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Technical questions go straight to the graders.
Four percent of your freight bill is sitting in a division you have not done.
A 53-foot dry van gives you roughly 630 usable inches of floor by 98 of width. Those two numbers and your footprint determine how many positions you get, and most shippers accept whatever pattern their loaders learned. A 48 × 40 loaded one way gives 26 positions; turned ninety degrees it gives 30. Same pallets, same trailer, four extra positions from arithmetic.
The second calculation nobody does is height. If your product tiers to 48 inches and the trailer gives you 108, you are paying to ship five feet of air on every position. A shorter, stiffer platform that permits double-stacking can beat a single tier on a heavier one — and that is where the largest freight savings in this subject area actually live.
On our side of it, the governing number is empty miles. We started deliberately routing recovery pickups against outbound deliveries in 2023 and cut empty running by 31% in eighteen months. It is the least sophisticated idea in this company and the biggest carbon reduction in its history, and almost nobody in the trade publishes the figure because an honest one is frequently 40% or worse.
- Run both orientations through the division. The better answer is often four positions ahead.
- A pinwheel pattern recovers width that neither pure orientation uses, and stabilises the load.
- Overhang forces you into the loose orientation and costs carton compression strength as well.
- Height utilisation is usually worth more than floor utilisation, and is calculated far less often.
- Ask a recycler for their empty-mile percentage. The pause before the answer is informative.
- Loading straight because that is how it has always been loaded
- Doing the trailer arithmetic on nominal footprint when the platform has wing overhang
- Shipping a single tier of short product and paying for the empty air above it
- Paying for a long recovery run on a half-empty trailer and calling it sustainability
- Brokering freight and then being unable to answer basic questions about routing
3 on logistics, newest first.
Drop trailers change the arithmetic of a dock
A collection stops being an event and becomes a swap. The labour saving is obvious; the second-order effects are larger.5 min · 963 words · Rosa, logistics
February 25, 2025Why we measure empty miles and almost nobody else publishes them
An empty trailer is the fastest way to destroy the environmental case for reuse. We cut ours 31% in eighteen months and it was the biggest thing we have ever done.4 min · 810 words · Rosa, logistics
April 23, 2024Pinwheel, straight or turned: loading patterns and what they cost
Two extra floor positions per trailer is a four percent freight saving on every load you ship, forever. It comes from arithmetic, not negotiation.4 min · 845 words · Rosa, logistics
The tables behind these posts.
The same data we work from in the yard, so you can check the arguments above against the numbers.
| Footprint | Inches | Millimetres | Construction | Top / btm boards | Weight lb | Dynamic load | Racked load | Board feet | Positions per 53′ van |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48 × 40 GMA | 48 × 40 | 1219 × 1016 | 3-stringer, notched | 7 / 5 | 33–48 | 2,100–2,800 lb | 1,500–2,500 lb | 37 | 30 |
| 48 × 40 heavy | 48 × 40 | 1219 × 1016 | 3-stringer, thicker | 7 / 7 | 46–58 | 3,000–4,000 lb | 2,200–3,000 lb | 44 | 30 |
| 48 × 40 economy | 48 × 40 | 1219 × 1016 | 3-stringer | 5 / 3 | 28–34 | 1,200–1,800 lb | Not recommended | 27 | 30 |
| 48 × 48 | 48 × 48 | 1219 × 1219 | 4-stringer or block | 7 / 5 + perimeter | 52–68 | 3,000–4,500 lb | 2,000–3,000 lb | 46 | 26 |
| 42 × 42 | 42 × 42 | 1067 × 1067 | 3-stringer, notched | 7 / 5 | 32–44 | 2,000–2,600 lb | 1,400–2,200 lb | 34 | 30 |
| 40 × 48 | 40 × 48 | 1016 × 1219 | 3-stringer, notched | 7 / 5 | 33–48 | 2,100–2,800 lb | 1,400–2,300 lb | 37 | 30 |
| 48 × 42 | 48 × 42 | 1219 × 1067 | 3-stringer, notched | 7 / 5 | 35–50 | 2,200–2,900 lb | 1,500–2,500 lb | 39 | 30 |
| 40 × 40 | 40 × 40 | 1016 × 1016 | 3-stringer, notched | 6 / 4 | 28–40 | 1,800–2,400 lb | 1,200–2,000 lb | 31 | 30 |
| 48 × 36 | 48 × 36 | 1219 × 914 | 3-stringer, notched | 7 / 5 | 30–42 | 1,900–2,500 lb | 1,300–2,100 lb | 33 | 34 |
| Euro / EPAL 1 | 47.2 × 31.5 | 1200 × 800 | 9-block | 11 + 3 bearers | 50–57 | 3,300 lb nominal | 2,200 lb nominal | 33 | 40 |
| Euro 2 / industrial | 47.2 × 39.4 | 1200 × 1000 | 9-block | 11 + 3 bearers | 60–70 | 3,300 lb nominal | 2,200 lb nominal | 41 | 30 |
| Euro 3 / half | 31.5 × 23.6 | 800 × 600 | Block | Varies | 20–26 | 1,100 lb | Not rated | 17 | 80 |
| Quarter / display | 23.6 × 15.7 | 600 × 400 | Block or moulded | Varies | 9–14 | 550 lb | Not rated | 9 | 160 |
| Asia standard | 43.3 × 43.3 | 1100 × 1100 | 9-block | Varies | 48–60 | 2,200 lb nominal | 1,800 lb nominal | 36 | 28 |
| Australia standard | 45.9 × 45.9 | 1165 × 1165 | Block | Varies | 55–66 | 2,200 lb nominal | 1,800 lb nominal | 40 | 26 |
Capacities are indicative ranges for recycled stock, not certifications — see load capacity for how the three ratings differ. Trailer positions assume the better of the two orientations on a 630″ × 98″ floor. Usable floor of a 53-foot dry van. Reefers and curtainsides run shorter and narrower.
| Tier | Stock release | Repaired stock | New build | Heat treated | Surplus pickup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core | 24–48 hours | 3–5 business days | 7–12 business days | Same day on held stock | 48 hours, full trailer |
| Regular | 3–5 business days | 5–8 business days | 10–15 business days | 48 hours | Next scheduled run |
| On demand | Next paired run | 8–12 business days | 12–18 business days | 72 hours | Full trailers, scheduled |
Working days from a confirmed order against an agreed specification. Standing-release customers run shorter than these because we hold buffer stock sorted to their spec.
The terms these posts assume you know.
Vocabulary is the cheapest performance upgrade in this industry — almost every argument we have with a new customer comes down to two people using the same word for different objects.
- Deck coverage
- The percentage of the pallet footprint actually covered by boards. Drives whether cartons bridge or sag.
- Dunnage
- Loose wood used inside a load for blocking and bracing. Needs its own ISPM-15 treatment for export.
- Flush pallet
- Deck boards end level with the outer stringers — no overhang. Contrast with single- or double-wing.
- Skid
- A platform with no bottom deck. Lighter and nestable; lower capacity.
Where logistics meets what we actually sell.
Logistics questions we get.
How many pallets fit in a 53-foot trailer?
For a 48 × 40, between 26 and 30 floor positions depending on orientation, or up to 60 double-stacked if your load height and weight allow. The footprint table on this page runs the arithmetic for every size we handle, in the better of the two orientations.
Does orientation really change the count?
For a 48 × 40, yes — by four positions, which is roughly a four percent freight saving on every load you ever ship. Two 48-inch dimensions side by side make 96 inches in a 98-inch van; two 40-inch dimensions make 80 and waste eighteen.
What is backhaul matching and why should I care?
Routing a collection against a delivery so the trailer runs loaded in both directions. You should care because it is the difference between paying for one useful journey and two — and because on the environmental side, transport is the dominant term in the footprint of reuse. If your recycler cannot describe how they do it, they probably do not.
Eleven more areas.
NoteSubject pages are reachable from the blog index and from every post rather than the main menu. The full archive lists all forty posts by year.