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Container loading calculator
How many reels or cartons actually fit in a 20GP, 40GP or 40HQ — and whether you run out of floor or run out of payload first. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Want this checked against the part number you are buying? Send the code, the length and the port — we return a loading plan with reel counts, gross weight and drum size.
How the number is counted
Each unit is treated as a box and fitted in aligned rows and layers along the container's length, width and height — the arrangement any loader can build without a jigsaw. For reels standing upright the box is one flange diameter square; lying on the side it is diameter × traverse width. Stacking multiplies the floor positions by the number of reels you allow per position.
Two limits are then applied. The volume limit is what fits geometrically. The payload limit is max gross weight minus tare. The smaller of the two decides, and the card tells you which one it was — on copper cable it is often the payload, on HDMI and patch cord cartons it is almost always the volume.
- A reel is a cylinder, not a cube: about 78% of its bounding box is air. Real loading plans recover some of that by staggering drums.
- Dunnage, lashing and plywood between layers cost 3–6% of the floor.
- Any figure here is a planning estimate, not a booking — the shipping line's own stowage plan wins.