How many teak chairs fit in a container? Reading CBM and container counts

For an importer, the price of a teak chair at the factory gate is only part of its cost. Freight is charged per container, so the number of pieces that fit a container decides how much of the freight each piece carries. That is why every product page on this site shows the packed volume in cubic metres (CBM) next to the price.

What CBM means here. The CBM figure is the volume of the packed carton, not of the furniture standing up. A folding chair closed flat in its carton takes a fraction of the space it occupies when open; a knock-down bench packed in parts takes far less than an assembled one. The packing type is listed on each product page: knock-down, folded, or assembled.

Container sizes. As a rough guide, a 20FT container holds about 33 CBM, a 40FT about 67 CBM and a 40HQ about 76 CBM, but no container is ever filled to its nominal volume: cartons do not stack perfectly and some space is always lost. In practice, plan on roughly 85 to 90 percent of the nominal figure.

A quick estimate. Multiply the CBM of each model by the quantity you want, add the totals together, and compare the sum with the usable volume of the container. If a mixed order comes to 58 CBM, it fits a 40HQ with room to spare, or a 40FT only just. The quotation list on this site does this sum for you as you add pieces and shows how full the container would be.

Why the mix matters. Large, light items such as loungers and extending tables fill a container by volume long before they reach its weight limit; small folding chairs and side tables fill the gaps between them. A well-planned mix of big and small pieces makes better use of the same freight cost than a container of one model.

What we do. When you send a quotation list, we check it against how we actually load, and suggest adjustments if a few more pieces would fill the container or if an order is just over a size. There is no minimum order, and orders that do not fill a container can travel as LCL.