Heavy duty plastic pallets, sorted by load

Static decides, then the rest

Heavy duty has no standard. It means "rated high for its style", and the numbers vary by an order of magnitude. On 48 x 40, PHS Plastic lists stackable models with dynamic ratings of 2,500 to 5,000 lb and static ratings of 3,000 to 30,000 lb. A used Nelson one-piece HDPE 48 x 40 x 6.3 in weighs 49 lb with 30,000 lb static, 5,000 lb dynamic and 2,200 lb racking.

So pick by static, in four bands: up to 3,500 lb, 3,500 to 8,000, 8,000 to 18,000, and over 18,000. Each band has its own page with the styles that reach it and the stack height they give up. Start with the bands.

The weight of a heavy pallet is not free

Weight shows up in every column. A pallet of 49 lb is more than twice the weight of Nelson's 18.0 lb multi-use model. It stacks well and carries a lot, and it does not nest. If the pallet comes back empty, count the trailers on the return leg before you settle on the heaviest one.

Where to go next

• Heavy duty industrial plastic pallets: dense loads and forklift work.
• Heavy duty nestables: heavy and still nests.
• Stackable pallets: the bottom pallet carries the stack.

A stack worked out

Take a stackable rated 15,000 lb static. The bottom pallet carries the pallets above it, so with each loaded pallet weighing 1,537 lb it can hold 9 above, a stack of 10. With 5,579 lb per pallet it can hold 2 above. This is a ceiling on a flat floor for a still stack, not a promise for a stack that moves or waits.

Trailers for your volume

Suppose 3,800 empty pallets come back in a month. At the maker figures on file that is 4 trailers of Rehrig Pacific heavy-duty nestables (1,200 each), 2 of PHS Plastic's EXP 100 (2,340 each) or 8 of a rackable (540 each). The table runs the same sum for 6 volumes, from 3,800 to 19,960.

What heavy duty does not mean

Heavy duty is a maker's label, not a rating. Two pallets sold under it can carry very different static loads and only one may carry a racking load at all, so the label is a reason to read the sheet, not a substitute for it. The load bands below sort pallets by the static figure the sheets print, which is the only common ground.

Questions this section answers

This section answers three things: which pallets carry the most at rest, which keep their rating when moved, and which of those also nest or rack. The load bands sort by static rating, the industrial page deals with rough handling, and the nestable heavy-duty page explains the trade against stack height.

Words on this page

Dunnage

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

Closed loop

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

UL

Underwriters Laboratories, a safety testing body that publishes fire test standards, including one for storage pallets.

Nest increment

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

Pallet pooling

A rental model where a company owns the pallets and moves them between customers, instead of each customer buying its own.

Footprint

The length and width of a pallet deck. It is chosen to fit the container, the drum, the bag or the receiving rack.

Cube utilisation

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

Recycled content

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