Journal · 26 September 2026 · 5 min read

How many pallets fit in a truck and a container: table by body type

“How many pallets will fit” is asked before anyone works out volume or weight. The answer is usually given from memory, and that is exactly where money is lost: one extra truck on a run costs more than an hour of proper calculation.

Below is a table for the body types used across Europe, Türkiye and Asia. Dimensions are internal, in millimetres; the pallet count is for a 1200×800 euro pallet in a single tier.

Table: pallets by body type

The “per tier” column is the ordinary layout: every pallet the same way round, long side along the body. The “when turned” column is the geometric ceiling, reached by turning part of the load across. Turning wins space but complicates securing, which is why warehouses load the first way by default.

Where the numbers come from

No magic, just division.

A 13.6 m trailer. The body is 2450 mm wide, the pallet 800 mm: 3 × 800 = 2400, so three fit side by side and a fourth does not. Length 13600 mm, pallet length 1200 mm: 13600 / 1200 = 11 rows. That is 11 × 3 = 33.

A 20 ft container. At 2352 mm, three 800 mm pallets no longer fit (2400 > 2352). Two columns of different orientation do: one 800 mm wide (pallets lengthwise, 5898 / 1200 = 4) and one 1200 mm wide (pallets across, 5898 / 800 = 7). 4 + 7 = 11 — the figure every reference book quotes.

A 40 ft container. The same trick: 12032 / 1200 = 10 and 12032 / 800 = 15, together 25.

Why less fits in practice

Geometry is only half the problem. Four things decide the real number.

1. Weight. In Europe a tractor and semi-trailer are normally capped at 40 tonnes gross, leaving roughly 22–24 tonnes for cargo. Thirty-three pallets at 800 kg is 26 tonnes: the truck hits the weighbridge limit long before it runs out of floor. Axle load is a separate matter — cargo can fit and still be distributed badly enough to overload the bogie.
2. Stacking. If the cargo cannot take anything on top, the second tier disappears and the volume of the body becomes irrelevant: only the floor counts.
3. Overhang and packaging. Boxes wider than the pallet, wrapping, corner boards, a pallet under a pallet — 1200×800 on paper becomes 1240×840 in the body, and the row of three stops fitting.
4. Door opening and securing. A container’s doorway is narrower than its body, and a trailer needs clearance for straps and bars.

Finnish pallets and odd-sized pieces

A Finnish 1200×1000 pallet sits differently in the same 13.6 m trailer: two columns 1200 mm wide give 13600 / 1000 = 13 rows, that is 26 pallets. An industrial 1200×1200 gives 2 per row over 11 rows, 22 pallets.

With odd-sized pieces the tables end. A 2200×900 crate, a reel, a machine in a frame, a pallet with cargo hanging over the edge — here every “about” costs a run.

Calculating without the table

A table answers “how many identical pallets fit”. A real shipment almost never looks like that: mixed dimensions, mixed weights, some pieces that may not be laid on their side or loaded on top, and three delivery points that have to come out in reverse order.

Software does that in a minute: it places every piece in the body, shows the plan in 3D, works out the axle loads and states what did not fit and how many vehicles are needed. The plan can be printed or sent to the warehouse as a link — including a Turkish version when loading takes place in Türkiye.