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Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit
The twenty-foot equivalent unit (often TEU or teu) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity often used to describe the capacity of container ships and container terminals.[1] It is based on the volume of a 20-foot long intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box which can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains and trucks.[1] A related unit, the forty-foot equivalent unit (often FEU or feu) is defined as two TEU.

One TEU represents the cargo capacity of a standard intermodal container, 20 feet (6.1 m) long and 8 feet (2.4 m) wide.[1] There is a lack of standardisation in regards to height, ranging between 4.25 and 9.5 feet (1.30 and 2.90 m), with the most common height being 8.5 feet (2.6 m).[2] Also, it is common to designate 45-foot (14 m) containers as 2 TEU, rather than 2.25 TEU.[3]