Standard pallet dimensions
Pallets are the base unit of palletised freight, and their footprint decides how efficiently a truck or container fills. Regions standardised on different sizes — Europe on the 1200 × 800 mm EUR pallet, North America on the 48 × 40 inch GMA pallet — and each has rated load limits. This reference lists the common types with dimensions and capacities in either unit.
How pallet standards work
A pallet’s footprint (length × width) determines how many can tile across a container or trailer floor. Its height adds to total stack height under a container roof or racking system. Each pallet has two key load ratings:
- Dynamic load: the maximum safe weight while being moved by forklift or pallet jack. Use this figure for any goods in transit.
- Static load: the higher maximum safe weight when the pallet is stationary — for example, in racking. Static ratings can be two to four times higher than dynamic, but dynamic always governs transit planning.
The unit toggle converts millimetres to inches (÷ 25.4) and kilograms to pounds (× 2.20462).
Pallet types compared
EUR/EPAL (1200 × 800 mm): the dominant standard across the European Union and much of Europe. Genuine EPAL pallets carry a branded stamp and are part of an exchange pool — shippers can return or swap them one-for-one rather than buying new pallets each shipment. The narrow 800 mm width fits two-wide through a standard European warehouse door and tiles efficiently in 20ft containers (11 pallets per layer).
ISO 1 (1200 × 1000 mm): the closest ISO standard to EUR but 200 mm wider. Common in Scandinavia and some Asian markets. It tiles differently in containers, giving 10–11 per layer in a 20ft.
US GMA (48 × 40 in / 1219 × 1016 mm): the near-universal standard in North American grocery and retail, originally defined by the Grocery Manufacturers Association. Sized to carry about 1,000–1,500 kg of product, it fits two-wide in a standard US over-the-road trailer and 10 per layer in a 20ft container.
Half-pallet (EUR half: 800 × 600 mm, US half: 48 × 20 in): used in retail display and when full pallets are too large for a delivery vehicle or floor slot. Two halves always compose a full pallet, which matters for racking and exchange-pool accounting.
Choosing the right pallet
Matching the pallet to the container avoids paying to ship air. A 20ft container is about 5,900 mm long, so 11 EUR pallets × 1200 mm = 13,200 mm of pallet length — tiled in a 2-row by 5-row-plus-one arrangement. GMA pallets in a 40ft container tile 20 per layer when placed in the standard two-wide arrangement.
For international supply chains, check whether the destination country or customer accepts EPAL-pool pallets on return (common in Europe, less standardised elsewhere) or requires a disposable/one-way pallet. Pharmaceutical and food exporters often need plastic pallets to meet hygiene requirements, accepting the higher per-pallet cost for regulatory compliance.
Never exceed the dynamic rating in transit even if the static rating appears to allow it — a pallet rated 1,000 kg dynamic can fail structurally under that load when jolted on a forklift or truck. All data run locally in your browser; nothing is uploaded.