Pallet sizes by country: standards by region, industry and container

In briefContinental Europe uses 1200×800 and 1200×1000 mm, the UK 1200×1000, North America 48×40 inches (1219×1016 mm), Japan and Korea 1100×1100, China, Brazil, Argentina and South Africa mainly 1200×1000, Australia 1165×1165. If you ship to several continents, 1200×1000 is the size most likely to find a warehouse ready to take it.

Pallet sizes change from country to country and region to region: there is no size that works everywhere. Each large market has built its lorries, pallet racking and warehouses around one or two sizes, and ISO 6780 simply recognises six of them ^[1]. If you pick the wrong size for the destination country, the goods have to be repalletised on arrival and someone pays for it.

The map in one table

This is the summary. The sections below explain where each figure comes from and how solid it is.

Why ISO recognises six sizes

ISO 6780:2003 lists six footprints: 1200×800, 1200×1000, 1219×1016, 1067×1067, 1100×1100 and 1140×1140 mm, with a tolerance of +3/−6 mm ^[1]. The title says what they are for: intercontinental materials handling.

The standard did not pick a winner. It put in writing the sizes that the large markets were already using, each with its own fleet of pallets, lorries and racking. Hundreds of different formats circulate around the world, and a World Bank study showed that this variety increases the cost of trade ^[3].

The details of each size, with tolerances and half pallets, are in the guide to pallet sizes.

Europe: 1200×800 for distribution, 1200×1000 for industry

In continental Europe you use the 1200×800 (EUR / euro pallet) for retail and distribution, and the 1200×1000 for chemicals, plastics, paper and heavy goods. The ISO table says so ^[2] and the EPAL figures confirm it.

The EPAL 1 measures 1200×800×144 mm ^[4]. In 2022 EPAL licensees produced or repaired 109 million euro pallets, and more than 650 million are in circulation ^[5]. The EUR system also includes the 1200×1000 (EUR 2 and EUR 3, depending on the direction of the boards) and the 800×600 half pallet (EUR 6) ^[2].

The reason for the 1200×800 lies in the lorry. A European semi-trailer takes 33 euro pallets: 11 rows of 3, with the 800 mm side across the trailer ^[17]. With the 1200×1000 the rows are of 2 and the number drops to 26 ^[17]. The 1200×800 also fits through standard doors ^[2].

The 800×600 half pallet is used in discount stores and retail, because it moves easily along the shop aisles and doubles as a display ^[6]. Smaller still is the 600×400 mm quarter pallet ^[2].

The plastic versions of these two sizes have their own pages: 1200×800 plastic pallets and 1200×1000 plastic pallets.

United Kingdom: 1200×1000 is the standard

In the UK the standard pallet is 1200×1000 mm, known as the 'UK standard pallet' ^[8]. The euro pallet circulates too, but British racking and forklifts are designed for the 1200×1000 ^[7]. The main UK rental pool also works with this size.

A language trap: in British pallet networks, 'half pallet' and 'quarter pallet' refer to the height of the load, not to the footprint. A half pallet is up to 1.2 m high and weighs no more than 500 kg; a quarter pallet goes up to 0.8 m and 250 kg ^[7]. When you quote for a shipment to the UK, make clear which 'half' you mean.

North America: 48×40 inches, the GMA pallet

In the United States and Canada the standard is the GMA pallet, 48×40 inches, or 1219×1016 mm ^[8]. It comes from grocery retail and accounts for about 30% of new wooden pallets produced in the USA, according to a 2004 ISTA study ^[2].

The remaining 70% is split among many industry sizes. The main ones, in order of production ^[2]:

The typical American truck is the 53-foot dry van, about 100 inches wide. It takes 26 pallets of 48×40 loaded straight, or 30 if you turn them with the 40-inch side in the direction of travel ^[19].

In Italy the 1200×1000 is often called the 'American pallet', even in hauliers' price lists ^[17]. The real American pallet is the 1219×1016: 19 mm and 16 mm larger. For racking or an automated line set up for the 48×40, those two centimetres can make all the difference ^[13].

Mexico

Local sources give the 1200×1000 as the most common tarima (pallet) for distribution and domestic distribution centres, and the 48×40 for goods bound for the United States, which would otherwise have to be repalletised at the border ^[13]. This is a commercial source, not an industry association: treat it as a pointer.

South America: 1200×1000 dominates

In Brazil the standard is the PBR pallet, 1000×1200 mm, defined by the supermarket association ABRAS ^[12]. In Argentina and Mercosur the main rental pool offers a 'Pallet Mercosur' of 1200×1000 mm ^[10]. For other South American countries we found no primary sources.

The wooden PBR is a heavy pallet: Brazilian technical sources give up to 42 kg, with 2,500-3,000 kg static and 1,500-2,000 kg dynamic load capacity ^[12].

Asia: 1100×1100 in Japan and Korea, 1200×1000 in China

Japan uses the T11 pallet, 1100×1100×144 mm, in wood and in plastic ^[14]. South Korea follows the same standard. China has two national sizes, 1200×1000 and 1100×1100, and prefers the first ^[14][23].

The most solid data comes from the Japan Pallet Association, based on 2012 figures from the Asia Pallet System Federation (APSF) ^[14]. We give them with the year, because they are old but we found no more recent public series.

We calculated the rental percentages ourselves from the values in the table ^[14]. Two things stand out. Rental pools, which circulate between different companies, are highly standardised. Total production is not: in all three countries most new pallets are 'other' sizes, made to measure for a product or a system ^[14] (for plastic, see custom plastic pallets).

For India and South-East Asia we found no reliable primary source on shares. Commercial sources mention 1200×1000 and 1100×1100; for an actual order, ask the consignee.

Oceania: the Australian exception, 1165×1165

In Australia the standard is 1165×1165 mm, used for about two thirds of domestic palletised freight ^[15]. It is also the size given by the rental pools ^[8].

History explains the size. After the Second World War the US Army left equipment and pallets in Australia; the government set up the Commonwealth Handling Equipment Pool, from which one of the world's largest pallet rental pools grew. The pallet, originally 46×46 inches, was later converted to 1165×1165 mm. It fits exactly into the Australian RACE rail container: two side by side, on two levels, 20 per container ^[15].

The 1165 fits poorly in ISO shipping containers. For export, Australians use the 1100×1100 ^[15]. A 2002 study looked at switching to 1200×1000, but Australia did not adopt it ^[15].

Africa and the Middle East: scarce data

Public sources are weak here. We can document that the main rental pool in South Africa ^[11] and in the Emirates ^[9] works with the 1200×1000; in the Emirates it also has the 1200×800 ^[25]. According to the pool's data sheet, its 1200×1000 in the Emirates weighs 33 kg and carries 1,500 kg with a uniform load ^[9].

For North Africa and the rest of the Gulf we found no verifiable statistics. If you export to this region, you will usually start from European sizes, but ask the receiving warehouse for the size anyway.

Containers and lorries: how many pallets fit and how much space you waste

A 20ft dry container has an internal floor of 5,898×2,352 mm, a 40ft one 12,032×2,352 mm ^[20]. The table gives the number of pallets in a single layer and the share of floor left empty.

For the 1200×1000 in a 20ft container, one logistics operator states 10 pallets ^[17], but only 9 fit in a single layer: a row of 5 with the 1200 mm side across (5,000 mm) and next to it a row of 4 with the 1000 mm side across (4,800 mm); a tenth would need 6,000 mm, more than the 5,898 available. The same applies to the 48×40: one forwarder states 10 pallets ^[18], but the geometry allows 9, a row of 5 with the 1219 mm side across (5,080 mm) and next to it a row of 4 with the 1016 mm side across (4,876 mm), 2,235 mm wide in total; a tenth would need at least 6,095 mm. We calculated the percentages ourselves from these internal dimensions. For the 40ft container they match the ISO table reported by Wikipedia for 1200×800, 1200×1000, 1100×1100 and 1067×1067 ^[2]; for the 48×40, Wikipedia gives 3.7%, which corresponds to 22 pallets, more than forwarders state ^[18]. Counts without a source are geometric: confirm them with your forwarder. The Australian 1165×1165 would only fit in theory, with 22 mm of total clearance across the width.

The 1140×1140 is the size that wastes least in a 20ft container (6%) and remains among the best in a 40ft. It is also the size of the CP3, CP8 and CP9 chemical pallets, designed for drums, IBCs and containers (see below).

On the road, different lorries matter:

Exporting to a country: which size to use

The rule of thumb, based on the sources above:

Why the 1200×1000 as a compromise: it is an ISO size ^[1], it is standard in the UK ^[7], in Brazil ^[12] and in the main rental pools in Mercosur, South Africa and the Emirates ^[10][11][9], and it prevails among Chinese rental pallets ^[14]. In a 40ft container it leaves about 7% of the floor empty. The limit: it is not the US size, and it is shorter than the GMA.

For exports outside the EU, a plastic pallet has an extra advantage: it is excluded from the ISPM 15 phytosanitary standard, which covers only wood. The details are in the guide to exporting without phytosanitary treatment.

Sizes by industry

Some industries have sizes of their own, which often count for more than the national convention.

There are nine European chemical pallet types, CP1 to CP9. The CP1 is 1200×1000 for sacks and cartons, the CP2 1200×800, while the CP3, CP8 and CP9 are 1140×1140 for drums, IBCs and container loading ^[16].

For reels and rolls, the size is decided by the reel's diameter and width, though you still start from 1200×800 or 1200×1000 to stay compatible with lorries and racking. We explain this in the guide to reel pallets.

Rental pallets: the pool colours

In Europe and many other countries, rental (pooling) pallets can be recognised by their colour. You do not buy them: you rent them and the pool collects them.

A plastic pallet that you own does not enter any of these loops, nor the EPAL exchange. It makes sense when the pallet circulates in a closed loop of your own, or goes out for export and does not come back. There are also plastic pallet pools: the comparison between renting and buying is in the guide to plastic pallet rental.

The three flat pallets offered by ROLL

ROLL does not sell generic plastic pallets. Among flat pallets it offers only these three, each for a specific use.

For pallet racking ROLL PP69 1200×800 with 3 steel bars, 16 kg; 1,200 kg racking load according to the manufacturer’s datasheet. Designed for rack storage, with the pallet spanning two beams.

For hygienic environments ROLL PPH1 H1 type with closed runners, no steel bars, washable. Made from recycled material: not for direct food contact.

For floor handling ROLL PP08 Closed flat deck, 4-way entry, 9 feet: for moving pallets on the floor with a pallet truck. Not designed for racking.

Found a mistake or an outdated figure? Write to us at info@roll-packaging.com