Packing format
The industrial pallet, and when it pays its way
The wider base takes more boxes on every layer and our reference puts more fruit on the finished unit. It is also the base the international standard calls preferred. What it does not come with is a construction specification, so its empty weight is a number nobody publishes and every buyer ends up discovering on a weighbridge.
The figures
| Base dimensions | 1000 × 1200 mm, against 800 × 1200 mm for the euro pallet |
|---|---|
| 15 kg boxes per layer, our reference | 9–10, against 8 on the euro pallet |
| Net fruit per pallet, our reference | 945–1,080 kg, against 840–960 kg |
| Empty weight | Greater than the euro pallet, and varying. Our catalogue declines to state a figure |
| Where the dimensions come from | ISO 6780, principal dimensions and tolerances for flat pallets in intercontinental handling |
| What ISO calls the preferred modular unit load | 1200 × 1000 mm, derived from the 600 × 400 packaging module (ISO 3676) |
| What EPAL publishes a specification for | The 800 × 1200 base only |
| What decides the choice | The receiving warehouse, not the packhouse |
What it changes on an order
You deliver into a retail distribution centre
Racking, conveyors and outbound loads at the far end are built around one footprint. A pallet on the other base gets accepted and then handled badly for as long as it is in the building, and restacking charges are a common way of finding that out.
Your fruit continues into a container
The wider base is the one that suits intercontinental handling, which is why it has a place in the ISO series at all. If the oranges are moving again after they reach you, ask which base the next leg wants before the first one is packed.
You are reconciling weights
A euro pallet arrives with a published empty weight and the larger base does not. On a load where the tare matters, that blank has to be filled by weighing rather than by looking anything up.
What this note does not settle
- Which base our fruit ships on is not confirmed. The packing arrangement with the grower is open, and a pallet base is part of it.
- The layer counts and kilos here are the sector bands this site publishes, not a packing list. A packhouse building a real load will give different numbers for a different box.
- No empty weight is stated for the larger base because there is no single construction specification to derive one from. Anyone who needs it has to weigh the pallet that turned up.
Source: ISO 6780, Flat pallets for intercontinental materials handling, ISO 3676, Packaging, unit load dimensions, EPAL, EPAL Euro pallet specification
Two pallets, two kinds of standard
A euro pallet and an industrial pallet are not standardised to the same depth. One of them has a published construction specification behind it, with licensed manufacture, a repair regime and an inspection system, so a buyer who receives one knows what was built. The other has published dimensions and very little else. Its boards, its blocks and its moisture content belong to whoever made it.
That gap explains the blanks in our own table. Empty weight and static load are stated for the euro pallet and left open for the larger base, because there is nothing honest to put there. A pallet you cannot weigh in advance is a pallet whose contribution to the gross figure you cannot predict, and on a weight limited load that matters.
The destination decides this one
Choosing between the two is rarely a packing decision. It is settled at the far end, by racking bay depth, by the width of a chilled corridor, by whichever base a customer's own outbound loads are built on. A warehouse geared to one footprint will accept the other and then handle it badly for the rest of its life inside the building.
Some receiving sites charge for restacking, and a pallet that arrives on the wrong base gets rebuilt at the buyer's cost by people who are not paid to be gentle with fruit. Ask which base your customer wants before the fruit is packed, not after it lands.
Talk to the grower
Tell us the variety, the sizes and the delivery week you need. You get a delivered price and what we can commit to in writing, from the person who picks the fruit.
The grower handles enquiries. Response times are still to be confirmed.