Industries · Export shippers

Selling plastic pallets from export shippers

Export shippers use light, low-cost one-way pallets with no ISPM 15 treatment, often in Euro 1200 x 800 and 1200 x 1000 sizes. An export lot is read for how light it was built.

Last reviewed November 12, 2026

Send a lot

A dock lane: numbered doors, floor tape, staged stacks

What export shipper sellers have

Export shippers send pallets with the load and do not expect them back. Some come back, or stay, and become used lots at a dock.

Footprints and styles in export shipper lots

Reads	Which	Why it matters
Size	48 x 32 Euro	the Euro footprint
Size	48 x 40	North American exports
Size	43 x 43	Asian supply chains
Style	export one way	light, not expected back
Style	nestable	air-freight versions
Style	hygienic food safe	food exports

The export shippers market in numbers

US container ports, 2025
Measure	Figure
Port of Los Angeles	9,447,731 TEUs, January through November
Port of Long Beach	9,881,595 TEUs, a record
Port Houston (public terminals)	4,303,345 TEUs, a record
Northwest Seaport Alliance	3,156,598 TEUs, down 5.5 percent
Georgia Ports Authority	5.7 million TEUs, fiscal year 2025

The Port of New York and New Jersey was the second-busiest US port for loaded containers in 2025, per the Port Authority's full-year release.

How a export shipper lot is read

Plastic is exempt from ISPM 15, so there is no stamp to find. A buyer looks for how light the build is, whether the lot is nestable and how many cracks it has.

Cabka says plastic export pallets are exempt from ISPM 15 treatment, that there is no single export size, and that its nestable export designs include extra-lightweight and air-freight versions.

What to say when you send a export shipper lot

Where the pallets came from: an import or an export that returned
Footprint: Euro or other
Whether one-way or multi-trip
Count by stack

SOLD

Export shippers pallets that are whole, unmarked and described.

RETURN

Export shippers pallets with a pool name, a customer code or an RFID tag.

SCRAP

Export shippers pallets with cracked, burnt or crushed decks.

Do plastic export pallets need treatment?

No. The USDA lists plastic pallets among products not subject to its wood packaging regulation.

Do you take Euro pallets?

Send the lot. See 48 x 32 Euro.

Words you will meet

GMA pallet: The 48 x 40 in North American standard footprint.
Euro pallet: 800 x 1200 mm footprint.
PP: Polypropylene. More rigid than HDPE and better with heat and harsh chemicals; used where rack stiffness matters.
ISPM 15: The international standard for treating wood packaging against pests. Plastic pallets are outside it.
Welding repair: Plastic is hard to glue, so cracked parts are normally welded.
Nestable: Empty pallets stack inside one another, cutting empty storage space by up to 75 percent.
Heat treated (HT): ISPM 15 treatment for wood: core at 56 C for 30 minutes. Not needed for plastic.
One-way pallet: A cheaper pallet shipped with the load and not expected back.
HDPE: High-density polyethylene, resin code 2. The most common resin in plastic pallets; tough and moisture resistant.
Regrind: Plastic ground from used or scrap parts into flakes for moulding again.
Virgin resin: New, unblended resin that has not been through a product before.
Edge rack: Resting on the rack beams by the pallet's edges only, with no support in the middle.
Cruciform base: Bottom with a cross-shaped member as well as a perimeter, for strength and automated handling.
4-way entry: Forks or a jack can enter from all four sides.
2-way entry: Forks enter from two opposite sides only.
Closed loop: Pallets that travel between known sites and come back, so they are never lost to a downstream user.

Who asks, and what they need

Export shippers: Light or low-cost one-way pallets with no ISPM 15 treatment; Euro 1200 x 800 and 1200 x 1000 sizes.
Pharmaceutical and healthcare shippers: Hygienic pallets that can be sanitised; documents on resin and colour; PP sometimes preferred for sterilisation.
Chemical and drum shippers: 48 x 48 and 45 x 45 pallets for drums and bags; chemical resistance.

What the sources say

Cabka says plastic export pallets are exempt from ISPM-15 treatment, that there is no single export size, and that its nestable export designs include extra-lightweight and air-freight versions. (cabka.com)
Georgia Ports Authority moved 5.7 million TEUs in fiscal year 2025 (July 2024 to June 2025), up 8.6 percent or 450,000 TEUs, the Port of Savannah's second-busiest year after 5.76 million in FY2022. (container-news.com)
The Port of New York and New Jersey was the nation's second-busiest port for loaded containers in 2025, per the Port Authority's full-year volume release as reported by Air Freight News. (airfreight.news)
Port Houston's public terminals handled 4,303,345 TEUs in 2025 (up 4 percent, a record) and 54,491,066 short tons of cargo; the Houston Ship Channel is described as the nation's largest port for waterborne tonnage, with more than 200 private and eight public terminals. (porthouston.com)
USDA APHIS lists plastic pallets among products not subject to APHIS regulation, as an alternative to wood packaging material. (aphis.usda.gov)
The Northwest Seaport Alliance (Seattle and Tacoma) handled 3,156,598 TEUs of international and domestic containers in 2025, down 5.5 percent from 2024, with full imports down 10.3 percent and full exports down 4.9 percent. (nwseaportalliance.com)
USDA APHIS requires wood packaging material entering the US to be treated and certified under ISPM 15, and lists plastic pallets among alternatives that are not subject to APHIS regulation. (aphis.usda.gov)
Port of Los Angeles handled 9,447,731 TEUs from January through November 2025, 1 percent more than the same months of 2024; its executive director called 2025 firmly a top-three year in the port's history. (portoflosangeles.org)
Port of Long Beach moved a record 9,881,595 TEUs in 2025 (imports 4,779,559; exports 1,141,113; empties 3,960,925), per Container News reporting the port's year-end results. (container-news.com)
Port Houston says it supports 1.54 million jobs in Texas and 3.37 million nationwide, and that its 2025 growth included petrochemical and industrial shipments, manufacturing-related freight and consumer imports. (porthouston.com)
Wood packaging material entering the US must be treated and certified per ISPM 15. (aphis.usda.gov)
ISO 6780 lists 1016 x 1219 mm for North America, 1000 x 1200 mm for Europe and Asia and 800 x 1200 mm for Europe. (en.wikipedia.org)
Rehrig Pacific's heavy-duty nestable can be made with post-consumer or post-industrial recycled material, up to 30 percent in black and up to 10 percent in colour, and is RFID compatible. (rehrigpacific.com)
USDA NASS counted 931 refrigerated warehouses on October 1, 2025: 476 public and 455 private or semiprivate. Public warehouses held 2.46 billion gross cubic feet, 62 percent of the total. (esmis.nal.usda.gov)
Pennsylvania had 228 million cubic feet and New Jersey 137 million of gross refrigerated warehouse space on October 1, 2025 (USDA NASS). (esmis.nal.usda.gov)
Steel, aluminum, plastic and engineered-wood pallets are exempt from ISPM 15; wood must reach a core temperature of 56 C for at least 30 minutes for heat treatment. (en.wikipedia.org)

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