Freight calculators that show their working

What you will be charged, what fits on the truck, and whether the way it is loaded is legal. Working from the divisors and the limits that actually apply, with every step of the arithmetic on screen so you can check it rather than take it on trust.

Calculators

What fits, and how it goes in

What fitsPallets per containerGMA or Euro pallets into a 20ft, 40ft, high cube or European trailer, with double stacking and payload.Open the calculator →What fitsMixed loadSeveral different items in one container or trailer, with a stowage plan and a door-height check.Open the calculator →What fitsPallet loadingCartons, tubes and drums per pallet, with the pattern drawn and all four pallet sizes compared.Open the calculator →

What you will be charged

What you get billedDimensional weightBillable weight for parcels, road groupage, air and sea — including the loading metre for non-stackable freight.Open the calculator →What you get billedFreight classDensity to NMFC class on the 13-sub scale in force since July 2025, and how far you are from the next break.Open the calculator →

And whether it is legal

Keep it legalBill of ladingA US straight bill of lading or an international CMR note. It tells you which required particular is missing and which rule asks for it.Open the calculator →Keep it legalTop-over lashingsTop-over straps needed under EN 12195-1, from the STF on the label and what the load is standing on. Shows what an anti-slip mat would save you.Open the calculator →Keep it legalAxle weightsDrag the load along the trailer and see each axle live. European limits and the US federal bridge formula, on every group of axles.Open the calculator →

Why another calculator site

Most shipping calculators give you a number and stop. That is fine until the number disagrees with a carrier invoice and you need to work out which of you is wrong — and the calculator cannot tell you, because whoever built it did not know either.

Every tool here prints the full arithmetic, names the rule it applied, and says where it stops being reliable. They are written by someone who spends his working day around pallets and loading bays, not by a content agency working from a keyword list. Where a rule has an exception that catches people out — and most of them do — it is written down rather than quietly ignored.

Guides

Your truck is under 40 tonnes and still illegal — The total tells you nothing about the split. Spanish limits are not the European ones, and the driving axle has a minimum as well as a maximum.
You signed “received in good order” and just lost €19,000 — In Europe a carrier's liability is worked out per kilo, not on what the goods are worth. In the United States it is the actual loss. And the signature decides who wins the argument.
It fits inside the container. It will not go through the door. — Container tables give internal height. Cargo goes in through the door, which is around 100 mm lower. The gap has stranded a lot of machinery on a lot of quays.
If you run cabotage in Spain, your paper control document expires on 5 October — Spain's administrative control document goes digital on 5 October 2026. It applies to cabotage, so it catches foreign hauliers who never see the Spanish trade press.
The strap over your load is not holding it — A strap thrown over the load holds nothing by itself. It presses down; friction does the work. Once you see that, the number on the label stops meaning what you thought.
The NMFC changed in July 2025. Here is what actually moved — Only freight over 35 lb/ft³ changed class on the density scale. The expensive part of the reform is somewhere else entirely.
The day your pallet stops paying for volume and starts paying for floor — A non-stackable pallet blocks the floor and the air above it, and is billed for both. The same item goes from 360 to 700 kg without gaining a gram.
They hand back all 33 pallets and six are no longer currency — They give back the same number of pallets, not the same pallets. Four defects take one out of the pool, and the person counting on the dock is you.