How many pallets fit on a flatbed or step deck?

A 48 ft flatbed takes 28 standard 48×40 pallets and a 53 ft flatbed 30. A 48 ft step deck matches the flatbed, 6 on the upper deck and 22 on the lower, and its low deck gives 3,093 mm of load height against 2,637 mm on the flatbed.

By Oliver Bennett · Published 29 October 2026 · Data as of 27 October 2026, from spec sheets retrieved that day

Open trailers have no walls, so the deck edge is the limit and nothing stops a forklift loading from the side. Pallet counts follow the same geometry as a closed van, with two differences: every deck in the data is 2,591 mm wide, wider than any van, and the height available depends on how high the deck sits above the road.

Deck sizes

The 48 ft flatbed deck is 14,630 mm long and the 53 ft deck 16,154 mm. The 48 ft step deck has the same overall length as the flatbed, split into an upper deck of 3,353 mm over the kingpin and a lower deck of 11,277 mm. The upper length is Utility Trailer's published 11 ft; the lower one is what remains of the 48 ft. Pallets cannot bridge the step, so each deck is packed on its own.

Counts on each deck

On the step deck the 48×40 takes 6 pallets up top and 22 below, 28 in all, exactly the flat 48 ft deck's figure. The EUR1 and 1200×1000 lose nothing to the split either. The square pallets pay most for it: the 1165×1165 (AU) and the CP3 each get two fewer on the step deck, 22 against 24 for the 1165×1165 (AU), because the short upper deck leaves a strip at its end that one long deck would use. Half and quarter pallets lose one or two positions for the same reason.

The extra 1,524 mm of a 53 ft flatbed is worth four EUR1 pallets: 40 turned two across in 20 rows, against 36 on the 48 ft deck, where three lengthwise across is already the best layout.

How high you can stack

An open deck has no roof, so the height limit is the road, not the trailer. We assume an overall height of 13 ft 6 in (4,115 mm), a common state limit; the federal rules in 23 CFR 658 set no general height limit, so check the route before relying on it. Taking away the published deck heights from Utility Trailer gives:

• 48 ft flatbed, deck at 1,478 mm: 2,637 mm of load height, two layers of 1.2 m units, or two layers up to 1,318 mm each.
• Step deck, upper, deck at 1,514 mm: 2,601 mm, two layers up to 1,300 mm each.
• Step deck, lower, deck at 1,022 mm: 3,093 mm, two layers up to 1,546 mm each, or three of units no taller than 1,031 mm.

That lower deck is the reason step decks exist: nearly half a metre more height than the flatbed, over three quarters of the length. No deck height is published for the 53 ft flatbed in our sources, so we do not give a stacking figure for it rather than guess one.

Load securing, overhang and axle weights are outside what these counts cover. Try your own pallet in the load planner, or open the 48 ft flatbed, 53 ft flatbed and 48 ft step deck pages.

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