Standard Pallet Sizes and Dimensions

Ask for a standard pallet size and you will get a different answer in Chicago than in Rotterdam. North American grocery, retail, and LTL freight are built around the 48 × 40 inch GMA pallet (1,219 × 1,016 mm). European exchange pools are built around the 1,200 × 800 mm Euro pallet. ISO 6780 names six principal footprints for intercontinental handling, and those six are the sizes worth standardizing on when a load will cross a dock, a trailer, and a container.

The footprint decides three operating numbers: how the unit sits in a rack, how many units fit on a trailer or container floor, and the cubic volume a carrier uses for freight class. This guide sticks to dimensions, tolerances, and counts you can recompute from published standards and equipment specs. Pack a specific carton on one of these footprints with the pallet optimizer.

The 48 × 40 inch GMA pallet

The pallet North American shippers mean by "standard pallet size" is 48 inches by 40 inches. ISO 6780 writes that same plan as 1,219 × 1,016 mm, and its imperial column is 48 × 40. It is called a GMA pallet because the Grocery Manufacturers Association — now the Consumer Brands Association — tied North American grocery distribution to that footprint. Warehouse racks, pallet jacks, and the way a 53-foot van is loaded all assume it.

ISO 6780 states length first. Length is the deck dimension in the direction of the stringers, or the longer side when there are no stringers. On a GMA pallet the 48-inch side is the length and the 40-inch side is the width.

A few measurements travel with that footprint, and only some of them are fixed:

• Plan tolerance. ISO 6780 allows a manufacturing tolerance of +3 / −6 mm on the plan dimensions. A "48 × 40" pallet can be a few millimeters over or under. That slack is why a floor plan that uses every millimeter of a container sometimes loses a pallet on the actual box.
• Deck height. A wood stringer pallet is commonly about 5 to 6½ inches tall. There is no single height in ISO 6780. Measure the pallet you are shipping and include it in the handling-unit height. The EPAL Euro pallet, by contrast, is specified at 144 mm (5.67 inches).
• Empty weight. A new 48 × 40 wood pallet has no legal tare. A stringer pallet often falls between about 30 and 48 pounds, depending on species and moisture. Weigh it. The number that belongs on the bill of lading is the scale weight, pallet included.
• Entry. A stringer pallet is lifted from the sides that open onto the stringers; notched stringers allow partial four-way entry. A block pallet sits on blocks and can be entered from all four sides. Both are built to the same 48 × 40 plan. The entry type changes handling, and the rated load depends on the build. It is not a property of the footprint alone.

Use 48 × 40 when the freight will live in a North American rack or on a domestic LTL or truckload bill. The pallet optimizer uses that footprint as its standard pallet.

Other North American footprints

ISO 6780 did not retire the sizes industries already had. These footprints show up constantly on US docks. Only the 48 × 40 and the 42 × 42 are in the ISO principal list. The others are industry practice. Confirm the actual deck before you rate a load, because a 48 × 48 drum pallet consumes a different patch of floor than a GMA pallet.

Two consequences follow from the extra width. A 48 × 48 pallet turned so the 48-inch sides sit across a container will not pair with a second pallet: two 48-inch sides are 96 inches, and a standard dry container is about 92.6 inches wide inside. In a 53-foot van the same pair can fit, which is the turned loading pattern in the trailer section below. And at the same height and weight, the 48 × 48 holds 20 percent more cube than a 48 × 40 (48 / 40 = 1.2), so its density is lower. The freight-class section runs that comparison with numbers.

ISO 6780 and Euro pallet sizes

ISO 6780:2003, *Flat pallets for intercontinental materials handling — Principal dimensions and tolerances*, is the document that defines an "ISO pallet." The current edition was confirmed again in 2026. It sets plan size, tolerance, and the openings and chamfers handling equipment needs. It does not set a single rated load for every material.

Rectangular sizes in the standard:

Square sizes:

In practice: 1,200 × 800 mm is the European pool pallet, 1,200 × 1,000 mm is the industrial pallet used across Europe and Asia, 1,219 × 1,016 mm is the North American GMA, 1,100 × 1,100 mm is the common Asian square, and 1,140 × 1,140 mm is the ISO square often associated with Australia and chemical drums. The Australian industry pallet of 1,165 × 1,165 mm is a national size. It is not one of these six.

Manufacturing tolerance on every plan dimension is +3 / −6 mm. ISO also says to associate sawn-timber dimensions with a stated moisture content, and to measure plastic at 23 °C ± 2 °C. A pallet that left the plant at the plus tolerance is a different packing problem from a pallet at nominal size.

The Euro pallet (EPAL 1) and the 1,200 × 1,000 (EPAL 2)

The exchange pallet people mean by "Euro pallet size" is the EPAL Euro pallet, EPAL 1. EPAL's specification is:

• 800 × 1,200 mm plan. EPAL calls 800 mm the length and 1,200 mm the width. ISO 6780 states length first, so the same pallet is written 1,200 × 800 mm. One footprint, two conventions.
• Height 144 mm (5.67 inches).
• Weight about 25 kg (about 55 pounds).
• Safe working load 1,500 kg (about 3,307 pounds).
• When laden pallets are stacked on a solid, even surface, the bottom pallet must not carry more than 5,500 kg.

The EPAL 2 is the 1,200 × 1,000 mm industrial pallet: height 162 mm, weight about 35 kg (about 77 pounds), safe working load 1,250 kg, and a bottom-pallet stacking limit of 4,250 kg on a solid, even surface. Those rated loads are for an EPAL pallet used as EPAL specifies. A repaired, wet, or non-EPAL board of the same footprint can be rated lower. The deck does not inherit the EPAL number just by measuring 1,200 × 800.

Our pallet optimizer's euro option is the rounded inch size 47 × 31, which is the ISO imperial rounding of 47.2 × 31.5. For a customer-required Euro pallet, build the load to 1,200 × 800 mm and use the optimizer's custom pallet if you need the millimeter plan.

Wood pallets that cross a border

Wood packaging that enters international trade is covered by ISPM 15, the International Plant Protection Convention standard for wood packaging material. Heat treatment (or the approved alternative) and the IPPC mark are what customs and plant-health agencies look for. A domestic US truck move does not require that mark. A 48 × 40 that will be stuffed into an export container does. The mark is about the wood, separate from the footprint.

How many pallets fit in a container or a 53-foot trailer

Counts below are floor counts: one layer, pallets touching, cargo that does not overhang the deck. They use published interior dimensions, which are shorter and narrower than the nominal outside length. A 40-foot container is not 40 feet long inside.

The reference interiors:

• 20-foot and 40-foot dry containers. Hapag-Lloyd's container specification reproduces the ISO 668 minimum internals (20-foot length 5,898 mm, 40-foot length 12,029 mm, width 2,350 mm) and then lists the carrier's own series. The floor plans below use a 2,352 mm internal width, a 5,898 mm 20-foot length, and a 12,032 mm 40-foot length, which are figures on that spec for general-purpose boxes. A series only a few millimeters shorter can drop a pallet from a plan that had no slack.
• 53-foot dry van. A current composite van from Hyundai Translead lists an interior of 52 ft 6 in long (630 inches), 101.5 inches wide, and 110 inches high. Other builders are close to that and are not identical. Two 48-inch sides need at least 96 inches of clear width, which this spec has.

Door openings are smaller than the interior. On the Hapag-Lloyd 40-foot general-purpose series the door is 2,340 mm wide and 2,292 mm high (about 92.1 × 90.2 inches). A pallet taller than the door does not enter, whatever the roof height is.

Floor counts you can recompute

20-foot, GMA, 9 pallets. Two 48-inch sides are 2,438 mm and do not fit across a 2,352 mm interior, so a plain grid puts the 40-inch side across the width (1,016 + 1,016 = 2,032 mm) and the 48-inch side along the length. Four rows of two use 4 × 1,219 = 4,876 mm and give 8 pallets. The mixed plan picks up the ninth: five pallets with the 1,016 mm side along the length on a 1,219 mm strip (5 × 1,016 = 5,080 mm), plus four pallets with the 1,219 mm side along the length on the remaining strip. Width used is 1,219 + 1,016 = 2,235 mm. A tenth pallet overlaps one of those strips. 9 is the axis-aligned maximum on this interior.

20-foot, Euro, 11 pallets. One strip is 800 mm across and 1,200 mm along: 4 × 1,200 = 4,800 mm, four pallets. The other strip is 1,200 mm across and 800 mm along: 7 × 800 = 5,600 mm, seven pallets. Combined width 2,000 mm. 11, with a few hundred millimeters of length left over, so the +3 mm tolerance does not break it.

20-foot, 1,200 × 1,000, 9 pallets. Four pallets at 1,200 mm along one strip, five at 1,000 mm along the other. Combined width 2,200 mm.

40-foot, GMA, 20 pallets. The plain grid is 9 rows × 2 = 18, because 10 × 1,219 mm = 12,190 mm and the interior is 12,032 mm. The mixed plan reaches 20: eleven pallets with 1,016 mm along a 1,219 mm strip (11,176 mm), and nine with 1,219 mm along the other strip (10,971 mm). A 21st overlaps.

40-foot, Euro, 25 on paper. Ten pallets at 1,200 mm along the 800 mm strip use 12,000 mm. Fifteen at 800 mm along the 1,200 mm strip also use 12,000 mm. A 12,032 mm interior has 32 mm of spare. Ten pallets at the ISO plus tolerance (1,203 mm) need 12,030 mm, which is longer than the ISO 668 minimum internal length of 12,029 mm. If you cannot measure the box, plan 24 and confirm 25 on the actual container.

40-foot, 1,200 × 1,000, 22 on paper. Ten along at 1,200 mm plus twelve along at 1,000 mm. The same tolerance note applies to the 1,200 mm run. Plan 21 when the box is an unknown series.

53-foot van, 26 or 30 GMA pallets. With the 48-inch side along the length, two 40-inch sides sit across an 80-inch patch of a 101.5-inch floor. Thirteen rows use 13 × 48 = 624 inches of a 630-inch floor: 26 pallets, with 6 inches left. Turn them so the 40-inch side runs the length and the two 48-inch sides span 96 inches. Fifteen rows use 600 inches: 30 pallets. The turned plan needs a clear width of at least 96 inches. The Hyundai interior above has it. A narrower body does not, and that van stays at 26.

Run a real mix of carton sizes and overhang through the container load calculator and the CBM calculator. A 48 × 40 × 48 inch handling unit is 92,160 cubic inches, which is 53.33 cubic feet, or about 1.51 cubic meters (divide cubic inches by 61,024).

Double stacking, where the roof allows it

A second layer doubles the piece count only when each unit is short enough for the interior, the product can carry the load, and the payload still has room.

53-foot van. The Hyundai spec is 110 inches inside. Two units fit when each one, pallet included, stays at about 54 inches or less, leaving a little air under the roof. That turns the floor plan into 52 pallets on the straight pattern or 60 on the turned pattern. A 72-inch or 84-inch LTL pallet occupies one floor spot. It does not double-stack in that roof.

Standard-height container. Hapag-Lloyd's 40-foot general-purpose interior height on the series above is about 2,393 to 2,395 mm (about 94.2 inches). Two 48-inch units are 2,438 mm and do not fit. Treat a standard-height 20-foot or 40-foot box as a single floor layer for any pallet near 48 inches tall.

40-foot high cube. One Hapag-Lloyd 40-foot high-cube series is 2,700 mm inside (8 ft 10¼ in) with a door height of 2,597 mm. Two 48-inch units are 2,438 mm, which clears that roof with about 260 mm left, and a single 84-inch unit (2,134 mm) clears the door. The floor count stays 20 GMA pallets; a full second layer of 48-inch units is 40 handling units, payload permitting. On that same page, another high-cube series is 2,432 mm wide and 12,032 mm long. Two Euro pallets on the 1,200 mm side are 2,400 mm and fit across that wider box. Fifteen rows at a nominal 800 mm use 12,000 mm, which is 30 Euro pallets in one layer. Fifteen pallets at the +3 mm tolerance are 12,045 mm, past 12,032 mm, so plan 28 (14 rows) until you measure the box. Two GMA 48-inch sides are 2,438 mm and still do not fit across that wider series. Read the width off the assigned container before you use the wider count.

Weight will stop the load before the floor does

Floor spots are not a license to fill them.

On the highway, FHWA's Interstate limits are 80,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, 20,000 pounds on a single axle, and 34,000 pounds on a tandem. Gross weight includes the tractor, the trailer, fuel, and the cargo. Thirty GMA pallets at 1,500 pounds each are 45,000 pounds of cargo before the tractor and trailer are added, which is already tight against 80,000 pounds gross. Dense freight weighs out with empty floor left. Light freight cubes out with weight left. The legal cap is the gross and axle limits, applied to the specific equipment.

On the water, payload is printed on the container and differs by series. The Hapag-Lloyd 40-foot wooden-floor series cited above is 28,800 kg payload at a 32,500 kg maximum gross (tare 3,700 kg). Another series on the same page, rated 30,480 kg gross, has a 26,700 kg payload. Twenty loaded GMA pallets at the higher of those payloads average 1,440 kg each. Forty double-stacked units would have to average about 720 kg each to stay inside 28,800 kg. Check the CSC plate on the box you were assigned.

How footprint and height change freight class

LTL class follows density for most general freight: weight divided by cubic feet. The cubic feet are the handling unit, measured to the outside of overhang, pallet included, not the carton alone. The 18 density bands and the Docket 2025-1 thresholds are in What Is Freight Class?. The dollar rate per hundredweight is the carrier's tariff for that class and lane. What the footprint changes is which band you land in.

The arithmetic, using those bands:

Same 48 × 40 footprint, taller load, same weight. A unit 48 × 40 × 48 inches is 92,160 / 1,728 = 53.33 cubic feet.

• 500 pounds → 9.4 lb/ft³ → Class 100 (9 to 10.5).
• 800 pounds → 15.0 lb/ft³ → Class 70 (15 to 22.5).

The same 800 pounds built to 48 × 40 × 72 inches is 138,240 / 1,728 = 80.00 cubic feet, and 800 / 80 = 10.0 lb/ft³, which is Class 100. Twenty-four extra inches of height moved the same weight from Class 70 to Class 100.

Same height and weight, wider footprint. A 48 × 48 × 48 inch unit is 110,592 / 1,728 = 64 cubic feet. At 800 pounds that is 12.5 lb/ft³, Class 85. The 48 × 40 unit at the same height and weight was Class 70. The extra 8 inches of width is 20 percent more cube and two class steps on this example.

Overhang is cube you pay for. Two inches of carton past the 40-inch side makes the unit 48 × 44, and the carrier measures 44. A deck that is not square to the edges wastes the same way.

NMFTA's LTL packaging guidance says not to stack a pallet above 84 inches (7 feet), and that a standard stringer pallet can hold up to about 2,800 pounds and still be built to that 7-foot height, with no overhang. Carriers publish their own caps on top of that. Saia's pallet-rate item, for example, limits a pallet on that program to 40 × 48 inches and 84 inches high. Many docks still build to about 72 inches so the unit stays stable and, on a trailer, can sit under a second unit. 72 inches is a working height. 84 inches is the packaging ceiling those two sources name. Past either limit, ask the carrier which rule will rate the shipment before you tender it.

Non-stackable freight can be rated for the empty space above it. The trigger lives in that carrier's rules tariff. A pallet the consignee cannot stack is a larger claim on the trailer than its own cube.

Put the outside dimensions and the total weight, pallet included, into the freight class calculator. Then compare a shorter stack or a 48 × 40 deck against a 48 × 48 before you lock the packaging.

What to measure before you book

1. Footprint, to the outside of the deck and any overhang, in inches or millimeters. Write length and width the way the carrier will: the longer side first for a GMA pallet.
2. Height from the floor to the top of the load, pallet included. A 48-inch product stack on a 6-inch pallet is a 54-inch handling unit.
3. Weight of goods, packaging, and pallet. A Euro pallet is about 25 kg empty. A wood GMA pallet is whatever the scale says, often 30 to 48 pounds.
4. Stackable or not, and whether anything hangs past the deck.
5. The equipment you will actually load: container series and interior, or trailer interior length, width, and height. The table above is the plan. The assigned box decides the last pallet.

The bottom line

The standard North American pallet is 48 × 40 inches (1,219 × 1,016 mm). The Euro pallet is 1,200 × 800 mm, 144 mm tall, rated by EPAL at about 25 kg empty and a 1,500 kg safe working load. ISO 6780's other principal sizes are 1,200 × 1,000, 1,067 × 1,067, 1,100 × 1,100, and 1,140 × 1,140 mm. On a 2,352 mm wide container interior, the floor holds 9 GMA or 11 Euro pallets in a 20-foot box, and 20 GMA or a nominal 25 Euro pallets in a 40-foot box. A 630-inch, 101.5-inch 53-foot van holds 26 GMA pallets straight and 30 turned, and double-stacks those plans only when each unit is about 54 inches or shorter. Height and footprint move the cubic feet, and cubic feet move the freight class. Weigh and measure the unit you are shipping; the standards fix the plan size, and the scale fixes the bill.

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