Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Kentucky

Kentucky, by road

Louisville sits on the Ohio River where I-64, I-65 and I-71 meet, and its airport is a UPS hub. For a plastic pallet buyer in Kentucky, the geography sets the route and the route sets the empty return: I-64, I-65, I-71 and I-75 carry most of what leaves, and every empty pallet that comes back has to ride the same road.

The counties with the most warehousing jobs are Boone (9,121), Bullitt (7,642) and Jefferson (6,859), which is 61.7 percent of the state's 38,281. It shares a land border with Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri.

Warehousing in numbers

Refrigerated space matters because a freezer is hard on plastic; the cold guide says what to ask for. Kentucky held 24 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse capacity on October 1, 2025.

Reading the numbers

• Boone County has 9,121 warehousing jobs, 23.8 percent of Kentucky's 38,281, the most in the state.
• Bullitt County has 7,642 warehousing jobs, 20.0 percent of Kentucky's 38,281, 1,479 fewer than Boone County.
• Jefferson County has 6,859 warehousing jobs, 17.9 percent of Kentucky's 38,281, 2,262 fewer than Boone County.
• Motor vehicle manufacturing employs 23,308 people in Kentucky, 0.61 for every warehousing job.
• Motor vehicle parts manufacturing employs 32,261 people in Kentucky, 0.84 for every warehousing job.
• Beverage manufacturing employs 10,105 people in Kentucky, 0.26 for every warehousing job.
• Plastics product manufacturing employs 13,820 people in Kentucky, 0.36 for every warehousing job.
• Warehousing and storage employs 38,281 people in Kentucky, 1.00 for every warehousing job.
• Kentucky holds 2.01 percent of US warehousing jobs, about one in every 50, spread over 430 establishments averaging 89 jobs each.
• Louisville accounts for 14,533 warehousing jobs, 38.0 percent of Kentucky's.
• Illinois has 80,071 warehousing jobs, 2.09 times the 38,281 in Kentucky.
• Indiana has 67,506 warehousing jobs, 1.76 times the 38,281 in Kentucky.
• Ohio has 98,354 warehousing jobs, 2.57 times the 38,281 in Kentucky.
• West Virginia has 3,631 warehousing jobs, 0.09 times the 38,281 in Kentucky.

Who ships pallets here

In Kentucky, motor vehicle manufacturing employs 23,308. Auto buyers pick the footprint from the container and the rating from the heaviest part that rides the pallet. It tends to lean on heavy-duty stackable pallets in a closed loop, usually in 48 x 45 in, and to ask about the dynamic load for the heaviest part and the pallet's fit with the bulk container.

Motor vehicle manufacturing is the trade where Kentucky is most concentrated, at 6.3 times the national share of employment. A buyer in that trade will tend to ask the questions in the last column first.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 430 warehouse establishments in Kentucky sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 215,000 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

Next door

Metros in Kentucky with their own page: Louisville.

Words on this page

Cross-docking

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

Dry van

An enclosed, unrefrigerated trailer. A 53 ft dry van is the usual trailer for palletised freight.

Pallet pooling

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

3PL

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

Stretch wrap

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

Establishment

A single physical location where a business operates, such as one warehouse. A company with ten warehouses has ten establishments.

Cruciform base

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

Closed deck

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

4-way entry

A pallet that forks or a pallet jack can enter from all four sides.