Free tool · no signup
Container load calculator
Enter your pallets, cartons or crates and see exactly how they fit — into a 20′, a 40′ High Cube, a 45′ or a road trailer. Fill rate, weight against payload, what is left over, and a loading plan you can print and send to the warehouse.
- 3D and printable drawing
- Volume and payload checked
- 8 container & truck presets
- By Delta Novel, forwarding since 1998
Container or truck
Pick a preset, or type your own interior dimensions. These are nominal figures — check the real unit before you load.
Your cargo
One line per size. Dimensions are for a single piece; weight is the weight of one piece.
10 pieces · 4,000 kg · 76.3 m³
Nothing to draw yet — calculate a load first.
How many pallets fit in a container?
The honest answer is that it depends on the pallet, not on the container. A 20′ standard holds 10 Euro pallets (120 × 80 cm) in one layer, or 11 if you turn them; a 40′ holds 24 or 25; a 40′ High Cube holds the same floor count but gives you 30 cm more height to stack in. Industrial pallets at 120 × 100 cm change every one of those numbers.
That is why this calculator asks for your actual sizes rather than showing a table. It packs the pieces you describe into the interior you chose and tells you what happens — including what does not fit.
Volume is rarely what stops you
Most loads that fail, fail on weight. A 20′ container takes about 33 m³ but only around 28 tonnes of payload, so anything denser than roughly 850 kg per cubic metre will hit the axle before it hits the roof. Tiles, stone, machinery, drums and liquids all reach the limit with the container half empty.
The calculator checks both. If the volume fits and the weight does not, it says so plainly instead of drawing you a plan you cannot legally move.
Stacking, tilting and turning
Three flags change a load completely. "Can be stacked on" decides whether anything may rest on a piece — machinery, glass and cartons marked fragile usually cannot take a second layer. "May be laid on its side" decides whether a tall crate can go down flat to fit under the roof. "May be turned" decides whether the footprint can rotate 90° to close a gap.
Set them honestly. A plan that assumes you may stack something you may not is worse than no plan at all.
When a full container is the wrong answer
If the calculator leaves a container two-thirds empty, LCL groupage is usually cheaper: you pay for the cubic metres you use rather than the box. Below roughly 15 m³ that is almost always true on the lanes we run out of Italy.
The other direction matters too. If you are just over one container, a 40′ High Cube or a 45′ often costs less than a 40′ plus an LCL consignment — the calculator is a quick way to see which side of that line you are on.
Common questions
Is this free?
Yes, and there is no signup, no email wall and no limit worth worrying about. We built it because our own operators needed it.
Are the container dimensions exact?
They are published nominal interiors, and real equipment varies by builder — a 40′ High Cube interior height ranges roughly 269–270 cm, and payload swings a couple of hundred kilos with tare. Every field is editable, so if you have the real figures from your carrier, use them.
Does it handle more than one container?
Yes. Set how many units you are willing to use and the plan spills into the second and third, telling you how full each one ends up.
Can I send the plan to my warehouse?
Print it. The plan view, the side elevation and the piece list are laid out to print on one page, and the door end is marked on both drawings so nobody loads it back to front.
Does the plan account for lashing, weight distribution or dangerous goods?
No. It is a geometry and payload check. Stowage, securing, axle loads and DG segregation are decisions for the people loading the box — talk to us and we will put an operator on it.
Do you keep what I type?
The cargo you enter is used to compute the plan and nothing else. We do not ask who you are, and there is nothing to log in to.
Need the box as well as the plan?
Delta Novel has moved freight out of Italy since 1998 — ocean, air, road, customs, LCL and project cargo. Get a live rate on your lane in a couple of minutes, or send us the load and an operator will come back by name.