Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Louisiana

Louisiana, by road

The lower Mississippi has a long chain of river and Gulf terminals, and I-10 carries what lands there east and west. For a plastic pallet buyer in Louisiana, the geography sets the route and the route sets the empty return: I-10, I-20, I-49 and I-55 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 East Baton Rouge (3,948), Caddo (2,610) and Tangipahoa (1,330), which is 51.5 percent of the state's 15,312. It shares a land border with Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi.

Warehousing in numbers

Refrigerated space matters because a freezer is hard on plastic; the cold guide says what to ask for. Louisiana held 8 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse capacity on October 1, 2025.

Reading the numbers

• East Baton Rouge County has 3,948 warehousing jobs, 25.8 percent of Louisiana's 15,312, the most in the state.
• Caddo County has 2,610 warehousing jobs, 17.0 percent of Louisiana's 15,312, 1,338 fewer than East Baton Rouge County.
• Tangipahoa County has 1,330 warehousing jobs, 8.7 percent of Louisiana's 15,312, 2,618 fewer than East Baton Rouge County.
• Chemical manufacturing employs 28,918 people in Louisiana, 1.89 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 16,970 people in Louisiana, 1.11 for every warehousing job.
• Louisiana holds 0.81 percent of US warehousing jobs, about one in every 123, spread over 326 establishments averaging 47 jobs each.
• New Orleans accounts for 2,090 warehousing jobs, 13.6 percent of Louisiana's.
• Texas has 175,579 warehousing jobs, 11.47 times the 15,312 in Louisiana.
• Arkansas has 15,624 warehousing jobs, 1.02 times the 15,312 in Louisiana.
• Mississippi has 25,454 warehousing jobs, 1.66 times the 15,312 in Louisiana.

Who ships pallets here

In Louisiana, chemical manufacturing employs 28,918. 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.

Chemical manufacturing is the trade where Louisiana is most concentrated, at 2.7 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 326 warehouse establishments in Louisiana sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 163,000 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 Louisiana with their own page: New Orleans.

Words on this page

Polypropylene

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

Dock door

The opening where a trailer backs to a building so pallets can be loaded and unloaded.

Nest ratio

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

ISPM 15

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

3PL

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

ZIP Code Business Patterns

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

Slip sheet

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

Footprint

The length and width of a pallet deck. It is chosen to fit the container, the drum, the bag or the receiving rack.

Euro pallet

A 1200 by 800 millimetre pallet, about 48 by 31.5 inches, widely used in Europe.