Plastic Pallets Along I-95

I-95 from end to end

It is the busiest north-south freight line on the East Coast and runs through some of the tightest warehouse markets in the country. It runs from Miami, Florida to the Maine-New Brunswick border, by way of Jacksonville, Savannah, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York.

States that list I-95 among their main Interstates: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia. A pallet that rides I-95 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 127,866 warehousing jobs, led by Northern New Jersey (39,367) and Philadelphia (38,250). That is 6.7 percent of the US trade on one road.

What the table means

Northern New Jersey is the largest warehousing metro on I-95 in this table, with 39,367 jobs, 30.8 percent of the route total. Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing is the largest trade listed along it, with 37,967 jobs (partial) in the route's metros. Together the metros hold 6.7 percent of US private warehousing jobs, about one in every 15.

Connecticut, Delaware, Florida and Georgia list I-95 among their main Interstates, so the route's metros sit inside those states' wider warehousing trade.

Trades that ship along it

In Interstate 95, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employs 37,967 (a partial count). The questions are what the pallet is made of, how it is cleaned, and what documents travel with it. It tends to lean on clean, washable stackable or nestable with a paperwork trail, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about resin and colourant documents and the maker's cleaning guidance.

The empty return, mile by mile

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 213 route warehouse sites (jobs ÷ 600, rounded) in I-95 sent back 1,200 empty pallets in a week, that would be 255,600 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

Closed deck

A solid deck that keeps small items and torn bags from falling through and wipes clean on top.

Reefer

A refrigerated trailer or container.

Pallet jack

A hand or powered truck with two forks, used to move a pallet short distances.

ZIP Code Business Patterns

A Census Bureau series that counts establishments by ZIP code and industry.

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.

Pallet pooling

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

Beam span

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

Last mile

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

3PL

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

Slip sheet

A thin sheet of plastic or fibreboard used under a load in place of a pallet, handled by a push-pull attachment.

Drayage

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

Racking load

The weight a pallet holds when it rests on two rack beams with an open gap between them. It is usually the lowest rating and only exists for pallets built for racks.