Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Charleston, SC

Charleston, SC, by road

The port sits on the harbor, with I-26 inland to Columbia and I-95 across the state. Charleston, SC is counted here as the metropolitan area in South Carolina that the Census Bureau delineates, and its pallet traffic is set by that geography.

Warehousing and storage is where this area is most concentrated, at 0.7 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties.

Counties

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 58 establishments between them. Ladson (29456) leads with 16, 27.6 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Dorchester County has 1,319 warehousing jobs, 40.7 percent of the 3,242 in the Charleston, SC area.
• Berkeley County has 1,107 warehousing jobs, 34.1 percent of the 3,242 in the Charleston, SC area, 212 fewer than Dorchester.
• Charleston County has 816 warehousing jobs, 25.2 percent of the 3,242 in the Charleston, SC area, 503 fewer than Dorchester.
• Summerville (29483) has 3 fewer warehousing establishments than Ladson (29456), 13 against 16.
• North Charleston (29405) has 5 fewer warehousing establishments than Ladson (29456), 11 against 16.
• Charleston (29492) has 7 fewer warehousing establishments than Ladson (29456), 9 against 16.
• North Charleston (29418) has 7 fewer warehousing establishments than Ladson (29456), 9 against 16.
• Dorchester County's 1,319 is 4.9 percent of all 27,150 warehousing jobs in South Carolina.
• Berkeley County's 1,107 is 4.1 percent of all 27,150 warehousing jobs in South Carolina.
• Charleston County's 816 is 3.0 percent of all 27,150 warehousing jobs in South Carolina.
• ZIP 29456 in Ladson ranks number 1 of the five, with 16 warehousing establishments, 27.6 percent of their combined total and 1.78 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 29483 in Summerville ranks number 2 of the five, with 13 warehousing establishments, 22.4 percent of their combined total and 1.44 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 29405 in North Charleston ranks number 3 of the five, with 11 warehousing establishments, 19.0 percent of their combined total and 1.22 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 29492 in Charleston ranks number 4 of the five, with 9 warehousing establishments, 15.5 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 29418 in North Charleston ranks number 5 of the five, with 9 warehousing establishments, 15.5 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Warehousing and storage employs 3,242 in the area, 1.00 for every warehousing job.
• Chemical manufacturing employs 2,486 in the area, 0.77 for every warehousing job.
• South Carolina's motor vehicle manufacturing employment, 15,531, is 4.79 times the Charleston, SC area's warehousing jobs.
• South Carolina's motor vehicle parts manufacturing employment, 21,585, is 6.66 times the Charleston, SC area's warehousing jobs.
• South Carolina's chemical manufacturing employment, 22,678, is 7.00 times the Charleston, SC area's warehousing jobs.
• South Carolina's plastics product manufacturing employment, 13,499, is 4.16 times the Charleston, SC area's warehousing jobs.
• Greenville-Spartanburg, also in South Carolina, has 4,575 warehousing jobs, 1.41 times Charleston, SC's.

Who ships pallets here

In Charleston-North Charleston, warehousing and storage employs 3,242. Most of the demand is for general pallets in the common footprint, with the choice split between rack service and block stacking. It tends to lean on rackable where the pallet lives on beams, stackable for block stacking, nestable for the empties that go back, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about the racking load, and the beam span it was rated on.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 58 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in Charleston, SC sent back 800 empty pallets in a week, that would be 46,400 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

In its state

Among the 2 metros of South Carolina that have a page here, Charleston, SC ranks number 2 by warehousing jobs.

Charleston, SC holds 11.9 percent of South Carolina's 27,150 private warehousing jobs. See the South Carolina page for the whole state.

Other metros in South Carolina with their own page: Greenville-Spartanburg.

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.

Nest increment

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

Commodity class

A fire-protection category for stored goods and their pallets, used to design sprinkler systems.

Drayage

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

One-way pallet

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

Polypropylene

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

FM Approvals

A testing and certification body whose classifications insurers and sprinkler designers read.

Nest ratio

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

3PL

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