40ft New High-Cube Double-Door Container

excl. VAT · incl. VAT: €4,758.81

Two open ends and thirty extra centimetres

Most container decisions are single variable. You choose height, or you choose access. A 40ft high cube double door container is the case where you take both at once, and the two features compound rather than simply add. The recorded internal dimensions are 1203.20 cm long, 235.20 cm wide and 269.80 cm high, with 28.14 m² of floor and 76.40 m³ of volume. Both apertures are recorded at 234.01 cm wide by 258.50 cm high. Externally the unit measures 1219.20 cm by 243.79 cm by 289.61 cm, with a maximum gross weight of 30,480 kg and a tare of 4,000 kg, leaving 26,480 kg of carrying capacity. The reason to look closely at those numbers is that they change what you can build inside the box, not just what you can put in it.

Recorded specification, and the standard height comparison

Every horizontal figure is identical. The internal height gains 30.30 cm, the door opening height gains 30.51 cm, and the volume gains 9.39 m³, which is close to fourteen per cent more cubic capacity on exactly the same footprint, the same door width and the same weight rating. The door opening figure is the one that is easy to overlook and the one that most often decides a purchase, because a load that fits under the roof but not through the aperture is a load you cannot get in.

Racking layouts in a 40ft high cube double door container

Twin runs with a through aisle

The standard racking answer in a single ended box is a run down one side and a working aisle down the other, because everything has to come back out of one door. With apertures at both ends, the natural layout changes to two runs down both side walls with a clear aisle down the centre that opens at both ends. The container stops being a cupboard and becomes a short aisle of a warehouse. Picking runs in one direction, replenishment comes from the other, and a pallet truck no longer has to be reversed the full length. Nothing about that layout is possible in a single ended unit, where the far end of the aisle is always a dead end.

Adding a tier

The 30.30 cm of extra internal height is very often exactly one additional beam level on light duty shelving, or the clearance that makes a second pallet layer safe rather than borderline. Combine that with the through aisle and the gain multiplies: an extra tier on both side runs, reachable from either end, in a unit that has not grown by a single centimetre on the yard drawing. When planning, work from the truck rather than the shelf. A forklift or a stacker needs closed mast height plus lift, tilt and withdrawal clearance, and it is that figure, not the height of the top pallet, that decides whether the top level is usable.

Flow lanes and staging

Because both ends open, gravity flow lanes and simple roller tracks become worth considering. Stock is loaded at one end, travels the length of the container, and is picked at the other, which enforces rotation by geometry instead of by discipline. The high cube adds the headroom to run more than one lane vertically, or to keep a lane at a sensible working height while still using the space above it. This is the reason the type turns up as a buffer store between production and despatch, in workshops that consume components steadily and in operations that hold dated stock.

Height, doors and getting things in

The recorded door opening height is 258.50 cm against an internal height of 269.80 cm. The roughly 11 cm difference is the door header and top rail. Practically, if an item is close to 258.50 cm it is coming in on a low skate, a roller track or a set of jacks and not on forks, because the tines add their own height under the load. The same care applies across the width: 234.01 cm of aperture against 235.20 cm internal width leaves almost nothing to spare, so anything that fills the width needs to be square to the opening. Machines on frames, tall packaged plant, racking uprights delivered assembled, glass stillages, palletised windows, tyres, mattresses and light bulky goods are the loads where the taller aperture repays the choice.

What the extra height means for a fit out

If the container is going to be lined, insulated and fitted out, height is the resource that a fit out consumes fastest. A raised or overlaid floor takes some, battens and insulation on the ceiling take more, a ceiling board takes more again, and lighting, cable trays and any ventilation duct take the last of it. Starting from an internal height of 269.80 cm rather than a standard height gives the design somewhere to spend that. It also lets services run overhead, along the roof line, instead of being pushed down a side wall where they compete with racking or a bench. In a double ended shell that matters more than usual, because both ends are already committed to access, so there is no blind end wall to hide a distribution board, a heater or a duct behind.

Choosing between standard height and high cube with two door ends

• Choose the standard height version when the site has a hard height limit, when the route in passes under a canopy, a cable or a low gateway, or when the load is dense enough that weight is the binding constraint rather than space.
• Choose the high cube version when the plan involves racking, an extra tier, a lining and fit out, tall single items, or anything where 258.50 cm of clear door opening against 227.99 cm decides whether the item goes in at all.
• The horizontal decisions are identical either way. Both are 1203.20 cm long and 235.20 cm wide internally, both have a 234.01 cm door width, both are rated to 30,480 kg gross with a 4,000 kg tare, so the choice is genuinely about height alone.

What a taller double ended shell asks of you

An external height of 289.61 cm has consequences before the unit ever reaches you. It sits on a vehicle bed, so the loaded travelling height is greater than the container height, and the delivery route needs checking for bridges, overhead cables, canopies and gateways. A side loader or tilt bed needs generous clearance above the unit while it is being placed, well beyond the height of the box itself. Once in position, the taller shell presents more side area to the wind, and because both ends are door frames rather than stiff corrugated panels, the unit relies on the corner posts, headers, sills, rails and floor for its resistance to racking. Bear all four corner castings on concrete pads, sleepers or spreader plates, level it properly, and confirm both sets of doors close cleanly before the transport leaves. Lift and stack only at the corner castings.

Buying new, and what to specify

Ordering new matters more on this type than on a plain box, because there is twice the door hardware to go wrong and door alignment is expensive to correct after the fact. A new unit gives unforced cams and keepers, uncrushed gaskets, a clean floor and an unmarked shell for lining or branding. When you enquire, be specific about the things that are not fixed by the dimensions: how each end is to be secured and whether a lock box arrangement is fitted to both ends, whether lashing points are provided and where, whether the floor specification suits the trucks you intend to drive inside, and whether any documentation such as a CSC safety approval plate is included, which matters if the unit will travel rather than stand still. If you intend to cut a personnel door, a window or vents later, say so early, because a shell that has already traded both end panels for apertures deserves a considered approach to removing further panel area.

Used well, a 40ft high cube double door container gives you 76.40 m³ of usable volume with access from both ends, on the ground area of an ordinary forty foot box. That combination is why it tends to be chosen for storage that has to flow rather than storage that merely has to sit.

How does a 40ft high cube double door container compare with the standard height version?

Every horizontal figure is the same: 1203.20 cm internal length, 235.20 cm internal width and a 234.01 cm door width. The differences are vertical. Internal height is 269.80 cm against 239.50 cm, door opening height is 258.50 cm against 227.99 cm, and volume is 76.40 cubic metres against 67.01. Weight ratings are identical.

Why does the door opening height matter more than the internal height?

Because everything is loaded through the aperture. The recorded door opening height is 258.50 cm and the internal height is 269.80 cm, so about 11 cm of the roof line is unusable for getting an item in. Anything carried on forks is raised further still, which is why tall items are often better moved on low skates or roller tracks.

What racking layout suits a double ended container?

Two runs along both side walls with a clear central aisle open at both ends is the layout the type is built for. Picking runs in one direction and replenishment comes from the other, so a pallet truck never has to be reversed the full length. The extra height often supports one more beam level on each run.

What is the payload?

The recorded maximum gross weight is 30,480 kg with a tare of 4,000 kg, leaving 26,480 kg of carrying capacity across 28.14 square metres of floor and 76.40 cubic metres of volume. Because the weight rating matches the standard height version, the taller box is chosen for space rather than for extra load capacity.

Does the external height affect delivery?

Yes. The external height is 289.61 cm, and the unit travels on a vehicle bed, so the loaded height is greater still. Check the route for bridges, overhead cables, canopies and gateways, and allow generous clearance above the unit for a side loader or tilt bed while it is being placed on site.