Calculate cargo volume in cubic meters (CBM) from length, width, and height — for one unit or a full shipment.
Calculator verified • Last updated: August 2026
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CBM (cubic meters) is the standard unit for describing how much space a shipment occupies — used across sea freight, air freight, and trucking to plan container and vehicle loading. The formula converts a package's dimensions, measured in centimeters, into cubic meters:
$$\text{CBM} = \frac{L \times W \times H \text{ (cm)}}{1{,}000{,}000}$$
L, W, H: the package's length, width, and height, in centimeters.
1,000,000: the conversion factor from cubic centimeters to cubic meters (100 cm × 100 cm × 100 cm = 1,000,000 cm³ per m³).
For a shipment of several identical units, multiply the per-unit CBM by the quantity to get the total volume the shipment will occupy.
A box measuring 60 × 40 × 30 cm, with a quantity of 10 identical boxes: volume per box = 60 × 40 × 30 = 72,000 cm³, which divided by 1,000,000 gives 0.072 m³ per box. Total CBM = 0.072 × 10 = 0.72 m³ for the full shipment.
Freight forwarders, especially for less-than-container-load (LCL) sea freight, commonly bill based on whichever is greater: actual weight or a volumetric weight derived from CBM. A frequently cited reference ratio in ocean freight is roughly 1 CBM to 1,000 kilograms, but that conversion factor is set by each forwarder and carrier, and can differ by trade lane and service — always confirm the exact ratio with your freight forwarder before using CBM to estimate real shipping costs, the same way a dimensional-weight divisor varies by air carrier.
Mixing units without converting is the most common error — entering some dimensions in inches and others in centimeters produces a volume that isn't meaningful in either unit. Forgetting to multiply by quantity is another: the per-unit CBM alone understates a multi-box shipment's real footprint. Finally, CBM measures volume, not weight — a heavy, compact shipment can have a small CBM but still be billed on actual weight rather than volume, so CBM alone doesn't tell you the full shipping cost.
CBM — cubic meters, the standard measure of cargo volume in freight and shipping.
LCL (Less than Container Load) — a sea freight shipment that shares container space with other shippers' cargo, typically billed by CBM or weight, whichever is greater.
FCL (Full Container Load) — a shipment that fills (or books) an entire container, typically billed as a flat rate regardless of exact CBM.
Volumetric Weight — a weight equivalent derived from a shipment's volume, used to compare against actual scale weight when billing.
CBM stands for cubic meters — the standard measure of cargo volume used in freight and shipping to describe how much space a shipment occupies. It's calculated by multiplying a package's length, width, and height together.
Convert each dimension from inches to centimeters first (multiply by 2.54), then multiply length by width by height in centimeters and divide by 1,000,000. Mixing inch and centimeter values in the same calculation without converting is one of the most common CBM mistakes.
Freight forwarders and carriers, especially for less-than-container-load (LCL) sea freight, often charge based on whichever is greater: actual weight or a volumetric weight derived from CBM. A large, light shipment can cost more to ship than its weight alone would suggest, because it's being charged for the space it occupies.