Nestable and Stackable Pallets: New Orleans

New Orleans, by road

Geography first: i-10, I-55 and I-510 reach a river port complex on the lower Mississippi. That is the setting for a pallet buyer in the New Orleans area of Louisiana.

Chemical manufacturing is where this area is most concentrated, at 1.9 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles and St. James... counties.

Counties

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 33 establishments between them. New Orleans (70121) leads with 9, 27.3 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Jefferson County has 1,148 warehousing jobs, 54.9 percent of the 2,090 in the New Orleans area.
• Orleans County has 680 warehousing jobs, 32.5 percent of the 2,090 in the New Orleans area, 468 fewer than Jefferson.
• New Orleans (70123) has 1 fewer warehousing establishments than New Orleans (70121), 8 against 9.
• Metairie (70001) has 1 fewer warehousing establishments than New Orleans (70121), 8 against 9.
• New Orleans (70126) has 5 fewer warehousing establishments than New Orleans (70121), 4 against 9.
• New Orleans (70115) has 5 fewer warehousing establishments than New Orleans (70121), 4 against 9.
• Jefferson County's 1,148 is 7.5 percent of all 15,312 warehousing jobs in Louisiana.
• Orleans County's 680 is 4.4 percent of all 15,312 warehousing jobs in Louisiana.
• ZIP 70121 in New Orleans ranks number 1 of the five, with 9 warehousing establishments, 27.3 percent of their combined total and 2.25 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 70123 in New Orleans ranks number 2 of the five, with 8 warehousing establishments, 24.2 percent of their combined total and 2.00 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 70001 in Metairie ranks number 3 of the five, with 8 warehousing establishments, 24.2 percent of their combined total and 2.00 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 70126 in New Orleans ranks number 4 of the five, with 4 warehousing establishments, 12.1 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 70115 in New Orleans ranks number 5 of the five, with 4 warehousing establishments, 12.1 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Chemical manufacturing employs 4,936 in the area (partial), 2.36 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 3,516 in the area (partial), 1.68 for every warehousing job.
• Louisiana's chemical manufacturing employment, 28,918, is 13.84 times the New Orleans area's warehousing jobs.
• Louisiana's food manufacturing employment, 16,970, is 8.12 times the New Orleans area's warehousing jobs.

Who ships pallets here

In New Orleans-Metairie, chemical manufacturing employs 4,936 (a partial count). Drums and bags set the footprint: 48 x 48 in holds four 55-gallon drums without overhang, and 45 x 45 in is the CP9 chemical standard. It tends to lean on stackable heavy-duty pallets sized to the drum or bag, usually in 45 x 45 in (CP9) or 48 x 48 in for drums, and to ask about the static load with the container on it, and any fire listing.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 33 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in New Orleans sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 16,500 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 1 metros of Louisiana that have a page here, New Orleans ranks number 1 by warehousing jobs.

New Orleans holds 13.6 percent of Louisiana's 15,312 private warehousing jobs. See the Louisiana page for the whole state.

Interstates serving the area: I-10.

Words on this page

Dynamic load

The weight a pallet holds while it is moved by a forklift, pallet jack or conveyor. It is lower than static because motion adds shock.

Stretch wrap

Elastic film wound around a loaded pallet to hold the load together.

GMA pallet

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

Edge rack

A rack arrangement where the pallet rests on the edges of the beams. It is the common test case for a racking rating.

Pallet jack

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

QCEW

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

ISPM 15

An international standard on treating and marking wood packaging material. Plastic is outside it.

Metropolitan area

A group of counties around an urban core, as the Census Bureau delineates it. Metro pages here follow those lines.