container that locks.

When the cargo stands above the roof line

Where an item is taller than the container, the tarpaulin cannot be closed over it. That is permitted in principle and changes the shipment materially: the unit becomes out-of-gauge, it cannot have another container stacked on it, and it is priced and stowed differently as a result.

Whether a specific over-height movement is accepted, and what it costs, depends on the carrier, the vessel and the ports involved. It is established before the cargo is packed, because discovering it at the terminal means the box does not sail.

Securing to the box itself

Cargo that needed a crane to load is usually heavy and rarely a neat rectangle. It is lashed to the container's own securing points so it cannot move in any direction, and bearing surfaces are spread so a concentrated point load does not damage the floor.

Because the roof is not structural, nothing may be braced against it. All restraint acts on the floor, the walls and the corner posts.

Suited to

What this equipment is for.

Machinery and plant lifted in from above rather than driven or pushed in
Items too tall or awkward to pass through container doors
Cargo whose loading method is dictated by its lifting points
Over-height pieces where the roof will remain open, agreed in advance

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.

20ft

Internal dimensions: 5,895 x 2,350 x 2,340 (L x W x H) mmOnly two publishers available for this type (Hapag-Lloyd and ONE); Maersk's special-cargo PDF is image-only with no extractable text, and CMA CGM and MSC both blocked access. Spread is small: length 5,895-5,898 mm, width 2,350 mm agreed, height 2,340-2,348 mm.Hapag-Lloyd — source, checked 2026-08-14
Door opening: 2,338 x 2,280 (W x H) mmONE gives 2,340 x 2,280 mm; the 2 mm width difference is immaterial. Only two publishers available.Hapag-Lloyd — source, checked 2026-08-14
Roof opening: 5,338 x 2,230 (L x W) per Hapag-Lloyd; 5,680 x 2,252 (L x W) per ONE mmThe two publishers differ by 342 mm on roof opening length — a 6% disagreement, and the largest proportional variance of any dimension here. This is the field that actually decides whether a given machine can be craned in, so it must be published as both values or not at all. ONE additionally specifies a 'swing header opening' width of 1,940 mm, which Hapag-Lloyd does not publish; where the header does not swing, that narrower figure governs.Hapag-Lloyd; second value Ocean Network Express at https://www.one-line.com/en/dry-containers — source, checked 2026-08-14
Tare weight: 2,240-2,450 (ONE dry-containers page 2,240; ONE special-cargo page 2,380; Hapag-Lloyd 2,450) kgONE publishes two different tare figures for this same container type on two different pages of its own website — 2,240 kg at /en/dry-containers and 2,380 kg at /en/special-cargo/containers-and-specifications. That intra-publisher contradiction is itself the strongest available evidence that no single figure is publishable.Hapag-Lloyd (high endpoint); low endpoint Ocean Network Express at https://www.one-line.com/en/dry-containers — source, checked 2026-08-14
Maximum gross weight: 30,480 (ONE dry-containers page) to 32,500 (Hapag-Lloyd); ONE's special-cargo page implies 30,480 kg2,020 kg divergence between the two publishers. Both reconcile internally (Hapag-Lloyd 2,450 + 30,050 = 32,500; ONE 2,240 + 28,240 = 30,480).Hapag-Lloyd (32,500); Ocean Network Express (30,480) at https://www.one-line.com/en/dry-containers — source, checked 2026-08-14
Payload: 28,100-30,050 (ONE special-cargo page 28,100; ONE dry-containers page 28,240; Hapag-Lloyd 30,050) kg1,950 kg spread, about 7%, across only two publishers — and ONE contradicts itself between its own two pages. Publish as a range with both named, or omit.Hapag-Lloyd (high endpoint); low endpoint Ocean Network Express at https://www.one-line.com/en/special-cargo/containers-and-specifications — source, checked 2026-08-14
Cubic capacity: 32.4-32.5 (ONE special-cargo page 32.4; Hapag-Lloyd and ONE dry-containers page 32.5) m3Close agreement. Note this is the capacity to the load line with the roof closed; an open top is chosen for access, not for volume, and its capacity is slightly below a 20ft dry (33.0-33.2 m3) despite the removable roof.Hapag-Lloyd — source, checked 2026-08-14

40ft

Internal dimensions: 12,029 x 2,350 x 2,344 (L x W x H); Hapag-Lloyd states 2,420 mm height with no roof bars mmHapag-Lloyd's page carries an explicit second height row labelled 'no roof bars' giving 2,420 mm, i.e. 76 mm more usable height once the bars are out. ONE gives 12,022 x 2,350 x 2,348 mm and publishes no no-roof-bars figure. Only two publishers available for this type.Hapag-Lloyd — source, checked 2026-08-14
Door opening: 2,340 x 2,276 (W x H) mmONE gives 2,340 x 2,280 mm. Width agreed, height differs by 4 mm — immaterial.Hapag-Lloyd — source, checked 2026-08-14
Roof opening: 11,552 x 2,230 (L x W) per Hapag-Lloyd; 11,798 x 2,230 (L x W) per ONE mmWidth 2,230 mm agreed exactly by both. Length differs by 246 mm. As with the 20ft, this is the dimension that determines craned access, so both values must be shown. ONE again specifies a swing header opening of 1,940 mm.Hapag-Lloyd; second value Ocean Network Express at https://www.one-line.com/en/dry-containers — source, checked 2026-08-14
Tare weight: 3,880-4,050 (ONE 3,880; Hapag-Lloyd 4,050) kg170 kg spread across the only two publishers available. ONE's special-cargo page agrees with its dry-containers page at 3,880 kg for this type, unlike the 20ft where the two ONE pages contradict each other.Hapag-Lloyd (high endpoint); low endpoint Ocean Network Express at https://www.one-line.com/en/dry-containers — source, checked 2026-08-14
Maximum gross weight: 30,480 (ONE) or 32,500 (Hapag-Lloyd) kg2,020 kg divergence, the same pattern as the 40ft dry. Both reconcile internally (Hapag-Lloyd 4,050 + 28,450 = 32,500; ONE 3,880 + 26,600 = 30,480).Hapag-Lloyd (32,500); Ocean Network Express (30,480) at https://www.one-line.com/en/dry-containers — source, checked 2026-08-14
Payload: 26,600-28,450 (ONE 26,600; Hapag-Lloyd 28,450) kg1,850 kg spread, about 7%, across only two publishers — driven by the max gross divergence rather than by tare.Hapag-Lloyd (high endpoint); low endpoint Ocean Network Express at https://www.one-line.com/en/dry-containers — source, checked 2026-08-14
Cubic capacity: 66.3-66.8 (ONE 66.3; Hapag-Lloyd 66.8) m30.5 m3 spread. Slightly below a 40ft dry (67.0-67.7 m3), consistent with the 20ft pattern.Hapag-Lloyd (66.8); low endpoint Ocean Network Express at https://www.one-line.com/en/dry-containers — source, checked 2026-08-14

Considerations

What constrains it.

A tarpaulin is weather cover, not a sealed structure, and not a security boundary
Over-height loading makes the unit out-of-gauge and prevents stacking
Crane access at both the packing and unpacking ends
Restraint acts on floor, walls and posts; the roof carries nothing
External dimensions are not published by the carriers checked, only internal ones

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