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How to convert from cuft to CBM?
Divide the cuft value by 35.3146667, or multiply by 0.0283168466, to get the equivalent CBM value.
Link: fast online volume conversion calculator
What is cuft?
cuft, or cubic foot, is a commonly used imperial unit of volumetric measurement. A space in which all sides are one foot long would equal to one cubic foot.
Cubic foot can also be expressed as ft3. So 31 cubic feet can be noted as either 31 cuft or 31 ft3.
It is heavily used in the cargo transportation / shipping industry to measure the volume of cargo shipments that are being moved, in order to calculate freight cost or estimate the required loading space.
What is CBM?
The metric counterpart of cuft is CBM, or cubic meter. A space in which all sides are one meter (100 centimeters) long would equal one CBM.
Cubic meter can also be denoted as M3. So 6.5 cubic meter can be written as either 6.5 CBM or 6.5 M3.
Usage
While CBM is also a popular unit used for shipping, but mostly for larger cargo, due to a CBM is some what large compared to individual boxes of goods. Using CBM exclusive would sometime present calculation and paperwork inconveniences.
Then there are also the cubic centimeter and cubic inch. Due to both being relative small amount of spaces, they are impractical for the purpose of shipment volume calculations. That's why the cuft stayed widely used dispite not being a metric unit.
Note that centimeters and inches themselves are still important in volume calculations, since most boxes and crates that make up the shipments are still measured in these two units.