Twenty-foot equivalent unit
Also called: TEU · Topic: World Transport and Communication · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) is the standard way to count container capacity. One TEU is the space of one container 20 feet (about 6 m) long. A 40-foot container counts as 2 TEU. Ships, ports and terminals all give their size in TEU, so they can be compared easily.
Example
The largest container ships today can carry more than 24,000 TEU. That is the same as more than 24,000 twenty-foot boxes, or about 12,000 forty-foot boxes.
Don't confuse with
- Containerisation: containerisation is the system of moving cargo in standard boxes. TEU is only the unit used to measure it.
Related concepts
- Water transport
- Containerisation
- Hub-and-spoke model
- Transshipment hub
- Northern Atlantic sea route
- Mediterranean-Indian Ocean sea route
- Cape of Good Hope sea route
- Southern Atlantic sea route
- North Pacific sea route
- Honolulu