Container Door Opening

Shipping Container Dimensions

Contents

By far the two most popular containers you will come across are the regular 20 foot shipping container and the regular 40 foot shipping container. Here we explain the dimensions of the 40 foot shipping container.

40ft Shipping Container Dimensions

The most common shipping container is the 40ft container. They offer exceptional value for the money and considerable internal space.

40ft containers offer a large internal space of over 300 square foot. They also have greater value for money overall when compared to a 20ft container. 40ft containers, however, are more expensive to transport and difficult to maneuver.

TYPE	40FT STANDARD
External Length	40ft
External Width	8ft
External Height	8ft 6″
Internal Length	39ft 4″
Internal Width	7ft 8″
Internal Height	7ft 10″
Door Opening Width	7ft 8″
Door Opening Height	7ft 5″
Internal Cubic Capacity	2,386 cu feet
Tare Weight	3,510 kg
Net Load Weight	26,970 kg
Maximum Gross Weight	30,480 kg
Floor Space	305 sq ft

Shipping Container Standard Weights

Typical Weights of Standard Shipping Containers
Length	20ft	40ft
Max Gross Weight	30,480kg*	30,400kg
	67,200lbs	67,200lbs
Tare Weight	2,170kg	3,750kg
	4,780lbs	8,270lbs
Payload (or Net Weight)	28,310kg	26,730kg
	62,420lbs	58,930lbs

Wear and Tear

Shipping containers often take a beating, traveling around the world, being exposed to freezing conditions, and rust due to seawater or when the frost has melted.

During the cold season, and in freezing parts of the world, our shipping container tool can benefit the opening of frozen shipping container doors in freezing conditions and hard to open or rusted containers once the winter has ended.

Injuries often occur as a result of personnel trying to open and close difficult container doors, often the result of inappropriate techniques being used to open them.

Shipping container doors are not typical doors and there are 4-5 hinges per door. The hinge pins must be lined up correctly for the doors to be free to fully open and close.

Here are some likely reasons a frozen shipping container door will not open or close. Our tool helps to address these issues.

The container frame is racked so that the door gear will not operate correctly. This may be caused by cargo shifting during transit. Look at the container to make sure that the doors are aligned and level, both top and bottom.
The hinge pins and blade are seized due to corrosion.
The door gasket has been damaged and is preventing opening. Door gaskets are designed to present two or more fins against the structure or adjacent door. These are generally flexible but when the gasket is damaged, they may become hard or blocked thus jamming the door closed, or preventing it being closed.
Water has become trapped between the doors and frozen, particularly relevant to refrigerated cargoes, or containers with moisture releasing cargoes in cold weather.

This leverage tool uses the principles of leverage to do the difficult work. By providing an extended area on which to grasp, with both hands, a more stable platform to manipulate the latch handle is achieved.

Designed to fit and extend the door latch handles on side by side doors found on the following units with the safety of the truck driver, operator, and worker foremost in mind:

This intermodal container (also known as ISO Container or Conex Box) cargo inspection tool and leverage safety bar is to aid in opening and closing side-by-side doors found within Dismountable Shipping Cargo Container Transportation Industries (Railroad, Harbor, and Trucking Industries).

Eliminates the Need for a crescent wrench, screwdriver, hammer, and crowbar which are commonly needed/used to open stuck frozen shipping container doors.

Dimensions of 20ft Shipping Container