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Port Pallets

Guide

Pallet standards and sizes

A size is not a standard, and a standard is not a licence. Getting these three things separated saves a lot of expensive confusion.

Plain timber pallet on a white background.

Published 2026-09-10 · Last reviewed 2026-09-10 · Next review due 2026-12-10

This guide is general information written for people working around UK ports. It is not legal or customs advice, and it does not certify that any consignment complies with anything. Requirements change and depend on the specific goods, materials, route and dates involved. Always check the official sources linked below, and take professional advice where the consequences of getting it wrong are significant.

Three different things people call 'a standard'

In everyday conversation around a warehouse, 'standard pallet' can mean a footprint, a published technical standard, or membership of a licensed exchange pool. These are genuinely different things and conflating them causes real procurement errors.

1. A footprint

A plan dimension, such as 1200 x 1000 mm or 1200 x 800 mm. It tells you how much floor the pallet occupies and nothing else. Two pallets with identical footprints can have completely different board thicknesses, bearer arrangements, entry types and construction quality.

2. A published technical standard

International and European standards bodies publish specifications covering pallet dimensions, tolerances, terminology and testing. ISO publishes principal dimensions for flat pallets used in international materials handling, which is where the commonly cited footprints originate. These are technical documents, not licences.

3. A licensed exchange pool

EPAL is the clearest example. It is a licensed system administered by the European Pallet Association, with defined manufacturing, repair, marking and inspection requirements. Pallets are EPAL pallets because they were produced or repaired under that licence and marked accordingly — not because they measure 1200 x 800 mm.

Euro-size is not automatically EPAL

This is the single most common misunderstanding in UK pallet buying. A pallet in the 1200 x 800 mm Euro footprint is not an EPAL pallet unless it was made or repaired under EPAL licence and marked as such. Port Pallets supplies the 1200 x 800 footprint as a dimension. We make no claim to be an EPAL licensee, and we do not describe our pallets as EPAL pallets. If you specifically need licensed pool pallets, say so in your enquiry so it can be assessed as the separate requirement it is.

The footprints you will meet around UK ports

  • 1200 x 1000 mm — the dominant UK domestic distribution footprint.
  • 1200 x 800 mm — the Euro footprint, arriving constantly on inbound European traffic.
  • 1100 x 1100 mm — associated with Asian and Australasian trade, and common on deep-sea inbound.
  • 1219 x 1016 mm (48 x 40 inch) — the North American footprint, seen on transatlantic cargo.
  • Half and quarter sizes derived from the above, used for retail display and small-volume handling.

Why devanning yards repalletise

Because those footprints do not interoperate cleanly. A container arriving at Southampton or Felixstowe on 1100 x 1100 pallets cannot simply be pushed into UK racking designed around 1200 x 1000. Repalletising is not waste — it is the point at which imported cargo becomes handleable by the domestic network. It is also why devanning operations are among the steadiest pallet buyers in the country.

What to specify beyond the footprint

  • Entry type — two-way or four-way, and whether pallet trucks need access.
  • Deck configuration — full boards, spaced boards, perimeter base or full base.
  • Bearer or block construction, and bearer count.
  • Overall height, which affects trailer stacking calculations.
  • Timber thickness and species, where these matter to the application.
  • Whether the pallet will leave the UK in wood form, which brings destination requirements into play.

Sources

Each link was checked on the date shown. Where a site blocked our automated check we say so rather than implying a clean result.