In the second half of the 20th century, units used to describe the capacity of container ships.
The cargo of such ships is packed in large modular steel containers which are stowed and removed unopened. The first containers were 20 feet by 8 feet by 8 feet high. A TEU or TEQ was the capacity to hold one such container (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit). Later larger containers, 40 by 8 by 8 came into use; a ship’s capacity for such containers is measured in FEQ (Forty Foot Equivalent Units).
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Last revised: 18 November 2014.