Container Loading Calculator — from Excel
Upload a spreadsheet of your cargo and find out how many containers or trucks you actually need, how full they are, and what will not fit. Free, no sign-up, no card. Real bin-packing engine — not a volume ÷ volume estimate.
Get the template
Length, width, height and weight are mandatory. Everything else — quantity, stackability, rotation, floor-only — is optional and improves the result.
Download XLSX templateUpload your cargo list
Your file is read in your browser. Only the cargo dimensions are sent for calculation — no file is stored.
Pick a container or truck
Upload a cargo file first.
Why a spreadsheet formula gets this wrong
The usual Excel approach is to divide total cargo volume by container volume. That number is always optimistic, often badly so, because cargo is not a liquid. Boxes have fixed dimensions, they cannot be poured into corners, and a 40ft container that is "80% full" by volume may be physically unable to take one more pallet.
Real loading is a three-dimensional bin-packing problem. Whether a box fits depends on what is already in the container, which way it can be turned, whether anything may be stacked on it, and how much weight that stack can bear. This calculator runs the same packing engine as the LoadCargo.in planner: it actually places every box, then reports what happened.
What the template columns mean
| Column | Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Shipment Mark | Optional | Groups cargo into shipments (multi-stop loads). |
| B | Box Id | Optional | Your reference for the cargo type. |
| C | Box Mark | Optional | Label shown on the box. |
| D | Quantity | Optional | Number of identical boxes. Defaults to 1. |
| E | Length (cm) | Mandatory | |
| F | Width (cm) | Mandatory | |
| G | Height (cm) | Mandatory | |
| H | Weight (kg) | Mandatory | Per box, not per line. |
| I | Stackable | Optional | y / n. Anything not "n" is treated as stackable. |
| J | Stack weight | Optional | Max weight this box can carry on top of it. |
| K | Turnable | Optional | 0 = fixed, 1 = may turn in plan, 2 = any orientation. |
| L | Priority | Optional | Loading priority (used by the full planner). |
| M | Group | Optional | y / n — keep this cargo together. |
| N | Floor only | Optional | y / n — must sit on the container floor. |
The first three rows of the template are headers — your data starts on row 4. Dimensions in centimetres, weight in kilograms.