Estimate a shipment's CBM and chargeable weight
Freight charges on whichever is worse: real weight or volume weight. Compute CBM, volumetric kg, and what you'll actually be billed for.
Tools used in this guide
The job
A carton of pillows fills a container long before it weighs much. Carriers therefore charge on the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight — IATA air cargo divides cm³ by 6,000, so 1 CBM counts as about 167 kg.
Cartons to totals
Enter length, width, height in cm and the carton count — and the per-carton weight if you know it. Output: total CBM, gross weight, volumetric weight, chargeable weight, and the share of a 20ft/40ft/40ft-HC container it fills.
Worked example
120 cartons of 60×40×40 cm at 12 kg each: each carton is 0.096 CBM, so the lot is 11.52 CBM. Volumetric weight is 1,920 kg against a 1,440 kg gross — you pay for 1,920 kg, and the lot fills about 20% of a 40ft container's usable 58 CBM.
Scope
Sides 1–1,000 cm, quantity 1–1,000,000, carton weight up to 100,000 kg. Divisor 6,000 cm³/kg is the common air rule; sea, LCL, and courier services use different divisors. The container percentage is a volume share, not a packing plan — awkward shapes pack worse.