How many cubic feet are in a 20ft shipping container?
A standard 20ft shipping container holds about 1,170 cubic feet inside — roughly 19'4" long, 7'8" wide and 7'10" high. A 20ft high cube has the same footprint with about a foot more height, which brings it to roughly 1,320 cubic feet.
How many cubic feet in a 20ft shipping container, standard and high cube
A 20ft shipping container — the box most people around Hattiesburg and Laurel just call a conex box — is 20' x 8' x 8'6" outside. The steel walls, the corrugations and the plywood floor take a few inches, so inside a standard box is about 19'4" x 7'8" x 7'10". Multiply it out and you get about 1,170 cubic feet.
A 20ft high cube is 9'6" tall outside and about 8'10" inside, which adds roughly 150 cubic feet for about 1,320 in total. A 40ft is the same box twice as long, so it is roughly double either number; a 40ft high cube is about 2,700. The full measurements, door opening included, are in 20ft container dimensions.
For comparison, a 10x10 self-storage unit with an 8-foot ceiling is 800 cubic feet. A 20ft standard is about half again that, and it sits on your own ground. See container vs storage unit for the rest of that comparison.
Cubic feet you can actually use
The 1,170 is the empty air. What you can load is less, and the door is usually what decides it: everything goes in through an opening about 7'8" wide and 7'5" high on a standard box, 8'5" on a high cube. If the tallest thing you own will not clear the door, the extra headroom inside does not help.
Shelving takes depth, and an aisle takes more. Brackets down one wall with 24-inch-deep shelves still leave a 5'8" walkway in a 20ft standard. The 4-level shelving brackets bolt to the corrugations with no drilling; they ship separately and you install them — nothing arrives assembled. More in shelving without drilling.
On the floor, a 20ft takes 9 to 10 standard 48x40 pallets. For hay or feed, measure one bale or one bag and divide it into the space, then knock off a row for an aisle and for air.
Do not fill every cubic foot in south Mississippi
A sealed steel box in a Pine Belt summer sweats. Warm, wet air gets in every time the doors open, and when the roof cools at night it condenses and drips on whatever is packed against it. Leave a few inches between the load and the walls and ceiling, keep things off the floor on pallets, and give the air a way out. The solar ventilation kit — two louvered intake vents and a solar wall fan — is the usual fix; it ships separately as a kit you install. See container condensation.
So size with some room to spare. If your stuff fills a standard 20 to the roof, you have bought the wrong box. The 20ft high cube buys the headroom for a top shelf and an air gap; if the extra space is about length rather than height, read 20ft vs 40ft. Before you buy either, check the run: a tilt-bed needs about 110 feet of straight, firm, level ground to set a 20ft, and a failed drop is billable — see delivery access.
For plain storage, the 20ft used wind and watertight is the lowest-cost way to own those 1,170 cubic feet, delivered across the Pine Belt and priced by ZIP on the containers page. Vents, shelving, lights and lock boxes are on the accessories page. See containers for sale — delivered price by ZIP
Buying a container?
Longleaf sells used and one-trip 20ft and 40ft shipping containers, delivered by tilt-bed across the Pine Belt. Enter your ZIP for the delivered price — it comes straight from the supplier feed and already includes the haul. Locks, vents, shelving and lights are on the accessories page. We sell; we do not rent.
- 20ft Standard Cargo Worthy (used) — from $2,885 delivered
- 20ft Standard One Trip (new) — from $3,635 delivered
- 20ft Standard Wind & Watertight (used) — from $2,470 delivered
- 40ft High Cube Cargo Worthy (used) — from $3,525 delivered
- 40ft High Cube One Trip (new) — from $4,925 delivered
- 40ft High Cube Wind & Watertight (used) — from $3,210 delivered
- 40ft Standard Cargo Worthy (used) — from $3,525 delivered
- 40ft Standard One Trip (new) — from $6,355 delivered
- 40ft Standard Wind & Watertight (used) — from $3,160 delivered
Keep reading
- How much weight can a shipping container floor hold? — How much weight a container can hold: the cargo rating of a 20ft and 40ft shipping container floor, why point loads matter more, and why the pad fails first.
- Where can I buy a 40ft high cube container in the Pine Belt? — 40ft high cube container for sale in the Pine Belt: used or one-trip, delivered by tilt-bed to your lot, and the 130 feet of run and headroom a 40HC needs.
- What is the difference between a cargo worthy and wind and watertight container? — Cargo worthy vs WWT container: what the survey adds over wind and watertight, which used grade a Pine Belt buyer needs, and when cargo worthy is worth it.
- What does a 20ft shipping container cost delivered in Laurel, MS? — 20ft shipping container for sale in Laurel, MS: how grade, height and the haul up from Mobile set the delivered price, and what to check on a Jones County lot.
- Shipping containers for sale in Hattiesburg, MS: what a delivered 20ft or 40ft really costs — Shipping containers for sale in Hattiesburg, MS: used and one-trip 20ft and 40ft boxes, what sets the delivered price, what it includes, what to check first.
Across the Pine Belt
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