Comparing a container's dimensions with a vehicle body looks like two numbers and a subtraction. On the floor the container may not pass the door, may not sit on the ramp or may not turn inside. The gap comes from four details that do not show on paper:
- Door opening: the container's width and height must both pass through it. A TBX 1500 is 2,003 mm high; if the opening is lower, the container does not go in.
- Ribs and rails inside the body reduce the usable width below the nominal internal dimension.
- The height difference and threshold between ramp and body floor decide whether a castored container can roll in.
- The container needs manoeuvring space to turn, and a floor plan does not show it.
Calculation: example body 2,450 × 7,200 × 2,400 mm
The example body has an internal width of 2,450 mm, an internal length of 7,200 mm and an internal height of 2,400 mm; replace these with your own body. GEBHARDT Isotec TBX containers are not stacked, so the count is a floor count. For the on-site measuring steps, see 'Determine TBX vehicle fit from actual measurements'.
| Model | External size (W × L × H, mm) | Across | Along | Floor count | Height clearance (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TBX 410 | 580 × 803 × 1,799 | 4 | 8 | 32 | 601 |
| TBX 600 | 757 × 824 × 1,766 | 3 | 8 | 24 | 634 |
| TBX 725 | 757 × 954 × 1,766 | 3 | 7 | 21 | 634 |
| TBX 795 | 757 × 954 × 1,929 | 3 | 7 | 21 | 471 |
| TBX 900 | 797 × 1,200 × 1,784 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 616 |
| TBX 1000 | 797 × 1,200 × 1,884 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 516 |
| TBX 1070 | 797 × 1,200 × 1,984 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 416 |
| TBX 1170 | 797 × 1,200 × 2,134 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 266 |
| TBX 1500 | 1,023 × 1,224 × 2,003 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 397 |
For the TBX 725: three across take 2,271 mm and leave 179 mm of width; seven along take 6,678 mm and leave 522 mm of length. That is 21 containers on the floor, with 634 mm of height to spare. If ribs and rails take more than 179 mm of the usable width, three across does not fit and the row drops to two.
For the TBX 1500: two across take 2,046 mm and leave 404 mm. If the rails and ribs need more room than that, two containers do not fit side by side.
Overall dimensions and weight
A container that sticks out of the body is an oversize load (gabari dışı yük). Under Article 3 of Turkish Highway Traffic Law No. 2918, gabari is the set of length, width and height dimensions that keep a vehicle safe on the road; Article 65(g) of the same law attaches a penalty to carrying an oversize load.
The TBX 410 weighs 82 kg empty, the 725 L 89 kg, the 1,000 L 129 kg, the 1,170 L 135 kg and the 1,500 L 161 kg. Payload is 500 kg for the 410-795 L sizes and 700 kg from 900 L up. A full 725 L container therefore weighs 589 kg, a figure to confirm by weighing a sample container. For the empty weight of other sizes, ask Aris Makina.
Checks before ordering
Four checks are made: the dimension list; a cardboard or timber mock-up at the container's external size, for the door passage and the turn; a trial with a sample container, for real weight and castor behaviour (castors on the wheeled models are 125 mm polyamide, two swivel and two fixed); and a loading rehearsal. If the mock-up shows a size that does not pass the door, the answer is a different size; if it is found after delivery, the fix costs far more.
The output of the loading rehearsal is a written plan: which container goes where, how many rows there are and in what order they unload. Without a written plan, the load arrangement changes from trip to trip and dead volume grows.
