Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit

The Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) is a standard measurement used worldwide in supply chains. One TEU corresponds to the space (in cubic meters) occupied by one twenty-foot shipping container. For reference, the internal dimensions of one TEU container are 20 feet long, almost 8 feet high, and 8 feet wide.

The TEU measurement is primarily used by carriers and terminals to calculate space. Some large container ships can carry as much as 21,000 TEU. Terminals will also calculate container flow rates in TEU, as the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach processed over 10 million TEU in 2021.

Another important measurement to understand is the Forty-Foot Equivalent Unit, or FEU. One FEU is equivalent to two TEUs, and keeping this in mind can ensure smooth operations when booking space. When shippers request a quote from a carrier, the carrier will often provide quotes per TEU of space. Shippers then need to multiply that rate over the number of containers they wish to transport, converting FEUs to TEUs in the process.

Thanks to the standardized dimensions of shipping containers, TEU containers can be easily transported by ship, truck, or train and easily transloaded between modes of transport.