Pallet dimensions

A pallet is a flat, rectangular cargo support structure with special notches for forklift forks and fastening points for slings (for moving in a suspended position).

In freight transport, pallets are used to form the so-called unit load devices. What does it mean? Let’s take chocolates as an example: carrying a single chocolate sweet is inconvenient and impractical. On the other hand, a box of 20 chocolates can be transported more easily and profitably. It makes even more sense to carry several boxes of chocolates in a larger box, transporting 800 chocolates at once. The next stage is a palette, which fits 20 such large boxes. This allows 16,000 chocolates to be transported at once. This is a proper shipment of chocolates rather than a pile of sweets. Finally, the top step of this cargo evolution is the standard 20-foot container containing 11 pallets.

The popularity of pallets is related to the extensive use of forklifts, as well as the concern for preventing cargo damage (for example, bricks used to be transported in bulk, but nowadays, as they become more expensive, pallets are increasingly used. Pallet shipments are especially popular in Europe where there is a general trend of shipping goods back and forth. For example, potatoes are shipped from Germany to Poland for washing (based on environmental considerations) and then carried back to Germany burning tonnes of fuel (the environmental considerations are not so clear here). Potatoes, of course, are transported in bulk without pallets, but the motivation is clear: in Poland, water and labour are cheaper than in Germany.

Pallets are not as widely used everywhere, however. In China, for example, they are not common at all. This is related to the fact that the pragmatic Chinese entrepreneurs do not see the point of shipping air to accelerate loading/unloading and to obtain questionable ecological benefits at the expense of efficiency. the majority of Chinese highways have a weight limit of 90 tonnes. In comparison, in the ecologically-minded Europe, standard trucks (approximately 90 m3) are allowed to carry up to 24 tonnes (all of it on pallets, of course). They can contain up to 33 Euro-pallets, resulting in 5% of wasted volume and 500 kg of parasitic weight per vehicle! Scandinavian countries, for example, permit extremely heavy and long road trains. Consequently, cargo transported by one truck in China or Scandinavia requires three vehicles in Europe. This means three drivers instead of one (creating new jobs?), traffic jams (that are later combatted against endlessly) and three times the fuel cost. It makes one wonder in which cases environmental concern is only a buzzword, and who really cares about it.

The weight of the Euro-pallet is not standardised because pallets can be made from different materials. Typically, wooden Euro-pallets weigh 15-20 kg, with the exception of double-deck pallets weighing up to 40 kg.

The maximum height of a load unit (the load along with the pallet) must not exceed 1,800 mm, while the load itself must not extend past the pallet edges by more than 20 mm. Consequently, the maximum dimensions of a load unit for a pallet with 800 x 1,200 mm edges are 840 x 1,240 x 1,800 mm, while for a pallet with 1,000 x 1,200 mm edges they are 1,040 x 1,240 x 1,800 mm.

When preparing a cargo pallet, the number of load rows (levels) must be calculated in advance, taking into account the weight of each row, so that the top rows do not crush the bottom ones. The stability of the load placed on the pallet should also be taken into account. Excessively high load may overturn during loading and transport. To carry tall cargo units, provisions for fastening should be made in the cargo compartment.

Let’s take a Euro-pallet as an example: 800 mm in length, 1,200 mm in width and 145 mm in height (without cargo). The math is simple: 800 x 1,200 x 145 = 139,200,000 mm3 or 0.1392 m3. To obtain the volume of the pallet in cubic inches or feet, it can be easily converted as follows: 8,494.5 cubic inches or 4.92 cubic feet.

Cargo placed on the pallet that does not protrude past its edges is called a cargo unit or pallet position. The height of a cargo unit is limited by the available ceiling height.

A standard 82-cubic-metre trailer can contain 33 Euro-pallets 32 – by placing the long edge across the trailer (in pairs).
If placed with the short edge across (in triples), the capacity is 33 pallets.
16 in pairs = 12.8 m.
11 in triples = 13.2 m – precisely the length of the trailer.

A standard 20-foot container can contain 11 Euro-pallets on a single level.
A standard 40-foot container can contain 25 Euro-pallets on a single level.

When loading and unloading the pallets, they should be placed so that there is space left for the forklift forks. If the pallets are simply pushed, they can become overturned or broken.

The cargo layout on the pallet should be selected on a case-by-case basis, depending on the type of cargo and the conditions of transport. For example, oil barrels are placed on the pallet on one level only, leaving more space to the edge of the pallet than usual. If these conditions are not complied with, there is a high risk that the barrel walls can rub against each other and rupture during transport.

The ancestor of the modern pallet was a skid used in American factories since the early 20th century. It was a wooden platform with two boards affixed underneath. As loading machinery developed, the design of these supports was changed and improved. In 1925, another platform was nailed to the boards and the resulting cargo handling implement began to resemble the pallets we know today. Palletised cargo shipping developed rapidly during World War II, especially after the US joined the war. The circumstances demanded enormous quantities of military and humanitarian goods being shipped across the world in an organised manner, but there was a lack of able-bodied workers. The use of pallets allowed the work to be done by fewer cargo handlers and accelerated the turnover of goods in warehouses and packhouses. Although pallets were mostly used in the Pacific, the benefits of this type of packaging were also appreciated in Europe.

Most countries of the European Union require that wooden pallets imported into their territory be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate attesting that they have undergone phytological treatment. After disinfection in accordance with Standard No. 15, pallets and fastening materials are marked with special markings – the registration number assigned by the national quarantine and phytosanitary service, as well as the country codes and the designation of the method of disinfection (HT — heat treatment, KD — kiln-drying, MB — methyl bromide treatment).

New Euro-pallets are generally able to withstand a weight of 1,500 kg or even 2,000 kg. However, other factors should also be taken into account. Firstly, in no case should the maximum load capacity of the vehicle be exceeded. Consequently, the permissible weight of each pallet will be only 800 kg when loading a full semitrailer with standard pallets (33 units). Secondly, most forklifts and cargo handling machines are not powerful enough to move loads heavier than 1,800 kg.

International cargo documents often require the number of packages – COLLI, CMR, to be specified, while TIR usually uses the abbreviation CLL. This refers to individual load unit (transport) positions — any cargo that can be loaded and unloaded as a whole: boxes, bags, boxes, cans transported without pallets, as well as cargo on pallets. Thus, if 5 pallets and 12 boxes are loaded into a container or semi-trailer, 17 colli may be indicated in the transport documents (from French colis – box, parcel, unit, package).