The codes, standards and terms a buyer meets, defined in one place.
Container specification runs on a vocabulary of codes and standards. This defines the terms a buyer meets across our guides and product pages, in one reference.
Quick answer: Is it jerry can, jerrycan or jerrican?
All three name the same container. Jerry can is the everyday spelling, jerrycan appears in many product names, and jerrican is the formal term in dangerous-goods law, which 49 CFR 171.8 defines as a metal or plastic packaging of rectangular or polygonal cross-section. In UN packaging codes the jerrican is type 3, as in 3A1 and 3H1.
UN packaging code. A stamped code proving a container passed the UN performance tests for its type and contents, for example UN 3A1 (steel jerry can) or UN 3H1 (plastic jerry can). See UN packaging codes, or read a mark part by part with the UN code decoder.
3A1, 3B1, 3H1, 3H2. Jerry can codes: 3 is a jerry can; A steel, B aluminium, H plastic; 1 non-removable head, 2 removable head. So 3H2 is a wide-mouth plastic can.
UN number. A four-digit identifier for the substance itself, printed on transport papers and labels, for example UN 1203 for petrol or UN 1263 for paint. It names the contents, while the packaging code rates the container.
Packing group. The danger level a packaging is approved for: I high, II medium, III low. On the mark, X covers I to III, Y covers II and III, and Z covers III only.
Class 3, Class 8. Dangerous-goods hazard classes: Class 3 flammable liquids (fuels), Class 8 corrosives (acids and alkalis). See dangerous goods transport.
ADR, IMDG, IATA. The dangerous-goods transport rules for road, sea and air.
Limited Quantity (LQ) and Excepted Quantity (EQ). Relaxed dangerous-goods provisions for small inner packages, which cut labelling and paperwork when volumes stay under set limits.
PVoC. Pre-export verification of conformity, an inspection some countries require before goods ship, confirming they meet the destination market's standards.
Transport category and the 1000-point rule. ADR 1.1.3.6 relieves smaller loads from the driver certificate and placarding. It counts points rather than litres: quantity times a multiplier set by the substance's transport category, relieved at or under 1,000 points per transport unit. See the 1000-point rule.
DGSA. Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser. ADR 1.8.3 requires an undertaking that consigns, carries, packs, loads, fills or unloads dangerous goods by road to appoint one. Competent authorities may exempt loads within the 1.1.3.6 limits and, since ADR 2025, occasional national consignors.
Tunnel restriction code. A letter pair in the dangerous goods list, D/E for petrol and diesel, restricting which road tunnels a load may use. Loads under the 1.1.3.6 threshold are exempt.
Consignor. The party offering goods for carriage. Most dangerous-goods duties sit here rather than with the carrier, and they do not transfer by handing a pallet to a forwarder.
Reconditioned, remanufactured, reused. Three defined states for used packaging. Reused is refilled after an examination finds no defect that would affect the performance tests. Reconditioned has been cleaned, restored and inspected and carries an additional marking naming who did the work. Remanufactured is a drum converted to a UN type, or to another UN type, or given new structural parts, and it re-enters service as new.
HDPE. High-density polyethylene, the plastic used for blow-moulded jerry cans.
Food-grade HDPE. A polyethylene resin approved for food contact, used for water and food-product cans.
Antistatic HDPE. Carbon-loaded plastic that dissipates static charge, used where a spark near fuel or solvent vapour is a risk. See HDPE grades.
Fluorination level. The intensity of the fluorine surface treatment on HDPE, conventionally 1 to 5. It is a match to the contents rather than a quality ladder: level 3 suits surfactants and agricultural oils, level 5 is the tier for gasoline and aromatics.
Co-extrusion, EVOH. A multi-layer wall with ethylene vinyl alcohol or polyamide between structural HDPE layers, as an alternative barrier route to fluorination. Lower permeation, higher tooling cost, and a delamination risk fluorination does not have.
Permeation. Molecules passing through an intact wall without damaging it. The container looks perfect and loses contents, which is the dominant failure mode for hydrocarbons in untreated HDPE.
304L and 316L. Low-carbon variants, capped near 0.03 per cent carbon. The L is a separate decision from the grade number: it answers whether corrosion has a weld to start at, where the number answers how much chloride the metal will meet.
Sensitisation. Chromium carbide forming at grain boundaries when stainless is heated into roughly the 450 to 850 °C range, stripping chromium locally so that band corrodes preferentially. It appears as attack running parallel to a weld.
Passivation. A chemical treatment after forming and welding that removes free iron picked up from tooling and encourages an even chromium-oxide film. Skipping it produces rust spots that look like a grade substitution and are not.
AISI 304 and 316. Austenitic stainless steels; 316 adds molybdenum for better chloride and acid resistance. See 304 vs 316.
PREN. Pitting resistance equivalent number, a figure from a steel's chromium, molybdenum and nitrogen content that predicts how it holds up against chloride pitting. Higher is better.
Galvanizing. A zinc coating that protects steel from corrosion. See corrosion protection.
Sacrificial or cathodic protection. Corrosion protection where the zinc corrodes in preference to the steel it covers, so the base metal stays intact while the coating gives way first.
Fluorination. A surface treatment that reduces permeation through HDPE, needed for fuels and aggressive solvents. See HDPE grades.
Permeation. The slow migration of a liquid or vapour through a container wall.
Wetted path. Every surface the liquid touches, including the gasket, liner, spout and tap. Compatibility and certification must cover the whole path, not just the body.
EPA and CARB. The US and California rules for portable fuel container emissions and spill resistance. See EPA and CARB.
OSHA safety can. An approved can of no more than 5 US gallons with a spring-closing lid and spout cover that relieves pressure in a fire, listed to UL 30, UL 1313 for non-metallic cans, or FM; an accepted US route for storing and pouring fuel. See EPA and CARB.
Flame mitigation device. A flame arrestor fitted in the pour spout of a portable fuel container to stop an external flame travelling back inside.
Child-resistant closure. A cap designed to resist opening by young children, required on US portable gasoline containers under 16 CFR 1460. See EPA and CARB.
Food-contact declaration. A statement that a material meets a food-contact regulation, such as FDA 21 CFR or EU 10/2011. See food-contact certification.
Declaration of Compliance (DoC). A supplier's signed statement that a material or product meets a named regulation or standard.
EN 10204 3.1. A mill certificate stating a steel's grade and chemical composition, issued by the producer's own inspection. See food-contact certification.
RAL. A colour-matching standard used to specify powder-coat colours.
AUS 32 and ISO 22241. The specification for DEF and AdBlue, a 32.5% urea solution. See DEF containers.
Sphere Handbook. The humanitarian standard for water, sanitation and shelter in relief work, used to plan drinking-water storage and volumes per person. See emergency water storage.
NATO pattern. The jerry can shape and mounting interface NATO armies share, which makes carriers interchangeable. It is often sold as “STANAG pattern”, though we know of no STANAG that covers the can itself. See the NATO pattern.
Cam-lever cap. The hinged, lever-locking closure on a NATO pattern can, opened and sealed by hand without tools. See closures and caps.
Vented cap. A cap that lets a can breathe as pressure and temperature change, easing pouring and preventing panelling. See venting and pressure.
Tamper-evident ring. A frangible band on a closure that breaks on first opening, showing whether a can has been opened.
DIN 45, 51, 61. Trade designations for neck and cap thread sizes. The number approximates the outer thread diameter in millimetres, and the threads themselves are defined in DIN 6063.
IBC. Intermediate bulk container, a packaging of up to 3,000 litres built for forklift handling, most often a 1,000 litre caged tank for bulk liquids, a step up from cans and drums. See can, drum or IBC.
Secondary containment or bund. A tray or wall that holds spilled liquid if a container leaks, sized to catch the contents. See spill containment.
MOQ. Minimum order quantity, the smallest run a supplier will make, set on quotation.
The vocabulary above describes real products, and we make these four.
| Your use case | Recommended can | Why this one |
|---|---|---|
| A UN 3A1 steel fuel can |  20L NATO Steel Fuel Can |
The codes above, in a real product. |
| An AISI 304 stainless water can |  20L Stainless Steel Water Can |
Food-grade across the wetted path. |
| A UN-rated HDPE jerrycan |  25L Stackable Plastic Jerrycan |
Stackable 3H1 for industry. |
| NATO-pattern holders |  Jerry Can Holders & Mounts |
The interchangeable mounting. |
A jerrican is a formal UN packaging type: a rectangular or polygonal container with a capacity up to 60 litres, made of metal or plastic. It sits alongside drums, boxes and bags as a distinct category with its own test regime and its own code numbering.
The movement of hydrocarbon molecules through the container wall itself, rather than through a leak or a vent. US fuel-can rules measure it, with venting losses, as grams lost per gallon of capacity per day, and it is the reason untreated plastic fails fuel emissions limits while metal does not.
A fine mesh or perforated element in the container opening that lets liquid and vapour pass but stops a flame front from travelling back into the container. It is a defining feature of an OSHA-pattern safety can. Since July 2023 US rules have required one on fuel containers of 5 US gallons or less, which takes in 5 and 10 litre cans but not a 20 litre one.
All three are in use and name the same container. Jerry can is the everyday spelling, jerrycan appears in many product names, ours included, and jerrican is the formal term in dangerous-goods law. US regulation 49 CFR 171.8 defines a jerrican as a metal or plastic packaging of rectangular or polygonal cross-section. In UN packaging codes the jerrican is type 3, as in 3A1 for steel and 3H1 for plastic.
The standards and regulations this page relies on, at their issuing body. Where a market rule is named here, check the current revision before you specify against it.
Last reviewed by David Guru, Co-Founder & Business Development Director.
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