Will it fit in the container?

1. Units and container

2. Your cargo

Rotation: upright keeps the height you enter vertical (it may turn on its vertical axis), any allows all six orientations, fixed keeps it exactly as entered. Highest layer 1 means floor only. Max on top is the most weight that may rest on one unit; 0 means nothing on top. Leave a box blank for no limit.

Add your cargo and pick a container, then click Plan the load.

Result

Top view (back wall on the left, doors on the right; to scale)

Side view (looking from the left wall; to scale)

Balance

Each cargo line

Containers for the whole load

Loading list (back wall first)

The link holds your cargo and container in its address, so anyone who opens it sees the same inputs. It is never sent to a server by this tool; whoever you send it to can read it.

What if I swap?

The same cargo through every standard size, loose and on pallets. Container counts and fill only; it states no rate of its own. Type the quotes you have been given (one container each) and the table adds what the whole load costs.

How it is calculated

Packing: a constructive 3D bin packing heuristic with extreme-point placement. Units go in one at a time at the lowest free corner where they are inside the walls, overlap nothing, and rest on the floor or on units below with at least 75% of their base supported. Each is slid back against the walls and neighbours. The search repeats with three corner rules and several unit orderings, including seeded random ones, and keeps the packing with the most packed volume, then the most units. It is repeatable: the same input gives the same plan.

Constraints: allowed rotations, highest layer, weight allowed on top (spread over the units underneath in proportion to the area they carry) and the payload limit. A separate checker re-verifies every plan for bounds, overlap, payload, orientation, support, layers and load before it is drawn.

Whole load: one container at a time, then what is left, then an attempt to merge the last two. The lower bound is the larger of total volume over container volume and total weight over payload.

Not modelled: load securing and bracing, axle and gross weights, pallet overhang, the true centre of gravity of unevenly loaded units, dunnage and gaps for lashing, door and forklift clearances, hazardous or temperature-controlled goods, carrier or legal limits, and rates. Container sizes and payloads are nominal figures you can edit; check your equipment. Unverified against a real loading: tested on hand-computed fits and on random loads checked for overlap, bounds, weight and rotation.

Common questions

How many pallets fit in a 40 ft container?

It depends on the pallet size, its height and whether it may be stacked. Euro pallets (120 x 80 cm) fit about 25 on the floor of a nominal 40 ft container, in a mix of lengthwise and crosswise rows, so about 50 if they can be stacked two high; 48 x 40 inch pallets fit about 20 on the floor. A nominal 20 ft container takes about 11 Euro pallets or 10 of the 48 x 40 size on the floor. Enter your own pallet size, weight and stacking limit and the planner packs it rather than quoting a rule of thumb.

How does the planner pack a container?

It is a constructive 3D bin packing heuristic. Units are placed one at a time at the lowest free corner where they stay inside the walls, overlap nothing, rest on the floor or on units below with at least 75 percent of the base supported, respect the rotations each line allows, and keep the weight under the payload. Each placement is slid against the walls and neighbours. The search repeats that with different corner rules and unit orderings, including seeded random ones, and keeps the packing with the most volume, then the most units.

Is this the best possible packing?

Not guaranteed. Optimal 3D packing is an NP-hard problem, so the planner is a heuristic that tries many orderings and keeps the best; on regular loads it often finds a perfect fit, on awkward mixes it can leave a little room that a skilled loader would use. Treat the unit counts as a planning estimate and keep a margin.

What do upright only, can rotate and highest layer mean?

Upright only keeps the height you entered vertical and lets the unit turn on its vertical axis. Can rotate allows all six orientations. Fixed keeps the unit exactly as entered. Highest layer is the highest level a unit may sit at, with 1 meaning floor only. Weight allowed on top is the most weight that may rest on one unit, counting everything above it; 0 means nothing may be put on it.

How many containers do I need for the whole load?

The planner fills one container at a time, then repeats on what is left, and reports the number of containers, how full each is, and a lower bound from total volume and total weight. It then tries to merge the last two containers into one. Because it is a heuristic the count may be one higher than the best possible; the lower bound shows how close it is.

What does swapping to a 40 ft high cube or to pallets change?

The comparison runs the same cargo through every standard size and through pallets. A high cube adds height, which helps only if your units can stack. Palletising packs your cartons onto 48 x 40 inch pallets within a height cap, then packs the loaded pallets into each container; it usually costs some volume to the pallet deck but makes the load faster to handle. The table shows the container count and fill for each so you can weigh it against your own quotes.

Does this check that my load is safe or legal?

No. It is a planning aid. It reports where the centre of gravity falls, assuming each unit is evenly loaded, against planning tolerances you should replace with your carrier's. It does not check load securing, axle weights, pallet overhang, hazardous goods rules, or any road, rail, sea or air limit, and it uses nominal container sizes that you can edit. Your carrier, forwarder or loading supervisor decides what can be shipped.

Is my cargo list uploaded?

No. The planner runs in your browser from figures you type, nothing is sent to a server, there are no accounts, and it works offline after the page loads.