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TEU
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20-foot equivalent unit
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TEU

cargo unit
Also known as: 20-foot equivalent unit
Written by
Erik Gregersen
Erik Gregersen is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica, specializing in the physical sciences and technology. Before joining Britannica in 2007, he worked at the University of Chicago Press on the...
Erik Gregersen
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

TEU, standard unit for cargo capacity for container ships and ports. The TEU refers to a shipping container that measures 20 feet long (6.1 meters), 8 feet 6 inches (2.6 meters) high, and 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide.

High-cube shipping containers have a height of 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 meters) and half-height containers have a height of 4 feet 3 inches (1.3 meters). However, both containers are counted as 1 TEU. A related unit is the 40-foot equivalent unit (FEU), which refers to a shipping container with dimensions of 40 feet long (12.2 meters), 8 feet 6 inches high, and 8 feet wide. Two TEU equals 1 FEU. The 40-foot containers are the most commonly used.

An average container ship carries about 4,600 TEU; as of 2025 the largest container ships, the MSC Irina and its five sister ships, each have a capacity of 24,346 TEU. The total capacity of the global container ship fleet is about 31 million TEU.

Erik Gregersen