In the shipping business, TEU is a very familiar unit used to measure the capacity of containers. This article will help readers understand clearly What is TEU? and how TEUs are used in port operations.

What is TEU??

not is the abbreviation for Twenty-foot equivalent unit (The unit is equivalent to 20 feet). TEU is simply understood as a unit of measurement for cargo capacity in containers. This unit is equivalent to a standard container with a length of 20ft x width 8ft x height 8.5ft..

TEU is a unit of measurement that plays an important role, widely used in the shipping industry. The term Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit is widely applied in everything related to shipping. From determining goods capacity, Choose the type of container to calculate port operations.

Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit is calculated by dividing the container length by 20.

1 container 20ft (20ft x 8ft x 8.5ft) = 1 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit

1 container 40ft (40ft x 8ft x 8.5ft) = 2 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit

Currently, There are 3 common types of standard containers: 20ft – 40ft – 45ft. One Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit is equivalent to approximately 39 m3 of volume, Corresponding to 1 20ft container or 1 40ft container = 2 TEU. A 45ft container is also converted into 2 TEUs.

In addition to TEU units, in marine transportation, People also use the unit FEU. 2 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit = 1 FEU.

Distinguish between TEU and FEU

Just like the Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit, FEU is a unit of measurement for cargo capacity. FEU is the acronym for Forty-foot equivalent unit, means a unit equivalent to forty feet. 1 FEU = 25 tons or 1 FEU = 72 m3.

The two Twenty-foot Equivalent Units and FEUs have distinct differences in size and capacity, specifically:

	not (Twenty Foot Equivalent)	FEU ( Forty Foot Equivalent)
External dimensions	20′ x 8′ x 8.5′	40′ x 8′ x 8.5′
Inside size	19′ 5” x 7′ 8” x 7′ 9.5”	39′ 6.5” x 7′ 8” x 7′ 9.5”
Door height	2.27 m
Maximum capacity	28 CBM	58 CBM
Number of Pallets	9 – 11	20 – 24
not : FEU	2 TEUs = 1 FEU

>>> See more: Regulations on transporting oversized and overweight cargo

History of the Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit

The Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit has its origins in standardized shipping containers, Its origins date back decades to a man named Malcolm McLean.

Realizing that the loading and unloading process was cumbersome and time-consuming in previous years, He himself came up with a faster method of loading and unloading goods, more effective to optimize your operations.

His solution is to create containers of standard sizes that can still contain goods. These containers can be transported onto trucks, ships without having to load and unload each package of goods when changing the form of transportation.

When McLean Finished building my new containers, He bought a tanker named Ideal X and redesigned it to accommodate his total of 58 containers.

In April 1956, The first train of this cargo container departed on Ideal X from New Jersey to Houston, opens a new era of sea transport.

Characteristics of the Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit

Although there are currently many cargo ships of many different sizes, However, the Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit is still a commonly used unit to measure the size of shipping ships.

In McLean's time, His container size is 35 feet, His opponent is 24 feet. However, After ISO standardization in 1986, containers were specified as 20 feet and 40 feet.. Since, A 20-foot container is known as the standard container unit, also known as the Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit.

The role of TEU

Nowadays, Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit is considered a unit that plays an extremely important role in global trade. TEU is not only a unit of containers but also a unit used to measure ship metrics.

Measure size, ship's load capacity

TEU is used to calculate capacity, ship's load capacity. Based on ship size, One can classify the capacity of each type of transport ship.

Specifically:

• Small feeder (small ship): 1,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit
• Feeder (average ship): 1,000 – 2,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit
• Feedermax (normal ship): 2,000 – 3,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit
• Panamax vessels: 3,000 – 5,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit
• Post Panamax vessels: 5,000 – 10,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit
• New Panamax vessels (2014-): 10,000 – 14,500 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit
• Ultra Large Container Vessel (ULCV): from 14,500 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units or more

Currently, The largest container ship belongs to the Korean shipping company HMM. The HMM Algeciras has quite a large capacity: 399.9m long, wide, 61m, 70m high and has a capacity of up to 23,964 TEU.

Besides, The use of TEU in seaport operations brings many great advances to the transportation industry. Based on Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit, One can measure activity including throughput and energy to clearly determine the amount of goods passing through the port.

Besides, Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit is also considered a standard unit of measurement, widely applied in the world bank. At the same time, it is used as cargo statistical reports for each individual port.

U.S. ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach handle more than 16 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units each year. Medium, The amount of Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit per month can be up to 1.4 million at the two ports.

Besides, Ports in China such as Shanghai and Shenzhen also handle more than 65 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units per year, equivalent to 5.4 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units per month.

Conclude

TEU is a unit that plays an important role in the sea transport industry. Since it first appeared, It has created a new step in measuring goods circulating on seaports. It is also the standard unit of measurement used in port activity reports.

Above is the information you need to know about what a Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit is and the impact of TEU in the process of transporting goods at the port.. Monitor Logistics power to update other useful news!

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