Plastic Pallets Along I-94

I-94 from end to end

It runs the northern tier of the Midwest and crosses the Chicago and Detroit freight markets. It runs from Billings, Montana to Port Huron, Michigan, by way of Fargo, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit.

States that list I-94 among their main Interstates: Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Wisconsin. A pallet that rides I-94 loaded rides it back empty, and the length of that haul is what a nestable's short stack pays for.

Metros on the route

Together the route's metros hold 104,530 warehousing jobs, led by Chicago (59,586) and Detroit (30,083). That is 5.5 percent of the US trade on one road.

What the table means

Minneapolis-St is the largest warehousing metro on I-94 in this table, with 6,599 jobs, 6.3 percent of the route total. Motor vehicle parts manufacturing is the largest trade listed along it, with 74,583 jobs (partial) in the route's metros. Together the metros hold 5.5 percent of US private warehousing jobs, about one in every 18.

Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Montana list I-94 among their main Interstates, so the route's metros sit inside those states' wider warehousing trade.

Trades that ship along it

In Interstate 94, motor vehicle parts manufacturing employs 74,583 (a partial count). Parts suppliers move heavy loads in a loop with a customer, so dynamic load and a sound return plan matter together. It tends to lean on heavy-duty stackable pallets, nestable on the empty return, usually in 48 x 45 in or 48 x 40 in, and to ask about the dynamic load, since parts travel on forklifts and conveyors all day.

The empty return, mile by mile

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 174 route warehouse sites (jobs ÷ 600, rounded) in I-94 sent back 800 empty pallets in a week, that would be 139,200 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

Words on this page

QCEW

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, a Bureau of Labor Statistics count of jobs and establishments taken from unemployment insurance records.

Polypropylene

Another common pallet resin, lighter and stiffer than some others, with its own behaviour in the cold.

Beam span

The open gap between two rack beams. The longer the span, the lower the load the pallet can carry across it.

RFID tag

A small radio tag moulded into or attached to a pallet so readers can track it through a plant or a loop.

Open deck

A deck with slots or a grid, which drains water, sheds dust and weighs less than a solid one.

3PL

A third-party logistics company that stores and ships goods for other businesses.

Drayage

The short haul of a container between a port or rail ramp and a warehouse.

Last mile

The final leg of a delivery, from a local depot to the customer.

Location quotient

A place's share of employment in a trade divided by the national share. Above 1 means the trade is more concentrated there than average.

Interstate corridor

A freight route named for its highway, together with the metros along it.

Cross-docking

Moving freight from an inbound truck to an outbound one with little or no storage between.

Cruciform base

A base shaped like a plus sign under the pallet, which gives a stable footprint and slides well on conveyors.