A question frequently asked is: just how many shipping containers are there in the world? Our friends at ICHCA International have tried to provide a definitive answer based on best estimates from a number of industry sources. They estimate that there are about 10.85 million maritime containers currently in use, split roughly 49:49 between 20-foot and 40-foot units (with 45-foot containers accounting for the remaining 2%). In TEUs, the total figure is 16.4 million. There are another roughly 834,000 TEU of "non-maritime" containers.

ICHCA International also estimates that there are between 275 and 300 million container movements in the world in a single year.