Pallet Calculator

cartons per layer = the best laying-out of the carton footprint on the pallet footprint, and cartons per pallet = min(cartons per layer × layers, floor(load limit ÷ carton weight))

carton footprint

The carton's length and width. Its height is the vertical edge, so the layer is a two-dimensional problem

cartons per layer

How many cartons fit on one layer. The calculator lays the footprint out in rectangles across the pallet and allows one cut through it, which is what lets a layer hold more than a plain grid

stack height

How tall you are willing to build, counting the cartons only. Divide by the carton height and round down: 165 cm of stack height is four layers of a 40 cm carton, and 164 cm is three

load limit

The most cargo weight one pallet may carry. This is the number on the pallet's own load plate, not a value the calculator can supply

pallets per container

How many pallets fit the container floor in one tier. This is the number freight is quoted on, and it depends on the pallet's plan dimensions rather than its height

Use it before you build the first pallet, when changing a carton size or a pallet size is still free. The two numbers to read together are cartons per layer and pallets per container: if a layer holds four and the pallets per container is 25, then a container carries 100 cartons, and you can see immediately whether a smaller carton that fits six per layer is worth it. It is also the fastest way to see which constraint binds. A light carton on a tall stack runs into the stack height first; a dense one runs into the load limit, and no amount of extra height helps. What the arithmetic cannot see is everything the warehouse does: a carton that will not take the weight of the layer above it, a stack that needs a top board to stay square, or a pallet that has to be hand-loaded at the end of a run because the last metre of the container will not take one more.

1. 60 × 40 × 40 cm cartons on a Euro pallet, into a 40 ft

   1. One layer: the pallet is 1200 × 800 mm and the carton is 600 × 400 mm, so two cartons go along the length and two along the width — 4 cartons
   2. Layers: 165 ÷ 40 = 4.125, rounded down to 4 layers
   3. Cartons by stack height: 4 × 4 = 16
   4. Cartons by weight: 1,000 ÷ 12 = 83 — so the stack height is what limits it, not the weight
   5. Cargo weight: 16 × 12 = 192 kg
   6. Pallets in a 40 ft container: 25

   The load limit is nowhere near binding here — 192 kg against a limit of 1,000 — which is the normal case for light cartons, and the reason stack height is usually the number worth arguing about. Losing one layer costs a quarter of the pallet, so if the pallet has to clear a 180 cm door allowance, work backwards from the height rather than from the layer count. The 25 pallets in the 40 ft is the figure carriers and freight forwarders quote for a Euro pallet, and it is the lower of the two numbers this page produces from the same pallet.

2. Dense cartons on a 1200 × 1000 pallet, into a 20 ft

   1. One layer: the pallet is 1200 × 1000 mm. Cut the 1000 mm side into 400 + 600. The 400 mm band holds four cartons turned sideways (4 × 300 = 1200), and the 600 mm band holds six (three along the length, two across) — 10 cartons
   2. Layers: 150 ÷ 30 = 5
   3. Cartons by stack height: 10 × 5 = 50
   4. Cartons by weight: 1,000 ÷ 25 = 40 — the load limit binds
   5. Cargo weight: 40 × 25 = 1,000 kg, exactly at the limit
   6. Pallets in a 20 ft container: 9

   This is what a binding weight limit looks like. Stack height would allow 50 cartons; the pallet may carry 40; so ten cartons' worth of height is wasted, and the fix is a second pallet rather than a shorter stack. Note also where the tenth carton in the layer comes from. A plain grid puts three by three on this pallet — 9 — and it is the cut across the pallet that finds the tenth. That is the whole reason this page lays the layer out rather than dividing one side by the other.

Everything here is geometry and arithmetic, and both are exact — which means the answer is clean and the world is not. The layer count packs rectangles onto rectangles: cartons that do not sit square, an overhang you have decided to allow, a bag or a drum in the middle of the load, or a layer that needs a slip sheet between courses will all move the number, and usually downwards. The container counts are for pallets loaded in a single tier. Stacking pallets two high is normal practice and roughly doubles the count when the cargo is light, but it needs the loaded pallet height to clear the container's internal height twice over and the total weight to stay inside the container's payload, and neither of those is checked here. The container figures also use the internal floor dimensions, which is very slightly optimistic: the door opening is a few centimetres narrower than the widest part of the floor, so the last pallet has to go through the door rather than into the widest bay. Two fields deliberately exclude the pallet itself — the stack height counts the cartons only, and the load limit is the cargo weight only — because pallet self-weight and deck height have no single value: the same plan size differs by a factor of two or three depending on the material, the entry type and whether the pallet is racked. That also means nothing here checks the pallet's own rating, which is stamped on the pallet and is lower for racking than for floor stacking. A published pallet count is not a plan either: guides commonly quote 9 to 10 for a 1200 × 1000 pallet in a 20 ft container, and this page gives 9, because ten would need two rows of 1200 mm across an internal width of 2352 mm and the pallets would have to overhang. The page reports the layout it can build. Finally, nothing here knows what a pallet costs, how long loading takes, or whether the consignee can take a pallet at all — an increasing number of receivers will not.

How many cartons fit on a pallet?

It depends on the carton's footprint: a pallet layer is a two-dimensional problem, and the pallet's own height does not enter into it. On a Euro pallet, 1200 × 800 mm, a 600 × 400 mm carton gives four per layer, a 400 × 300 mm carton gives eight, and a 450 × 350 mm carton gives five — not four, because the 800 mm side splits into 450 + 350 and the two bands hold three and two. Multiply by the layers the stack height allows and you have the pallet, then check the load limit against the carton weight, because a heavy carton will run into that first.

How many layers can I stack on a pallet?

Divide the stack height by the carton height and round down, then check the weight. Stack height is a decision rather than a property of the pallet: the 165 cm this page starts from is roughly 180 cm with a pallet under it, and it works out at six layers of a 25 cm carton and three of a 55 cm one. Rounding matters more than it looks — 165 cm of a 55 cm carton is three layers, and 164 cm is two, so a centimetre in the wrong place costs a quarter of the load. Above the load limit, extra height buys nothing at all.

How many pallets fit in a container?

For a Euro pallet in a single tier, 11 in a 20 ft and 25 in a 40 ft. A 1200 × 1000 mm pallet gives 9 and 22, and a GMA pallet 9 and 20. The 40 ft high cube takes the same number as the standard 40 ft, because pallets go on the floor in one layer and the extra 30 cm of the high cube is above them. That is also the answer to whether a high cube is worth paying for: it is, if you are double-stacking or the cargo itself is taller, and it is not if you are shipping a single tier of pallets.

What is the difference between a Euro pallet and a 1200 × 1000 pallet?

200 mm of width, and about 12% of a container. The Euro pallet is 1200 × 800 mm; 1200 × 1000 mm is the footprint that GB/T 2934 makes the preferred size in China — it is a modified adoption of ISO 6780 — and ISO 6780 lists both, along with 1219 × 1016 mm for the North American grocery pallet. The 1200 × 1000 pallet carries more per pallet and fits fewer pallets in a container: 22 in a 40 ft against 25. Which one is right depends on which of those two you are short of, and on what the rest of your supply chain is already using, because a pallet that will not sit on the racking or in the truck at the other end is no use at any utilization.

How much weight can a pallet hold?

There is no single number, which is why this calculator makes you enter it. A pallet's capacity depends on the material, the entry type, whether it is standing on the floor or spanning racking beams, and how the load is distributed across the deck. The value that applies to the pallet you have is stamped on it, and it is worth reading rather than assuming, because the racked figure is often far below the floor figure that people remember. Enter the rating of your pallet, and this page will tell you how many cartons of your weight fit inside it — for a 1000 kg rating and 25 kg cartons, that is 40, whatever the stack height allows.

Why does this say 9 pallets when my forwarder says 10?

Because the tenth pallet requires an overhang. A 1200 × 1000 mm pallet has two rows of 1200 mm across the container's internal width of 2352 mm, which is 2400 mm — 48 mm too wide. Two such bands give ten pallets; nine is what fits with every pallet fully inside the floor. Some published guides quote 10 for this pallet in a 20 ft container, and they are describing a load with a small overhang on each side, which loaders do allow when the cargo is light and the pallet is not being racked. This page only builds layouts it can lay out end to end inside the container, so it reports 9 and leaves the overhang decision to you. The same reasoning is why a 20 ft takes 11 Euro pallets and not 12: the 11 come from splitting the 2352 mm floor into a 1200 mm band holding four pallets lengthwise and a 1152 mm band holding seven sideways, and a twelfth would need a second 1200 mm band — 2400 mm against 2352 mm.

• ISO 6780:2003 — Flat pallets for intercontinental materials handling: principal dimensions and tolerances (Annex A gives the regional use of each size) — International Organization for Standardization
• Container stuffing plan — a carrier's own diagrams of how pallets and cartons are laid out inside a container — OOCL
• Pallet — the regional sizes (the Euro pallet at 1200 × 800 mm and the North American grocery pallet at 48 × 40 in), deck types and load ratings — Wikipedia