Pallet and truckload maths: why 33 pallets is not always 33 pallets
Ask any FMCG wholesaler how much fits in a truck and you will be told 33 pallets. It is the right answer roughly half the time. The other half, the trailer is full by weight long before it is full by floor space — and if you have budgeted freight on the assumption of 33, your landed cost per case is wrong.
The two limits
A standard European curtainsider gives you two independent constraints:
- Floor space. 13.6 m of loading length. Standard EUR pallets measure 1200 × 800 mm and load two abreast, which gives 33 pallets on the floor.
- Payload. Typically 24 tonnes of cargo, depending on the tractor unit and the countries transited.
Divide the payload by the pallet count and you get the number that matters: 24,000 kg ÷ 33 = roughly 725 kg per pallet. If your average pallet weighs more than that, weight is your binding constraint and you will never reach 33.
Where FMCG categories land
| Category | Typical pallet weight | Limited by | Pallets per trailer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crisps, snacks | 180–260 kg | Space | 33 |
| Household paper | 200–300 kg | Space | 33 |
| Confectionery | 500–650 kg | Space | 33 |
| Personal care | 550–700 kg | Space | 33 |
| Canned soft drinks | 800–900 kg | Weight | 27–30 |
| PET bottled drinks | 750–850 kg | Weight | 28–32 |
| Liquid detergent | 900–1,000 kg | Weight | 24–26 |
| Bottled beer, glass | 950–1,100 kg | Weight | 22–25 |
Anything liquid or glass is weight-limited. Anything dry and bulky is space-limited. The categories in the middle — confectionery, personal care — are where a mixed load pays off.
Why this changes your cost per case
Freight is quoted per truck, not per pallet. So the freight cost of a case is the truck rate divided by the number of cases actually on board.
Take a €1,400 road rate, Warszawa to a German destination:
- Snacks, space-limited: 33 pallets × 64 cases = 2,112 cases. Freight ≈ €0.66 per case.
- Liquid detergent, weight-limited: 25 pallets × 60 cases = 1,500 cases. Freight ≈ €0.93 per case.
Same truck, same route, same money — 40% more freight cost per case on the second load, entirely because of density. If you are comparing two suppliers' offers and one is DAP and the other FCA, this is the arithmetic that reconciles them.
The practical move: pair a heavy category with a light one. A load of canned drinks that would stop at 28 pallets by weight can be finished with five pallets of crisps or kitchen towel at almost no weight cost. You get a full 33-pallet trailer, and the freight per case falls for both categories at once. Tell us at enquiry stage that you are open to this and we will suggest the pairing.
Containers work the same way, with different numbers
| Unit | EUR pallets, single tier | Typical payload |
|---|---|---|
| 20 ft standard | 11 | ~21.7 t |
| 40 ft standard | 23–25 | ~26.5 t |
| 40 ft high cube | 23–25 | ~26.5 t |
Note the trap in that table: a 40 ft container holds slightly more than twice the pallets of a 20 ft, but only about 22% more weight. For heavy goods, two 20 ft containers often carry more cargo than one 40 ft — and sometimes cost less, depending on the trade lane.
What to send us
If you tell us your target volume in pallets or containers rather than in units, we can tell you immediately whether your load is space- or weight-limited and suggest a pairing that fills the trailer. If you tell us in units, we have to work it out and come back to you, which costs a day.
Our current pallet configurations by SKU are on the product range page. Related: who pays the freight depends on your Incoterm.