European vs North American trailers

A 53 ft dry van has 41.0 m² of floor against 33.8 m² in a European 13.6 m curtainsider and takes 39 EUR1 pallets against 34, or 30 48×40 pallets against 26. The European trailer uses its floor more fully for EUR1 pallets, 96.6% against 92.3%, because its 2,480 mm width takes three pallets across with only 80 mm left.

By Oliver Bennett · Published 27 October 2026 · Data as of 27 October 2026, from spec sheets retrieved that day

European and North American trailers are built around different pallets and different floor widths, and the counts show it. This guide compares the 4 European and 6 North American trailers and trucks on PalletSpec using the smallest published inside sizes.

Floor sizes

The European semi-trailers share a 13,620 mm load length, except the reefer at 13,310 mm. The 53 ft van is 15,977 mm long inside, 2,357 mm more than the curtainsider, and 60 mm wider. The flatbeds are the widest of all at 2,591 mm of deck.

Pallet counts

The 53 ft van takes 39 EUR1 pallets against 34 on the curtainsider, and 30 48×40 pallets against 26. The extra pallets come almost entirely from length. Per square metre the European trailer does better with EUR1 pallets: they cover 96.6% of the curtainsider floor and 92.3% of the 53 ft van floor. The reason is width. Three EUR1 short sides, 2,400 mm, fill the 2,480 mm curtainsider with 80 mm left; the van's 2,540 mm leaves 140 mm.

EPAL's loading-metre figure for the EUR1 follows from the same geometry: 0.4 m of trailer length per pallet whether they go three abreast or two abreast. On a 13,620 mm floor that is 34 pallets, the count in the table.

In the van the 48×40 pallets go two across with the 48 in side across the floor, leaving 102 mm at the side and 737 mm at the doors. Turning them the other way gives 26.

Height and layers

The mega trailer has the same floor as the curtainsider but 240 mm more height. With 1,200 mm loads both take two layers; the difference shows with taller loads.

Every closed body in the data takes two layers of 1,200 mm units, so at that height the stacked count is simply twice the floor count. The ceiling for two layers is what separates them. The European reefer, at 2,600 mm inside, allows two layers only up to 1,300 mm per unit; the mega trailer allows 1,470 mm, and the North American vans 1,397 mm. Units between those figures stack in one trailer and not in another.

48 ft against 53 ft

The two North American van lengths are not simply long and short versions of one box. The 48 ft van in the data is 2,565 mm wide inside against 2,540 mm for the 53 ft, so it is the wider of the two. It takes 36 EUR1 and 28 48×40 pallets against 39 and 30 in the 53 ft van. The extra 1,524 mm of length buys one more pair of 48×40 pallets.

Half pallets and the reefer trailer

Half pallets fill both kinds of trailer well. The 48×20 half pallet covers 99.3% of the 53 ft van floor (65 pallets), and the EUR6 covers 96.6% of the curtainsider (68).

The European reefer trailer is 310 mm shorter inside than the curtainsider. That costs one EUR1 position (33 instead of 34) but no 48×40 positions: both trailers take 26.

Step deck

A step deck is planned as two separate floors, because pallets cannot bridge the step. The 48 ft step deck in the data has a 3,353 mm upper deck and a 11,277 mm lower deck. They take 6 and 22 48×40 pallets, 28 in all, the same total as the flat 48 ft flatbed of the same overall length.

Box truck and flatbeds

The 26 ft box truck is the odd one out: 7,899 mm long but 2,464 mm wide, so it takes three EUR1 short sides across like a European trailer and covers 93.7% of its floor. The flatbeds give the highest counts of all, 40 EUR1 on the 53 ft deck, which at 16,154 × 2,591 mm is the longest and widest floor in the data.

Check a trailer against your own pallet and unit height in the load planner, or see the 13.6 m curtainsider and 53 ft dry van pages.

More guides: EUR1 vs 48×40 pallets: which fits more? · 20ft vs 40ft vs 40ft high cube containers · Why some pallet and container pairs waste floor space · Pallet sizes by region · How to use the pallet load planner