European Shipping Units (ESU) are a unit of measurement used to measure the capacity of a ship's cargo hold. The term 'stere' is derived from the Greek word for solid, and is equal to one cubic meter. ESUs are commonly used in the shipping industry to measure the size of a ship's cargo hold, as well as the amount of cargo that can be loaded onto a vessel. Stere is the most common unit of measurement for ESUs, and is equal to one cubic meter.