Plastic export pallets built light

What built light means

Export plastic pallets are designed for a single one-way journey, and the design follows. The section is thinner, the deck lighter, and the rating set for the load that rides it from dock to destination. Cabka describes plastic export pallets as made for that job and as lighter than the pallets a closed loop uses.

A closed-loop pallet earns back its weight in many trips. An export pallet earns nothing back, so every pound of pallet is a pound of freight that does not carry product. That is the whole logic of the style.

What to confirm

• The load rating for the leg: dock, container and destination dock.
• Whether the pallet nests; a nesting export pallet costs less to ship empty to the loading dock.
• The footprint the receiver needs.
• Whether the pallet is moulded from new or recycled resin, and the colour.

The cheapest mistake is a rating borrowed from a heavy-duty model. A light export pallet and a heavy-duty nestable can share a footprint and share nothing else.

Trailers for your volume

Suppose 2,300 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 5 of a rackable (540 each). The table runs the same sum for 6 volumes, from 2,300 to 12,100.

How tall the empties stand

Stack height is the other half of the return leg. For the Rehrig Pacific heavy-duty nestable, a stack of 8 stands 24.35 in and a stack of 32 stands 85.55 in, against 208.0 in un-nested.

Questions that save a claim

• What load was the pallet rated for, and was that load spread or concentrated?
• Does the rating cover stacking in the container, or one layer only?
• Is the pallet meant to be reused, and if so how many times?
• What does the maker say about temperature in a container on a ship?
• Does the pallet nest, so empties can travel to the dock short?

A pallet that fails mid-voyage costs the cargo, not the pallet. The price difference between a light pallet and a sturdier one is small next to the value of a container of product.

From the dock

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

Words on this page

One-way pallet

A light pallet built to carry cargo to a destination and stay there, often used in export.

Dunnage

Loose material used to support or secure cargo inside a trailer or container.

Euro pallet

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

GMA pallet

The 48 by 40 inch North American standard, named for the Grocery Manufacturers Association that popularised it.

Nest ratio

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

Recycled content

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

Closed loop

A route where pallets return to the sender after delivery, so the empty trip is a standing cost.

Cube utilisation

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