Packing format
How many pallets fit in a European truck
Fewer than the floor would hold. A standard semi trailer takes 33 euro pallets in a single layer, and our planning reference puts 24 to 26 pallets of citrus into a full load. At the pallet weights published here that is 20 to 25 tonnes of fruit. Weight stops the count before the floor does, so the vehicle reaches its limit with floor still showing.
The figures
| Euro pallets per full load, our planning reference | 24–26 |
|---|---|
| Payload it assumes | 24,000 kg |
| Tonnage of fruit it assumes | 20–25 t, derived from our own pallet weights |
| Maximum authorised mass, articulated combination | 40 t (Directive 96/53/EC, Annex I, point 2.2.2) |
| Maximum authorised vehicle height | 4.00 m (Directive 96/53/EC, Annex I, point 1.3) |
| What binds first on citrus | The payload |
| Euro pallet positions on a standard trailer floor | 33 in a single layer, on a 13.6 m box semi trailer |
| Loading width inside that trailer | 2,460 mm |
| Status of our figures | A planning reference, checked with carrier and packhouse before booking |
What it changes on an order
You are buying a full vehicle
A pallet count and a tonnage describe the same vehicle from two ends, and an enquiry that carries only one of them gets answered twice. Send both, and say which pallet base the fruit is on.
You are buying less than a vehicle
Part loads are priced on the floor they block, not on what they weigh. A light format looks cheap per box and expensive per delivery under that rule, and the two views only reconcile once the pallet count is on the table.
Your load shares a trailer
Leftover floor gets sold to somebody else, and the other consignment has its own opinion about temperature. Ask whether a load is exclusive before you agree an arrival condition that depends on it.
What this note does not settle
- The floor figure describes one manufacturer's standard box trailer. Double deck equipment, shorter vehicles and reefers with different internal dimensions all give a different answer, and the carrier has the real one.
- Payload is not a constant. It is the authorised mass less the tare of that tractor and trailer, so two carriers quoting the same vehicle type can offer different capacity.
- We have no carrier arrangement and no committed incoterms, so nothing here describes how a load from us would actually be moved or who would book it.
Source: Council Directive 96/53/EC, Annex I, Schmitz Cargobull, S.KO box semi-trailers brochure
Fresh fruit fills a trailer by weight
A standard European trailer has more floor than a citrus load needs. Work out the floor capacity of a long semi trailer in pallet positions, then work out how many loaded fruit pallets the axles will legally carry, and the second number comes out lower. The weight binds first. Everything after that is a question about what to do with space you have paid for and cannot fill.
So a pallet count and a tonnage are two ways of describing the same vehicle, and quoting one without the other invites an argument. A carrier prices a full load. A shipper builds pallets. The buyer is the only party who sees both ends, and the only one who notices when a vehicle leaves with empty floor above it.
The space you paid for
Empty floor is not automatically waste. It is room for a second consignment, for a groupage leg, for a pallet of something else going to the same region, and any of those change the temperature the trailer will actually run at. Fruit sharing a vehicle with goods that want a different setting is a quality conversation before it is a cost one.
Empty floor also decides how a part load gets priced. A shipment that occupies floor without approaching the weight limit is charged on the floor it blocks, which is why a light format can look cheap per box and expensive per delivery. Get the pallet count and the gross weight into the same enquiry and a freight desk can answer in one reply.
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.