Container Type – 20’GP/40’GP/40’HQ

These three types are the most common ones used for container shipping.

20’GP = 20’DV = 20FT = 20′ = 20 feet general purpose
40’GP = 40’DV = 40FT = 40′ = 40 feet general purpose
40’HC = 40’HQ = 40 feet high cube

* General purpose commonly means Dry Container (DC). Sometimes if fluid goods are packed by a flexible container bag, it can also be delivery by standard DC.

20’GP is designed to carry more weight than voluminous cargo.
Example – minerals, metals, machinery, etc. all of which are heavy goods.

40’GP is designed to carry voluminous cargo rather than heavy cargo.
Example – furniture, tyres, toys, etc. all of which are voluminous goods.

Though the volume of 40ft is twice than the 20ft, the max load of both is the same, no more than 27~28 ton in China, most cases under 20 ton. While you can load more than double the 20ft cargo volume into a 40ft, you cannot load double the 20ft cargo weight into a 40ft.

The ocean rates from China for a 40′ container is less than double of a 20′ container – you may take it as rough 1.5 times for easy reference. And the 40’HQ cost the same as the 40’GP, sometimes higher US$100~200.

In addition to the above three common containers, there are special types if your cargo is not so regular, such as Reefer Container, Open Top Container, Flat-Rack Container, Tank Container, etc.

No matter which type of the container is, you can find many useful data printed on the door, such as CNTR NO., MAX. GROSS, TARE, NET, CU.CAP…