Packing format
How high a pallet of oranges can be stacked
No standard fixes it, and the pallet is rarely the constraint. A euro pallet carries a published safe working load and a much larger static load, and a full citrus pallet sits under both. The height gets settled instead by the vehicle, by the receiving building, and by the compression strength of the box at the bottom of the stack.
The figures
| Euro pallet, safe working load | 1,500 kg |
|---|---|
| Euro pallet, maximum static load in our catalogue | About 4,000 kg |
| Why there are two figures | One is the load while the pallet is handled, the other the load it bears standing still |
| Where pallet working loads are defined | ISO 8611-3, maximum working loads for flat pallets |
| Maximum authorised vehicle height | 4.00 m (Directive 96/53/EC, Annex I, point 1.3) |
| What no standard fixes | How high the load on the pallet may be built |
| Board in humid air | Compression strength decreases as relative humidity rises |
| Board under constant load | It deforms over time and can collapse, which is why stacking allowances rise with storage time and humidity |
| Our own loaded pallet height | Not confirmed |
What it changes on an order
Your team unloads by hand
A tall pallet is efficient on the road and unpleasant at the far end, because the top boxes come off above shoulder height and the bottom ones have carried everything. A lower, wider load is a legitimate thing to ask for.
You put fruit straight into racking
Bay clearance at your own site is a fixed number and the shipper does not know it. Give it in the enquiry, along with whether you can take a pallet that has another one stacked on top of it.
Your route is long and chilled
The bottom box spends the whole journey in damp air under the full weight of the stack, which is the one condition in which board gives up the most. A load that left square can arrive leaning without anybody mishandling it.
What this note does not settle
- No height of ours is confirmed. We have not agreed a packing arrangement, so the height of a finished pallet is one of the things a buyer would settle with the packhouse.
- The vehicle height in the standard is a limit on the whole vehicle, not on the load. What is usable inside a refrigerated trailer is less, because the structure takes some of it and the circulating air needs the rest.
- Compression strength belongs to a specific board grade and a specific box. We publish none, and a figure for one packer's carton says nothing about another's.
Source: EPAL, EPAL Euro pallet specification, ISO 8611-3, Pallets for materials handling, flat pallets, maximum working loads, Council Directive 96/53/EC, Annex I, Brown, Relative Humidity Effects on the Compression Strength of Corrugated Boxes (Clemson University, 2019), Holmvall and others, Predicting creep lifetime performance in edgewise compression of containerboards and for stacked corrugated board boxes
The pallet is never what gives way
Ask what limits the height of a loaded pallet and most answers start with the pallet. The wood is rarely what gives. It carries two published load figures rather than one, because a pallet being lifted and a pallet standing still under another pallet are being asked for different things, and the standing figure is far the larger of the two. A full citrus pallet sits under the smaller one, though not by the margin most people assume.
Three things close in before the wood does. A vehicle has an internal height, and a refrigerated trailer needs clear space above the load for the air it is circulating. A receiving building has doors, racking bays and a lifting height at the dock. And the bottom box has a compression strength that was measured dry, new and stacked square.
Board loses what it is lent
Corrugated board does not hold its rated strength for the length of a journey. It gives up load capacity to humidity, and a chilled trailer is a humid place. It gives up more to time under constant load, which is the slow deformation any stacked material shows. The box at the bottom of a tall pallet is being tested against both at once.
A stack that stood square in the packhouse can therefore arrive leaning, with the bottom layer marked. Height is bought at the expense of the fruit carrying it, and the exchange stays invisible until the pallet is opened. Where the receiving end unloads by hand, a lower and wider load is worth asking for even when a taller one would fit the vehicle.
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.