How to use the pallet load planner

Pick a pallet, pick a container or trailer and set the height of one loaded pallet. The planner returns the most pallets that fit on the floor, the count for each single orientation, a to-scale drawing, the floor left over and how many layers fit under the roof. For EUR1 pallets in a 40ft container that is 25 on the floor, 20 all lengthwise, 15 all across, and 1 layer at 1,200 mm.

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

The load planner is a calculator for one question: how many pallets of a given size go on a given floor. It uses the same packing search as the 36 load plan pages on PalletSpec, so the two always agree.

Step by step

1. Choose the pallet

The list holds the 12 pallet standards in the data, each with its size in millimetres. The last entry, Custom size, opens two fields for length and width so you can enter a pallet or crate that is not a standard, from 400 to 2,500 mm a side.

2. Choose the container or trailer

The 20 units are grouped into containers, European trailers and North American trailers and trucks. Flat racks, platforms and tank containers are not offered, because the data has no single floor to plan on for them. The planning floor is the smallest inside length and width any source publishes for that type, so the result holds for every unit you are likely to get.

3. Set the unit height and the play

Unit height is the height of one loaded pallet, pallet plus goods. It only affects the layer count. Play is a margin added to the pallet's length and width before a second packing run; the default 20 mm matches the practical count on the load plan pages.

Reading the result

The large number is the most pallets that fit in one layer. For EUR1 pallets in a 40ft container it is 25, covering 84.9% of the floor. The three tabs above the drawing switch between the best layout and the two single-direction patterns, 20 with every pallet lengthwise and 15 with every pallet turned across. Darker pallets in the drawing run lengthwise, lighter ones are turned.

Below the drawing:

• With 20 mm of play: 23 for the same example. If this is lower than the main count, the tight layout has no handling room.
• Upper bound by area: floor area divided by pallet area, 29 here. No arrangement of whole pallets can beat it, so the gap to the main count is floor that pallets of this size cannot reach.
• Spare length × width: what is left beyond the last pallet, 30 × 350 mm for this example.
• Layers and pallets if stacked: inside height divided by your unit height, rounded down, and that many layers times the floor count. A note appears if your unit is taller than the door opening.
• Published payload (containers only): the typical figure from the spec sheets, divided evenly over the pallets. It is arithmetic, not a loading limit.

Five worked examples

Two of these are worth a second look. Dropping the EUR1 unit height from 1,200 to 1,100 mm doubles the 40ft container count, because 2,390 mm of inside height takes two layers only below 1,195 mm per unit. And the Australian square pallet in a 40ft high cube reefer shows what a narrow body does: one pallet across instead of two.

How the search works

The planner tries every layout that can be cut into strips: rows across the floor, lanes along it, and blocks within them, with each block turned either way. It does this exactly, using dynamic programming over the positions where a pallet edge can fall, so it finds the true maximum among those layouts. Pallets are exact rectangles with no overhang and zero clearance unless you add play.

Pinwheel patterns, where pallets interlock around a gap in the middle, are not searched. The area upper bound puts a ceiling on what any pattern, pinwheels included, could add.

Checked against published counts

Carriers and trailer makers sometimes publish their own counts. Of the 9 we found, 7 match one of our figures: the best count, the count with play, or a single-direction pattern.

The 2 that differ both come from one dealer guide, Hale Trailer's, for 48×40 pallets in North American vans. For the 53 ft dry van it quotes 28 (its note: “'some sources say 28 pallets by alternating orientation'”), where we compute 30 at best and 26 all lengthwise. For the 48 ft dry van it quotes 24 (its note: “24 pallets single stack (12 long x 2 wide)”), where we compute 28 at best and 22 all lengthwise. We show both figures and do not adjust either.

What the planner does not do

It does not check weight, axle loads, load securing or any road or shipping rule. It treats the floor as clear, so wheel arches, posts and side doors that a particular unit may have are not modelled. The result is the geometry of the floor, which is the starting point for a load plan rather than the whole of one.

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 · European vs North American trailers