Seafood moves through three environments — harvest and dock, processing and cold store, then wholesale and delivery — and no single container is right for all three. The mistake we see most in RFQs is buying one container type for the whole chain: heavy insulated totes riding delivery vans where a 12 kg fish box belongs, or foam boxes doing a return route where a washable PP box would pay for itself in a month.
| Container | Typical capacity | Material | Reuse | Indicative price* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insulated fish tote / bin | 70–1,000 L (100 lb – 1,000+ lb iced fish) | Rotomolded PE, PU foam core | 5–10 year service life | $250–900 each |
| PP corrugated fish box / tote | 10–25 kg fish + ice per box | 4–5 mm PP corrugated sheet, food-grade | Dozens of trips, washable | $2.50–6.00 each |
| Wet lock box (wax-free coated corrugated) | 10–50 lb | Corrugated board, water-resistant coating | Single-use, recyclable | $1.20–2.50 each |
| EPS foam box | 5–25 kg | Expanded polystyrene | Single-use, rarely recycled | $0.80–2.50 each |
| Fish trays (display / processing) | 1–10 kg | PP, modular footprints | Reusable, washable | $0.80–2.50 each |
*Indicative volume ranges across the market; actual pricing depends on size, thickness, print and quantity — request a current quote for the PP and wet lock formats we manufacture.
Capacity planning in seafood is a volume problem, because ice rides along. The industry rule: one cubic foot of container volume holds about 40 lb (18 kg) of iced fish. Applied to the standard insulated tote sizes:
| Tote volume | Approx. iced-fish payload | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 70 L | ~100 lb (45 kg) | Small boats, market runs |
| 145 L | ~200 lb (90 kg) | Dock transfer, van routes |
| 270 L | ~380 lb (170 kg) | Plant intake, forklift handling |
| 460 L | ~650 lb (295 kg) | Bulk harvest, aquaculture |
| 660–1,000 L | 900–1,400 lb (410–635 kg) | Industrial harvest and holding |
Then budget the ice inside that payload: at the common 1:2 ice-to-fish ratio (refrigerated transport, pre-chilled fish), roughly a third of the weight is ice; in warm climates or unrefrigerated holds plan up to 1:1, which halves the fish you can carry per container. For box-level sizes and weights in the distribution leg, see our fish tote sizes guide.
Between the 400 lb insulated tote and the single-use foam box sits the container most wholesale routes actually need: a 4–5 mm PP corrugated fish box. It is waterproof (PP absorbs no water, unlike corrugated board), washable with standard food-contact sanitizers, and folds flat for the return leg and off-season storage — the reuse economics work the same way as in our returnable shipping box cost-per-trip analysis.
| Footprint | Common heights | Fish + ice payload | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 600 × 400 mm (23.6 × 15.7 in) | 150 / 200 / 300 mm | 15–25 kg | Standard modular footprint; 4 per pallet layer |
| 400 × 300 mm (15.7 × 11.8 in) | 150 / 200 mm | 8–12 kg | Half-module; retail and restaurant drops |
| Custom sizes | to spec | to spec | Drain holes, handle cutouts, 8-color print available |
Fish trays for processing and display follow the same modular logic — 600 × 400 mm and its half-module 400 × 300 mm — so trays, boxes and pallets stack in one system. All our PP fish containers are made from food-grade PP with FDA-compliant material; the same sheet in other thicknesses is covered in the corrugated plastic thickness guide.
Not every route brings the box back. For one-way shipments — air freight, export, mixed-buyer wholesale — the choice is between wet lock boxes and EPS foam. Wet lock boxes use wax-free water-resistant coatings on corrugated board, so unlike traditional waxed boxes they are recyclable in normal OCC streams; that is why they are displacing waxed corrugated across US seafood and produce (background in waxed boxes vs corrugated plastic and our waxed seafood box replacement guide). Foam still wins on insulation for unrefrigerated air legs, but it breaks, it takes warehouse volume empty, and municipal EPS restrictions keep expanding. If you are testing wet lock performance before switching, our wet lock box testing guide covers the protocol.
Custom PP fish boxes run on MOQs counted in thousands (a pallet to a container). Production is 15–25 days ex-works plus sea freight. Flat-packed, a 40' high-cube carries roughly 8,000–12,000 boxes in the 600 × 400 mm format — one container typically covers a season for a regional wholesaler. Reusable PP containers wash and return to service; cleaning and return logistics are covered in the fish tote cleaning & return guide.
On duties: our Philippine plants ship PP corrugated boxes to the US at 0% US AD/CVD — which is not 0% import duty; Section 301 (12.5% since Jul 24, 2026) and normal HTSUS duty still apply, so confirm landed cost with your broker.
Whoever you buy from, specify: (1) inside dimensions and target fish + ice payload per box; (2) sheet thickness in mm, in writing — 4 mm and 5 mm behave differently under 25 kg of iced fish; (3) drain holes or watertight, stated explicitly; (4) food-contact documentation (we manufacture under ISO 9001 with SGS-tested food-grade PP); (5) flat-packed container loading count for your exact size, so freight math is real. Suppliers who publish specs answer these in one day.
Fuxing Group manufactures PP corrugated fish boxes and totes, fish trays and wet lock style corrugated boxes — with published specs, drain or watertight formats, up to 8-color print, and boxes + cartons + produce bags consolidated in one container. Plants in China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Quotes within 12 hours.
WhatsApp Quote Email jacky@fuxinggroup.cn