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A Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) is a standard measurement used in the shipping and transportation industry to quantify the cargo capacity of container ships, as well as other modes of transport like railcars and trucks.
Definition:
- TEU: Stands for Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit.
- Measurement: It is a unit of cargo capacity that represents the volume of a standard shipping container, specifically one that is 20 feet long (about 6.1 meters).
- Standardization: The TEU is standardized to enable uniform measurement of containerized cargo across different modes of transportation and shipping vessels.
Key Points:
- Container Size: A standard TEU container is 20 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 8 feet 6 inches high (about 6.1 meters long, 2.44 meters wide, and 2.59 meters high).
- Equivalent Units: Other container sizes are often measured in terms of their equivalent to TEUs. For example, a 40-foot container is equivalent to 2 TEUs (often referred to as FEU or Forty Foot Equivalent Unit).
- Usage: TEUs are used to calculate the cargo capacity of container ships, the capacity of container terminals, and the efficiency of intermodal transport systems involving ships, trains, and trucks.
- Standardization Impact: The TEU standard has greatly facilitated global trade by providing a common unit for measuring containerized cargo, simplifying logistics planning and container handling operations worldwide.
The Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) is a standardized measurement that simplifies the quantification and handling of containerized cargo across various transportation modes, crucial for the efficiency and scalability of global logistics and shipping operations.
See Related Term:
- Container