What are Euro Pallets

What are Euro Pallets?

Euro Pallets are the most commonly used pallet across Europe, they have dimensions of 1200mm x 800mm. These Pallet’s have an interesting history, they emerged in the 1960s after being developed by the combined railways of the European Nations; Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland). The International Union of Railways commissioned the need for a common standard pallet. This was necessary to optimise the loading and unloading of railcars. Therefore the Euro Pallet was born and has been used and highly popular since. Due to its efficiency, the standard Euro Pallet’s use spread further across Europe and then across the globe from North America to Central Asia.  

Euro pallets are so common across the globe that even in the UK these pallets are called ‘standard’ pallets. Yet, the official ‘standard UK’ size differs in size slightly, and measures 1200x1000mm. If you are looking for a specific size always be sure to check the exact measurements due to this standardisation of language.

Euro Pallets can be made from a variety of materials including plastic, steel, and wood. The main benefit of using Euro Pallets made from non-wood materials is the avoidance of having to treat the wood when shipping internationally (ISPM15 standards). Conversely, you are able to recycle wood Euro Pallets, and these pallets are highly repairable if damaged. Further benefits include woods non-slip property, absence of electrostatic charge and the fact that wood can withstand high temperatures whereas plastics cannot. Choosing which material is best for your Euro Pallets is highly dependent on your product and its journey, our specialist team can advise you on this. 

The different types of Euro Pallets include:

• The Stamped Euro Pallet

• • “Stamped Euro” is a pallet that has a EUR stamp. This is a heavy-duty pallet and was made to specific standard meaning that all pallets bearing the EUR stamp are of identical specification

• • When these Pallets are recycled or second-hand, they can be Grade A (or 1) or Grade B (or 2) Stamped Euro. These will be EUR pallets that are either newer-looking or more weathered in appearance but still great and reliable pallets.

• The Unstamped Euro

  • These can be known as unlicensed 
  • This is simply a pallet that measures 1200mm x 800mm. Not all of these will be identical and none will have the EUR stamp.

• • These pallets are likely to vary in load limits depending on the number of top boards, block heights, etc…As such, they tend to fall further into two categories –  “lightweight” or “medium”.

Some Euro Pallets may also have stamps on them in order to tell the buyer where they were made or stamps to determine if they have been treated. 

• Half-euro.

  • These pallets can be known as the Dusseldorf (a true Dusseldorf will have metal legs instead of timber blocks), this pallet measures 800mm x 600mm and is exactly half the size of a typical euro sized pallet.