What the Heck is a TEU? (And Why It Matters in Shipping)
If you've ever heard someone in the shipping world throw around the term TEU and felt a little lost, you’re not alone. It sounds technical, but it’s actually a simple way to measure cargo capacity in the world of containers. Let’s break it down. TEU: The Basics TEU stands for Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit —a fancy way of saying one standard 20-foot shipping container . Think of it as the building block of global shipping. A 20-foot container = 1 TEU A 40-foot container = 2 TEUs This measurement helps ports, shipping lines, and logistics companies standardize how much freight can fit on ships, trucks, and trains. Why TEUs Matter Understanding TEUs helps explain why some ports are busier than others . The capacity of a port is often measured in how many TEUs it can handle. Mega ports like Shanghai or Los Angeles can handle upwards of 120,000 TEUs at a time . Smaller terminals might only handle 17,500 TEUs before reaching full capacity. This difference impacts everything from ship...


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