Export Pallet Dimensions: Standard Sizes & Container Fit

Export pallet dimensions decide something most product listings never mention: how much of a container the order actually fills, and therefore what the buyer pays in freight per unit. Ship the same goods on the wrong pallet footprint and a 40-foot container that should hold 25 pallet loads holds 20 — the buyer eats the difference on every shipment. This is a field-by-field look at the pallet sizes that matter for export, which one to load for which market, and how many of each fit a standard container.

Export Pallet Dimensions: All Standard Footprints at a Glance

There is no single "standard" pallet worldwide — there are a handful of regional standards, and ISO 6780 is the international standard that recognizes the six principal footprints below. The footprint you build to should match where the goods are going, because it has to fit that market's racking, trucks, and container loading pattern.

All six are named in ISO 6780. The point of the standard is that the length and width are fixed, so the footprint is predictable in racking and in a container — which is exactly what lets a buyer plan the load before the goods exist.

How Pallet Size Sets Container Fit

A pallet's footprint only matters because of what it does inside a container. Two standard dry containers do the world's ocean freight, with these internal dimensions:

The container width — 2.35 m — is the number that decides everything, because it's fixed. How your pallet's two dimensions divide into 2.35 m of width and the container's length is what sets how many fit single-tier:

Those counts assume a single floor tier, no cargo overhanging the pallet edge, and efficient arrangement in a standard dry container. Overhang is the quiet killer: a carton that sticks out 30 mm past the pallet edge can cost you a whole row, because the next pallet no longer fits the width.

Which Pallet to Load for Which Market

The right pallet is the destination's pallet, not your factory's default:

• Shipping to the EU: build to the Euro pallet, 1200 × 800 mm. It's the footprint European racking and the retail supply chain are cut for, and it's the highest-density fit in a container (11 in a 20-foot, up to 25 in a 40-foot).
• Shipping to North America: the GMA 48 × 40 inch (1219 × 1016 mm) pallet is what US DCs and big-box receiving expect.
• Moving goods within Asia: the 1100 × 1100 mm square pallet matches Asian trucks and container flow.
• Australia: the 1165 × 1165 mm AS 4068 pallet, which does not nest neatly with the others — worth flagging early with any buyer who transships.

If a buyer hasn't specified, ask before you build. Re-palletizing at the port of destination is a cost someone pays, and disputes over who pays it are avoidable.

What to Put on the Pallet- and Carton-Level Spec

Freight is planned off the packed dimensions, not the product. So the numbers a B2B buyer actually needs to cost a shipment are the ones most catalogs leave off: the master carton's outer dimensions, the carton's volume in CBM, the cartons-per-pallet, and the loaded pallet height. Put those on the packaging spec and the buyer can calculate landed cost from your listing instead of emailing for it.

This is where a measured spec image earns its place. The fix isn't "add a line of text" — it's putting the real, measured carton and pallet dimensions directly on the packaging image where a sourcing or logistics buyer looks, in both mm and inches, with the CBM stated. Snap the measurement to the true carton edge, set the real length once, and export at a clean spec size, so the same trustworthy figure travels into the buyer's freight calculation, their internal deck, and their PO. That's a different job from an AI-generated packshot, which can stage a nice carton render but cannot measure your actual box — it prints a plausible-looking dimension that's simply invented, and an invented CBM turns into a wrong container quote.

For the math on how many cartons fill the load once the pallet is set, see our walkthrough of container loading quantity, and for building the carton itself to a clean modulus, master carton dimensions for export. A load that ships half-empty or arrives crushed eats margin the same way a wrong-size return does — you can put real numbers on that side of it with the return cost calculator.

FAQ

What are the standard export pallet dimensions?

The six ISO 6780 footprints are 1200 × 800 mm (Euro/EPAL), 1200 × 1000 mm, 1100 × 1100 mm, 1219 × 1016 mm (48 × 40 in, North American GMA), 1165 × 1165 mm (Australian AS 4068), and 1067 × 1067 mm. The one you build to should match the destination market's racking and container flow.

How many pallets fit in a 20ft and 40ft container?

Single-tier, a 20-foot container fits about 11 Euro pallets (1200 × 800) or 9–10 industrial/American pallets (1200 × 1000 / 48 × 40); a 40-foot fits about 24–25 Euro pallets or 20–21 industrial pallets. These assume no overhang past the pallet edge and standard dry-container internal width of 2.35 m.

Which pallet size is best for shipping to Europe?

The Euro pallet, 1200 × 800 mm (EPAL / EUR 1). It matches European retail racking and gives the densest container fit — 11 in a 20-foot and up to 25 in a 40-foot single tier — which lowers freight cost per unit.

Why does pallet size affect freight cost?

Freight is priced on the container space and weight a shipment consumes. A pallet footprint that leaves gaps against the fixed 2.35 m container width, or cargo that overhangs the pallet edge, means fewer pallets per container and a higher freight cost spread over the same goods.

Sources & References

• ISO 6780:2003 — Flat pallets for intercontinental materials handling: principal dimensions and tolerances
• iContainers — How many pallets fit in a 20ft or 40ft container (internal dimensions + single-tier counts)
• Standard pallet dimensions — US GMA, EUR/EPAL, Asian, Australian footprints in mm and inches
• EPAL — EPAL Euro pallet (1200 × 800 mm) official specification