Learn about cargo pallets made from wood, plastic, paper, and agricultural waste, each offering unique advantages. Choose the right cargo pallet to protect goods, save costs, and improve supply chain efficiency.
Table of Content
What Is A Pallet?
A pallet is a flat, portable platform used to stack, store, transport, and handle goods and materials. It provides a stable base for the efficient movement of items, often with the help of forklifts, pallet jacks, or other handling equipment. Pallets are widely used in logistics, warehousing, and shipping to facilitate the easy loading, unloading, and transportation of goods.
Common Types Of Cargo Pallets
Wood Pallet:
Wood Pallet
Pros:
Cost-effective: Wooden pallets are affordable, making them suitable for one-time use or exporting goods.
Multi-purpose reuse: Wooden pallets can be repurposed for various applications such as beds, cabinets, and shelves.
Diverse sizes: Available in various sizes such as 800 x 1200 mm, 1200 x 1000 mm, 1000 x 1200 mm, and 800 x 600 mm, to accommodate different cargo.
High load-bearing capacity: High-quality wooden pallets can withstand heavy loads, making them suitable for both transportation and storage.
Cons:
Certification Requirement: Wooden pallets require phytosanitary certificates and material certification before export.
Susceptible to damage: Wood can be damaged by pests, moisture, or weather conditions.
Heavy Weight: Wooden pallets are generally heavier than other types of pallets, which can increase transportation costs.
Hygiene concerns: Difficult to clean and not resistant to chemicals. Storage of goods can lead to wood splinters, requiring frequent cleaning of the warehouse.
Environmentally unfriendly: The production of wooden pallets contributes to deforestation and resource depletion.
Plastic Pallet:
Plastic Pallet
Pros:
High Durability: Plastic pallets have a long lifespan and can withstand multiple cycles of goods handling.
High Load-bearing Capacity and Elasticity: They offer excellent load-bearing capacity, durability, and elasticity, allowing for flexible lifting from four directions.
Widely used across industries: Plastic pallets are widely used in manufacturing, consumer goods, chemicals, and various other sectors.
Diverse sizes: Plastic pallets are available in a wide range of standard sizes.
Reduces product damage: They can replace wooden boards with a single piece of PP plastic liner, minimizing the risk of leaving imprints on goods.
Cost-effective: Offers a higher return on investment compared to wooden pallets.
Cons:
Difficult to repair: When damaged, plastic pallets often have to be replaced entirely instead of repaired in parts.
Environmental impact: The poor degradability of plastic pallets can harm the environment if not disposed of correctly.
Paper Pallet:
Paper Pallet
Pros:
Light weight: Paper pallets are the lightest of all pallets, helping to save on shipping costs.
Suitable for overseas shipping: Paper pallets are ideal for international exports due to their lightweight and eco-friendly nature.
Environmentally friendly: Most paper pallets have insect and pest repellent treatments to better protect goods.
Cons:
Susceptible to environmental conditions: Paper pallets can be damaged by humidity and temperature fluctuations.
Vulnerable to pests: Despite insect repellents, paper pallets can still be damaged by mice and other rodents.
Short lifespan: Most paper pallets are not fire-resistant and have a relatively short lifespan.
Agricultural Waste Pallet
Agricultural Waste Pallet
Pros:
Eco-friendly: Agricultural waste pallets reduce waste and utilize natural available resources.
Space-saving: These pallets are typically lightweight and stackable, optimizing storage space.
Low cost: The price is lower than wooden pallets and plastic pallets, saving costs for businesses.
Streamlined exports: The exemption from ISPM-15 simplifies export processes.
Cons:
Limited market penetration: Awareness and usage of agricultural waste pallets among businesses is still relatively low, which may restrict supply and options.
Difficult to repair: Due to their compressed structure, damaged sections of agricultural waste pallets are often difficult to repair.
Benefits of Cargo Pallets in Supply Chain
Protects cargo: Pallets safeguard goods from damage during transportation and storage by providing a barrier between the products and the ground, reducing the risk of moisture, dirt, or environmental damage.
Optimize Storage Space: Pallets are designed to be easily stacked, helping to optimize warehouse storage space. This means businesses can store more goods in the same area, minimizing warehouse rental costs.
Benefits of Cargo Pallets in Supply Chain
Save time and costs: Pallets help improve the efficiency of loading, transporting, and managing goods, minimizing labor costs. Tools such as forklifts can quickly lift and move multiple goods at once when they are placed on pallets.
Support inventory and inventory management processes: Goods loaded on pallets can be easily barcode or RFID-tagged for tracking and management. This helps improve the accuracy of the inventory process, reduce errors, and help manage inventory more effectively.
Considerations When Choosing Cargo Pallets
Type of goods: Each type of goods requires a different type of pallet or container. High-value or dangerous goods require special protection to avoid damage.
Goods dimensions and weight: The size and weight of goods determine the most suitable pallet to ensure safe and efficient loading and unloading. Common sizes include 1200x1000 mm and 1200x800 mm.
Standard Pallet Sizes Globally
Destination of Goods: Different cuntries have their own regulations on the type of pallets allowed to be used, so the destination should be carefully considered to meet the standards in that country
Cost considerations: The cost of pallets varies, and the choice should align with the budget and specific requirements.
Selecting the right pallet for your goods is crucial to ensuring safe and efficient transportation. Factors such as material, size, weight, and destination requirements need to be carefully considered.
Pallets not only protect goods but also help save time and operating costs. Therefore, businesses need to consider economic efficiency and technical requirements to optimize inventory management and transportation. The right choice will bring long-term benefits to the business.
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NetZero Pallet ®
Singapore Office:
Email: hi@airxcarbon.com
Location: 10 Anson Road, International Plaza, Singapore
Postal Code: 07990
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