45 ft container dimensions (45 ft high cube)

45 ft container dimensions in feet, cm, metres and mm

A given box differs from these medians by a few millimetres or kilograms: its own data sheet, or the figures painted on its doors, give its exact size and weights. ISO 668, the standard that sets container sizes, fixes the outside length at 13,716 mm and asks for at least 13,542 mm inside.

What is a 45 foot container?

It is a general-purpose steel box, closed, with doors at one end, built to the longest length in ISO 668. It keeps the 8 ft width of every ISO box and almost always the 9 ft 6 in height of a high cube: the standard also lists a 45 ft box 8 ft 6 in high, but every data sheet we read is for a high cube. Its makers and leasing companies present it for light, bulky cargo, which fills the box before it reaches its weight limit. Its corner fittings sit at the ends of the 45 ft length; a maker’s data sheet for the pallet wide version also shows fittings at the 40 ft positions, where a 40 ft box has its corners.

45 ft vs 40 ft high cube container

The 45 ft box is 1,524 mm longer and holds 9.6 m³ more, about 13 % more, through the same door. It weighs about 885 kg more empty, and since both are rated to the same gross weights, it carries a little less. It pays off for light goods that fill a box before they reach its weight limit, and for long items up to about 13.5 m. For storage on the ground or a conversion, the 40 ft high cube is far easier to find in India and to bring onto a plot: see 40 HC container dimensions.

How many CBM in a 45 ft HQ container?

86 m³ on the data sheets we read, or 3,037 cubic feet. The floor gives 31.9 m² (343 sq ft), enough for 27 Euro pallets of 1,200 × 800 mm or 24 pallets of 1,200 × 1,000 mm in one layer, by our count. So its loading capacity is about 86 m³ by volume and 28 tonnes by weight, whichever comes first. HQ, like HC, means high cube: the same box.

How heavy is a 45 ft shipping container?

About 4,750 kg empty, with data sheets ranging from 4,650 to 4,900 kg. The boxes in the sheets are rated to a maximum gross weight of 30,480 or 32,500 kg, box and load together, so a typical one carries 27,675 kg. Each box’s own rating is on its CSC safety approval plate. On Indian roads the whole vehicle counts: the axle-load notification of 2018 caps a tractor with semi-trailer, load included, at 55 tonnes, and lower with fewer axles.

45 ft pallet wide container

A pallet wide box is built a little wider so that Euro pallets, 800 mm wide, stand three abreast across it: 2,400 mm, which the 2,352 mm inside a standard box cannot take. On the data sheets we read of a maker, a leasing company, a shipping line and a port operator, a 45 ft pallet wide high cube:

• is 2,462 or 2,500 mm wide outside, against 2,438 mm for an ISO box, with the same length and height;
• gives about 2,420 to 2,444 mm inside, with a door about 2,420 mm wide, and about 89 m³;
• takes 33 Euro pallets, against 27 in a standard 45 ft box;
• is rated to 34,000 kg gross, and one maker gives 5,100 kg empty.

That width is outside the 2,438 mm of ISO 668, and the size-type code shows it: LEG1, where E stands for that width with a 9 ft 6 in height. Pallet wide boxes are built for European pallets; we found no source on their use in India. On the road, they stay within the 2.6 m width that Indian rules allow a vehicle.

What is the ISO code for a 45 foot container?

A 45 ft high cube is coded L5G1: L for the 45 ft length, 5 for the 9 ft 6 in height, G1 for a general-purpose box with vents. Since the 2022 edition of ISO 6346, the registrar of container codes gives 5 instead of L for the 45 ft length, so new boxes may carry 55G1, while boxes marked before keep their code. Do not confuse it with 45G1: that is a 40 ft high cube, 4 for the length and 5 for the height. In the same way, a “45 reefer” coded 45R1 is a 40 ft high cube reefer container, not a 45 ft one.

Ports and shipping lines count containers in TEU, twenty-foot equivalent units. The European glossary for transport statistics counts a box longer than 40 ft as 2.25 TEU; we found no Indian rule on how ports count it.

45 ft container trailer, ports and makers in India

• Trailer and road: since rule 93 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules was amended in 2020, a tractor and semi-trailer may be 18.75 m long, up from 18 m; the government gave 45 ft containers as the reason. The vehicle may stand 4.52 m tall with an ISO container on board, which leaves about 1.6 m for the trailer’s deck under a 2,896 mm box. A 45 ft box needs a trailer for its length, which that rule now allows: ask the transporter which one it sends, and check the turns and the gate of your site, as site preparation and unloading explains.
• Ports and rail: the 2026 tariff of a container terminal at Nhava Sheva, published by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, has a line for boxes longer than 40 ft and up to 45 ft, so that terminal can handle them. We found no figure on how many 45 ft boxes pass through Indian ports, and no rule of CONCOR or the railways on carrying them: to ship goods in one, ask your freight forwarder whether the shipping line offers a 45 ft box on your route.
• Makers: one of the Indian factories that build ISO containers says it makes 45 ft high cubes; shipping container manufacturers in India names it.

45 ft container for sale in India: price

On 20 October 2026, one of the 1,058 marketplace listings we read offered a 45 ft box: a used, cargo-worthy one, at ₹5,50,000, from a single seller in Chennai, GST not stated. One asking price is not a market price, so we give no typical price for a 45 ft box; sellers in India list mostly 10, 20 and 40 ft boxes.

For comparison, on 20 October 2026, a used 40 ft high cube was priced from ₹1,58,000, with a typical asking price of ₹1,90,000, and a new or one-trip 40 ft high cube from ₹3,00,000, from few sellers: see the used 40 ft high cube and the new 40 ft high cube. A container is taxed at 18% GST, like any box of HSN heading 8609 (GST on shipping containers).

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45 feet container size: length in metres and height

How long is a 45 ft container in metres?

13,716 mm, or about 13.72 m, outside; about 13.56 m inside (13,556 mm). With the tractor, the vehicle that carries it may be up to 18.75 m long in India.

Is a 45 ft container a high cube?

Almost always. ISO 668 also allows a 45 ft box 8 ft 6 in high, but every data sheet we read is for a high cube, 2,896 mm tall outside and 2,699 mm inside.