By cargo type
How to ship a pallet
Also known as a skid.
A palletised consignment is the standard unit of international freight. One to four pallets normally moves as groupage, priced per cubic metre on the outside dimensions of the finished unit; above roughly fifteen cubic metres a full container is usually cheaper.
Pallet or skid — the same shipment either way
A skid is a pallet without the bottom deck boards. It is lighter and slightly cheaper, and it can be dragged as well as forked, which is why some warehouses prefer them. For shipping purposes the two are handled, priced and packed identically, so everything on this page applies to both.
What matters far more than which you use is whether the finished unit is square, stable and within a size the equipment at both ends can lift.
How a pallet is priced
Groupage is charged per cubic metre, measured on the outside of the packed pallet — including the pallet itself and the stretch wrap, at the widest and tallest point. A standard 1.2m × 1.0m pallet built to 1.2m high is 1.44 cubic metres, whatever is inside it.
Dense cargo is charged differently: the rate applies to whichever is greater, the volume in cubic metres or the weight in tonnes. A pallet of tiles or machinery parts is usually charged on weight, a pallet of packaging or textiles on volume.
- Measure the finished unit, not the goods — an overhanging carton or a domed wrap is charged as if the space were solid.
- Keep the load inside the pallet footprint. An overhang is what a forklift catches, and it stops the pallet stacking.
- Build to a stackable height where you can. A pallet nothing can be stacked on takes the space of two.
How to prepare a pallet for shipping
The pallet is handled several more times in groupage than in a full container, and stacked beside freight belonging to people who cannot see what is inside yours. It has to arrive as one rigid unit.
- Heaviest cartons at the bottom, lightest on top, and load flat so the top surface can carry weight.
- Stretch wrap from the deck boards upwards so the load and the pallet become one thing, and use corner boards to stop the film cutting in.
- Label every carton with the consignee and reference, not just the pallet — wrap comes off and pieces get separated.
- Wooden pallets must be ISPM 15 heat treated and marked. Untreated timber is the most common avoidable hold at a border.
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