How many metres of DN110 HDPE pipe fit in a 40' container?

Geometrically about 500 sticks of 11.8 m, or 5,900 m, in a high-cube; a real load with bearers and straps is 4,800–5,300 m. At SDR 17 that weighs around 11–12 t; at SDR 11 around 16–17 t. Coiled DN110 in thin walls packs differently and usually less densely than sticks.

Why does export pipe come in 11.8 m lengths instead of 12 m?

Because a 40' container is 12.03 m inside and the corner castings intrude; 12 m pipe does not slide in. 11.8 m does, with room for dunnage. For a 20' container the equivalent is 5.8 m. The pipeline does not notice the 20 cm; the freight bill notices whether the pipe went in a box or on a flat-rack.

Does nesting damage the pipe?

Not if the inner pipe clears the outer bore by 10 mm or more and both ends are capped or spaced so it cannot move. Done without caps, it scores the outer bore and the inner pipe's stripe over a five-week voyage. Scores over 10 % of the wall are a rejection criterion, so nested pipe is inspected on unloading.

Is HDPE pipe limited by weight or by volume in a container?

By volume at every size in SDR 17 and above: a full 40' high-cube of thin-wall pipe weighs 10–13 t against a payload of about 28 t. Weight only approaches destination road limits for small diameters in heavy walls (DN63–DN110 in SDR 11 or thicker), which are better coiled anyway.

What documents should come with a container of HDPE pipe?

Packing list with batch numbers matching the pipe's print line, mill test certificate per batch to ISO 4427-2, compound certificate, certificate of origin with the HS code, commercial invoice stating the Incoterm, bill of lading with container and seal numbers, and loading photographs. The batch-to-certificate match is the one to check before sailing.

Can large-diameter pipe like DN630 or DN800 go in a container?

DN630 goes in a 40' high-cube at twelve sticks, which is 142 m — an expensive way to ship air unless the bores are filled with nested smaller sizes. DN800 fits six sticks. From DN710 up, and for any DN630 order without pipe to nest inside, break-bulk or flat-rack shipping is usually cheaper per metre.

Technical articles

Shipping HDPE pipe by container: what a 40-foot box really holds

Name: HDPE pipe truck loading for export
Uploaded: 2026-09-05T17:29:39-07:00
Description: Sticks going onto the truck for the port leg. The order of the load is the same on a truck as in a box: heavy and large low, strapped every few rows, nothing resting on a coil.

Polyethylene pipe fills a container by volume long before it reaches the weight limit, so the price per metre landed at your port depends on how the box is packed as much as on the price per tonne. Here are the numbers by diameter, the nesting chains that change them, and the paperwork that has to travel in the door pocket.

Written by Zhou Min, Quality Manager, HDPE Factory17 September 202611 min read

Ask a supplier how much pipe fits in a 40-foot container and the honest answer is a question back: what diameter, what SDR, coils or sticks, and will you accept nesting? The evasive answer is “it depends”. Both are true and neither helps you compare two quotes, so this article gives the numbers. They are geometric maxima computed from the container's internal dimensions and the pipe's outside diameter, with the practical allowance stated separately, and the tonnages come from the ISO 4427-2 wall table at mid-tolerance — the same arithmetic we use to plan a load.

The point of knowing them is not to pack the box yourself. It is to see when a quote per metre is hiding a half-empty container, and when a small change — 11.8 m sticks instead of 12 m, one nested size, coils for everything under DN90 — turns two containers into one.

A 40' high-cube in cross-section with DN315 sticks stacked seven across and eight high, each carrying a DN250 inside and a DN200 inside that. Nesting turns one row of pipe into three.

Three boxes and what they hold

Internal dimensions and payload of the three containers used for pipe
Container	Internal L × W × H (m)	Door opening W × H (m)	Max payload (t)	Longest pipe that loads
20' general purpose	5.90 × 2.35 × 2.39	2.34 × 2.28	≈ 28 (often limited to 21–24 by road)	5.8 m
40' general purpose	12.03 × 2.35 × 2.39	2.34 × 2.28	≈ 28 (often limited to 24–26 by road)	11.8 m
40' high-cube	12.03 × 2.35 × 2.69	2.34 × 2.58	≈ 28 (often limited to 24–26 by road)	11.8 m

Dimensions per ISO 668 series 1 containers; individual boxes vary by a few centimetres, and the door is smaller than the interior. Payload is the container's rating; the destination country's road weight limits usually bite first, so the working figure for a full container of pipe is 20–26 t depending on where it is going.

Two things follow from that table. The 40' high-cube is the default for pipe: 30 cm more height is 12 % more volume for a freight rate that is rarely 12 % more. And the standard pipe length of 12 m does not fit a 40' container — the interior is 12.03 m and the corner castings intrude — so pipe for export is cut at 11.8 m, or 5.8 m for a 20' box. Every reputable exporter knows this; a quote that says 12 m and a 40' container in the same line has not been thought through.

Straight lengths: how many sticks, how many metres, how many tonnes

Geometric maximum load of 11.8 m PE100 sticks in a 40' high-cube, by diameter
DN (mm)	Sticks (across × high)	Metres	Tonnes at SDR 17	Tonnes at SDR 11	Limiting factor
63	37 × 42 = 1,554	18,300	13.1	19.2	Volume (coil instead — see below)
90	26 × 29 = 754	8,900	12.9	18.9	Volume
110	21 × 24 = 504	5,950	12.9	18.7	Volume
160	14 × 16 = 224	2,640	12.0	17.7	Volume
200	11 × 13 = 143	1,690	11.9	17.6	Volume
250	9 × 10 = 90	1,060	11.7	17.2	Volume
315	7 × 8 = 56	660	11.5	17.0	Volume
400	5 × 6 = 30	354	9.9	14.7	Volume, poor fit
500	4 × 5 = 20	236	10.4	15.3	Volume, poor fit
630	3 × 4 = 12	142	9.9	14.6	Volume — nest or ship break-bulk

Square packing of the internal width and height (2.35 × 2.69 m) with no allowance for bearers, straps or the door being smaller than the interior. Real loads reach 80–90 % of these counts for DN63–DN315 and less for large bore. Tonnes from ISO 4427-2 mid-tolerance wall at 0.955 g/cm³; contract weight is by the specification and the weighbridge, not this table.

Read down the SDR 17 column and one thing stands out: not a single row reaches even 14 t. Polyethylene pipe is light, and a 40' box of thin-wall pipe is two-thirds air. That is why the price per metre delivered depends so heavily on packing: freight is per container, and a container of DN315 SDR 17 carries 660 m to spread it over. Only at small diameters and heavy walls — DN63 to DN110 in SDR 11 and thicker — does a full box approach the road limits of some destinations, and those are exactly the sizes that should be coiled anyway.

A container at the door end. The last metre is where fittings, coils and dunnage go — the sticks are already in and strapped.

Nesting: pipe inside pipe

Nesting — sliding a smaller pipe inside a larger one — is how a mixed-diameter order fills a container instead of two. The rule is simple: the inner pipe's outside diameter must clear the outer pipe's inside diameter by enough to slide in and out without scoring, which in practice means 10 mm or more, and the inner pipe must be capped or spaced at the ends so it cannot rattle against the outer wall in a rolling ship for five weeks. Thin-wall pipe nests better because it has a bigger bore for the same DN.

A nesting chain for SDR 17 PE100 pipe, largest to smallest
Outer pipe DN	Its bore at SDR 17 (mm)	Largest pipe that nests	Radial clearance (mm)	Note
315	276	DN250	26	Comfortable; DN250 SDR 11 fits too
250	219	DN200	19	Fine
200	175	DN160	15	Fine; cap both ends
160	140	DN110	30	Comfortable; DN125 (15 mm) also works
110	96	DN75	21	DN90 would leave 6 mm — too tight, it scores
75	65	DN50	15	Below this, coil instead of nest

Bores from ISO 4427-2 mid-tolerance walls. In SDR 11 the bores are smaller — DN315 SDR 11 has a 255 mm bore, and DN250 would clear by 5 mm, which is not enough — so heavy-wall chains skip a size. Nested pipe appears as separate line items on the packing list with its own metres, and each nested pipe is inspected on unloading for scoring; more than 10 % of the wall is a reject.

Coils: small bore, big savings

Pipe up to DN90 in SDR 11 and DN110 in thinner walls is flexible enough to coil, and coiling changes the loading arithmetic entirely: a DN32 coil of 100 m occupies a disc about a metre across and 30 cm deep, and coils stack flat on pallets or stand on edge in racks. Standard coil lengths are 50 m, 100 m and 200 m, with 300 m and 500 m drums for DN20–DN40 on request. A coiled order also has far fewer joints on site — one every hundred metres instead of every twelve — which for a farm or an irrigation scheme is more valuable than the freight saving.

Coils on pallets, strapped through the core. A 40' high-cube takes twenty to twenty-four pallets of this kind depending on coil diameter, each carrying several thousand metres of small-bore pipe.

Coils going out. Note the straps through the core rather than around the outside — a coil strapped only around its circumference springs open when the strap is cut, and a DN90 coil has enough stored energy to injure.

Sticks, coils and fittings in the same box

Most project orders are a mix: a few hundred metres of DN315 main, some DN160 branches, coils of DN63 for services, and a pallet of fittings. The container is loaded in a fixed order so that nothing heavy rests on anything that cannot take it and the fittings are reachable at the door.

1
Floor bearers, then the largest sticks
Timber bearers across the floor keep the bottom row off the steel and give the straps something to bite. The biggest diameter goes in first, along the length, in rows.
2
Nest as each row goes in
Inner pipes are pushed in before the next row is stacked, with end caps or spacers fitted. It is impossible to nest after the row above is on.
3
Strap every two or three rows
Polyester lashing across the load and to the container's lashing rings, tensioned but not crushing. Thin-wall large-bore pipe ovalises under an over-tight strap.
4
Fill the voids with coils
Small coils lie in the gaps above the top row and against the walls, in bags to keep them clean.
5
Fittings and small coils on pallets at the door
Fittings travel in cartons on pallets, strapped, with a packing list on each pallet. They come out first at the site and are counted first.
6
Dunnage, photographs, seal
Airbags or timber brace the load against the door. The load is photographed from the door with the container number in frame, the seal is fitted, and the seal number goes on the bill of lading.

A bundle end-on before loading. This is the view the unloading inspector wants: every bore clean, every end square, wall visible and measurable.

Paperwork that travels with the pipe

Documents for a container of PE pipe, and what each must show
Document	Must show	Who relies on it
Packing list	Per line: DN, SDR, PN, colour/stripe, length or coil metres, pieces, metres, net and gross kg; nested items listed separately; container and seal numbers	Customs, the unloading crew, your stock system
Mill test certificate (per batch)	Batch numbers matching the pipe print line; dimensions, MFR, OIT, carbon black, hydrostatic tests to ISO 4427-2	Your engineer, the client's inspector
Compound certificate	Resin maker, grade, MRS classification; PE100+ listing if claimed	Your engineer
Certificate of origin	Exporter, HS code (3917.21 for PE tubes), country of origin — determines duty	Customs broker
Commercial invoice	Incoterm and named place; currency; matches packing list quantities exactly	Customs, your bank
Bill of lading	Container and seal numbers matching the packing list; shipper, consignee, notify party	Carrier release at destination
Loading photographs	Interior before door closure, container number and seal in frame	Insurance claim, if it comes to that

A packing list whose batch numbers do not match the print line on the pipe cannot be tied to a test certificate, and a pipe without a traceable certificate is, in specification terms, uncertified. Check the match before the ship sails, not after.

Sticks going onto the truck for the port leg. The order of the load is the same on a truck as in a box: heavy and large low, strapped every few rows, nothing resting on a coil.

Landed cost: turning metres into money

landed cost per metre = (FOB price + ocean freight + insurance + duty + port and inland charges) ÷ metres actually loaded

FOB is the price at the loading port under Incoterms 2020; freight and insurance are per container; duty is a percentage of the CIF value at the HS code; metres actually loaded is the number on the packing list, not the geometric maximum.

That denominator is the whole argument of this article. Two quotes at the same price per tonne can differ by 20 % per metre landed if one supplier ships 11.8 m sticks nested and coiled and the other ships 12 m on a flat-rack. Ask every supplier for the metres per container they will actually load for your mix, and put that number in the comparison next to the price. It is the one figure the brochure never carries.

Sources and standards

Frequently asked questions

How many metres of DN110 HDPE pipe fit in a 40' container?: Geometrically about 500 sticks of 11.8 m, or 5,900 m, in a high-cube; a real load with bearers and straps is 4,800–5,300 m. At SDR 17 that weighs around 11–12 t; at SDR 11 around 16–17 t. Coiled DN110 in thin walls packs differently and usually less densely than sticks.
Why does export pipe come in 11.8 m lengths instead of 12 m?: Because a 40' container is 12.03 m inside and the corner castings intrude; 12 m pipe does not slide in. 11.8 m does, with room for dunnage. For a 20' container the equivalent is 5.8 m. The pipeline does not notice the 20 cm; the freight bill notices whether the pipe went in a box or on a flat-rack.
Does nesting damage the pipe?: Not if the inner pipe clears the outer bore by 10 mm or more and both ends are capped or spaced so it cannot move. Done without caps, it scores the outer bore and the inner pipe's stripe over a five-week voyage. Scores over 10 % of the wall are a rejection criterion, so nested pipe is inspected on unloading.
Is HDPE pipe limited by weight or by volume in a container?: By volume at every size in SDR 17 and above: a full 40' high-cube of thin-wall pipe weighs 10–13 t against a payload of about 28 t. Weight only approaches destination road limits for small diameters in heavy walls (DN63–DN110 in SDR 11 or thicker), which are better coiled anyway.
What documents should come with a container of HDPE pipe?: Packing list with batch numbers matching the pipe's print line, mill test certificate per batch to ISO 4427-2, compound certificate, certificate of origin with the HS code, commercial invoice stating the Incoterm, bill of lading with container and seal numbers, and loading photographs. The batch-to-certificate match is the one to check before sailing.
Can large-diameter pipe like DN630 or DN800 go in a container?: DN630 goes in a 40' high-cube at twelve sticks, which is 142 m — an expensive way to ship air unless the bores are filled with nested smaller sizes. DN800 fits six sticks. From DN710 up, and for any DN630 order without pipe to nest inside, break-bulk or flat-rack shipping is usually cheaper per metre.

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