TEU
Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit
TEU is the standard unit for counting containers. One 20-foot container is 1 TEU, and one 40-foot container is 2 TEU.
In plain words
Containers come in different lengths, so the industry uses TEU as a common unit. It is used to describe how many containers a ship can carry, how many a port handles in a year, and the size of a shipment. You will also see FEU (Forty-foot Equivalent Unit): 1 FEU = 2 TEU.
TEU counts space, not weight. A ship with a capacity of 10,000 TEU cannot always carry 10,000 full, heavy 20-foot containers, because of weight limits. High cube 40' containers are also counted as 2 TEU.
Example from real shipping
A customer ships 6 × 20' and 4 × 40' containers in a year. In TEU, that is 6 + 8 = 14 TEU. A port that handled 2 million TEU in a year moved the equivalent of 2 million 20-foot containers.
Related terms
- 20' DVA 20' DV is the standard 20-foot closed steel container for general dry cargo. It is the smallest common ocean container.
- 40' DVA 40' DV is the standard 40-foot closed steel container for general dry cargo. It has about twice the space of a 20' container, but not twice the weight limit.
- Container shipA container ship is a cargo ship built to carry standard containers, stacked in its holds and on its deck.
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Request a QuoteThis glossary is general information, not legal or customs advice. Rules, fees, and practice can differ by carrier, port, and country.