Updated
Container weight is described by three figures, and they appear on the CSC plate and the door of every unit. Tare is the empty weight of the container. Maximum gross mass is the heaviest the container may be when loaded. Payload is the difference — the most cargo it may carry.
Get these confused and you can arrive at a terminal with a container that cannot legally be lifted, which is an expensive discovery.
Typical figures by size
- 20ft standard — tare around 2 250 kg, maximum gross 30 480 kg, payload about 28 230 kg
- 40ft standard — tare around 3 750 kg, maximum gross 30 480 kg, payload about 26 730 kg
- 40ft High Cube — tare around 3 950 kg, maximum gross 30 480 kg, payload about 26 530 kg
- 10ft — tare around 1 300 kg, maximum gross commonly 10 160 kg
- Reefers — heavier tare because of insulation and machinery; a 40ft HC reefer is around 4 600 kg
The plate governs, not the table
Every figure above is typical. The governing numbers for a specific unit are stamped on its CSC safety approval plate, and older containers are frequently plated lower — 24 000 kg maximum gross was common on legacy 20ft boxes.
If your load is anywhere near the limit, read the plate on the actual container. See the CSC plate guide.
Road limits usually bite first
In most of Europe a loaded 40ft container on a standard skeletal trailer reaches the national gross-vehicle-weight limit at around 24–26 t of cargo, well below the container's own 26.7 t payload. The CSC plate tells you what the container can take; the road tells you what you can actually move.
This is why dense cargo goes in 20ft containers: a 20ft load can reach a higher payload within the same vehicle weight limit because the container itself is lighter and the axle configuration is different.
Verified gross mass
For containers loaded and shipped as freight, the verified gross mass of the packed container must be provided to the carrier before loading. That obligation sits with the shipper, and it is one of the practical reasons to know the tare of the specific unit you bought rather than a nominal figure.