Standard, Euro or Oversize: Choosing the Right Pallet for Melbourne Freight

Pick the wrong pallet and you’ll either pay for empty air or watch a forklift driver try to wedge a 1200mm load into a 1165mm rack. Here’s the no-jargon version.

Standard Australian pallet (1165 × 1165mm)

The default in Australian warehousing, supermarkets, and most CHEP and Loscam pools. Square footprint, fits four to a 20-foot container and 22 to a B-double trailer. If you’re moving freight inside Australia and nobody’s told you otherwise, this is what you want.

• Best for: domestic distribution, retail DC deliveries, CHEP/Loscam pool exchanges.
• Max weight (typical): 1,000–1,500kg loaded.
• Watch out for: European-built racking that’s sized for 1200mm pallets and won’t accept these square.

Euro pallet / EPAL (1200 × 800mm)

The European standard. Smaller footprint, lighter (about 25kg empty vs ~33kg for Aussie hardwood), and built to a tighter EPAL spec. Common on imported goods, automotive parts, and anything coming out of a European or UK supply chain.

• Best for: imported freight already palletised in Europe, narrow-aisle warehouses, anywhere weight matters.
• Max weight (typical): 1,500kg dynamic / 4,000kg static.
• Watch out for: Aussie racking that assumes a 1165mm square — a Euro pallet will overhang one way and waste space the other.

Oversize / out-of-gauge

Anything longer than 1200mm, wider than 1200mm, or taller than about 2.2m. Examples: industrial machinery, glass crates, long timber, building panels, gym equipment. These need a tray vehicle, not a van, and often a tail-lift or forklift at both ends.

• Best for: one-off industrial moves, trade fit-outs, plant relocations.
• Watch out for: permits and escort requirements above certain widths and lengths — tell your freight company the exact dimensions and weight before booking, not after.

Five rules that save real money

1. Measure, don’t guess. Length, width and height, including the pallet itself. Most overcharges come from height being wrong.
2. Wrap tight, wrap low. Wrap should start under the top deck of the pallet, not at the load. Loads that shift in transit become claims.
3. Label the top. Forklift drivers don’t want to walk around your pallet to find the consignment note.
4. Don’t mix fragile and heavy. Glass under steel is a guaranteed claim. Book two pallets.
5. Tell us about access. Site has no forklift? Tight residential street? Tail-lift required? Say so up front — it’s a $40 note at booking and a $300 reattendance fee if we find out on the day.

Not sure what you’ve got?

Send a photo and rough dimensions to info@drop-x.com.au or call 1300 973 038. The freight desk will quote the right vehicle and the right pallet rate the first time — no upgrades on the day.