FEU (Forty-foot Equivalent Unit)

FEU stands for Forty-foot Equivalent Unit and represents the capacity of a standard 40-foot container. One FEU equals two TEUs. The 40-foot container (and its high-cube variant with extra height) is the most commonly used container size in international shipping, offering approximately 67 cubic metres of internal space. FEU is used alongside TEU to express container volumes and shipping capacity.

Most containerised cargo ships primarily in 40-foot containers because they offer better economies of scale — the cost per cubic metre is lower than two 20-foot containers, and handling costs (one crane lift instead of two) are halved. For importers in Qatar, 40-foot containers are the default choice unless the cargo is too heavy for the volume (in which case 20-foot containers with lower weight-to-space ratios are preferred) or the total volume is too small.

A standard 40-foot container can hold approximately 22 to 24 standard pallets (1200 x 1000 mm). A 40-foot high-cube container adds about 30 centimetres of internal height, useful for lightweight but voluminous cargo. For heavy goods, the 20-foot container is preferred because the maximum gross weight is nearly the same (30 tonnes) but distributed over a shorter, more manageable length.