Export plastic pallets: footprint and container

Sizes at a glance

A 20 ft or 40 ft container floor is the same width whatever the pallet, so a footprint that does not tile the floor leaves dead space. A square 1100 x 1100 mm or 1140 x 1140 mm pallet tiles differently from a 1200 x 800 mm one. Ask the freight forwarder for the tiling, or the pallets per container, and use that to pick between the sizes the receiver accepts.

The receiver decides

The importer may demand a particular size for its racks and its handling equipment. If it gives no rule, the container floor is your choice. If it gives a rule, that rule beats cost.

Trailers for your volume

Suppose 2,130 empty pallets come back in a month. At the maker figures on file that is 2 trailers of Rehrig Pacific heavy-duty nestables (1,200 each), 1 of PHS Plastic's EXP 100 (2,340 each) or 4 of a rackable (540 each). The table runs the same sum for 6 volumes, from 2,130 to 11,190.

A footprint decision, step by step

1. List the sizes the receiver accepts, in writing.
2. Ask the forwarder how many of each fit your container.
3. Weigh the loaded pallet for each candidate size.
4. Pick the size with the best count whose rating clears the weight.
5. Order a sample, load a test container if the volume justifies it, and check the fit.

The decision usually turns on one of two things: a receiver that will accept only one size, or a container count that favours one size by enough to matter. When neither is true, pick the size that is least trouble for your own plant.

Questions to put to the maker

• How is the pallet recycled at the end of its trip?
• Is the pallet light enough to survive being tipped by hand at the receiving end?
• What documents does the forwarder need from the maker?
• Which receiver handling equipment does the pallet need to match?
• Is the pallet meant for one trip, or will it be returned?
• Is a nestable version offered, to cut the empty leg?
• Does the sheet give a rating for a container and for the stack in it?
• Does the receiver name a pallet size, or leave it to the shipper?

From the dock

• One-way pallets are priced to be left behind; build them into the cost of goods, not the return.
• A load strapped to a pallet by the shipper should survive being slid, not just lifted.
• Light pallets save freight on every trip; the pallets that come back heavy cost the same again.
• Pallets that cross water are exposed to humidity and salt air; plastic ignores both better than most materials.
• Importers in some countries inspect pallets at the border; plastic usually passes easily, but paperwork can still be asked for.
• Foreign racks follow their own standards; the receiving rack, not yours, sets the footprint.
• Container floors are unforgiving: a pallet an inch too wide wastes a whole row.

Words on this page

Cube utilisation

How well loaded freight fills the volume of a trailer or container. Taller or wider-than-floor pallets waste cube.

CP9

A chemical industry pallet standard, 1140 by 1140 millimetres, about 45 by 45 inches.

Bulk bag

A large woven bag, often sold as a Super Sack, that holds a ton or so of powder or granules and sits on a square pallet.

Nest ratio

How many empty pallets fit in the height of one: pallet height divided by nest increment.

Euro pallet

A 1200 by 800 millimetre pallet, about 48 by 31.5 inches, widely used in Europe.

Recycled content

The share of a pallet moulded from reground plastic. Makers print it as a range, often by colour.

Nest increment

The extra height each additional empty pallet adds to a nested stack, measured in inches. A small increment means a short stack.

ISPM 15

An international standard on treating and marking wood packaging material. Plastic is outside it.