Lighter Pallets Reduce Import/Export Costs

There are two major criteria to consider when choosing the type of pallet to use for exporting and importing product: compliance and cost. What type of pallet does the recipient country and customer accept, and how much will pallets factor into the total cost of shipping?

A number of factors go into selecting the right kind of pallet to use for shipping. These include strength, durability, and compliance with local regulations. However, for products going air-freight, weight is often the most important factor. This Material Handling Management report describes why one company is moving to a honeycomb paper pallet with high tensile strength for many of its airfreight loads. The honeycomb paper pallets cost more than wooden ones, but overall costs are reduced.

Workers also benefit from handling honeycomb paper pallets. They don't receive splinter or nail wounds and the lighter weight contributes to fewer back injuries. Another advantage of paper pallets is that they can be recycled. It makes disposal of the pallets far less expensive.

When decisions are being made about the best type of pallet to use for moving products internationally the devil is truly in the details. Is pallet price or weight or strength or regulatory compliance the most important criterion? Airfreight charges can be reduced using paper pallets. Untreated wood pallets can carry alien insects that will find new homes in receiving countries.

The Bug Issue

Foreign bugs transported in wooden packaging material are threatening many countries' native forests. To prevent this problem from spreading any further, conventional wood pallets need to comply with International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM 15). 

This standard requires wood to be heat or chemically treated to kill bugs and larva prior to exporting/ importing. For conventional hardwood and softwood, treating is an extra process and adds time, material and cost to the end product. Pallets made from this type of wood must carry a stamp demonstrating that the treatment process has been completed.

Global Irregularities

Wood pallets from Asia can be problematic because the quality of wood used for making pallets, as is the case in many areas of the world, is poor. What's more, because of a wide variety of transporation modes, there are many different pallet sizes. For example, because it is shipped in smaller aircraft, airfreight requires smaller pallets.

Furthermore, many pallets used to ship product to Europe or North America may not work well in Asian distribution systems. But the biggest problem is communicating to the manufacturing location what pallets should to be used.

Everything that is shipped to Australia-has its own pallet size, which is different from those in Europe and the United States. Australia was also the first country to strictly enforce ISPM 15 compliance. Product arriving on pallets that do not comply with the standard are held at customs and the goods must be repalletized. The non-compliant pallets are then burned on location.

Honeycomb paper pallet that is make of recycled paper, the hexagonal shape of honeycomb paper which is similar to the natural honeycomb constructed by bees. It makes good strength, durability & also lighter weight. With this it reduce the air-freight costs.