Heat-treated pallets for Orlando export freight

What the stamp means

ISPM 15 is the international standard that regulates wood packaging material in international trade. Wood packaging must be debarked, then either heat treated or fumigated. Heat treatment requires the wood core to reach at least 56 °C (133 °F) for a minimum of 30 minutes. Allowed bark must be less than 3 cm wide, or if wider, under 50 square cm in surface area.

A pallet that passes is marked, and the mark is what border inspectors look for. Without it, wood packaging can be held, refused or sent back.

When it is required

Export freight is the usual reason. The rule depends on the destination, not on Florida. Each importing country sets its own wood-packaging rules through its plant protection agency, and they change, so ask the receiver which rule applies before you assume. Domestic freight does not generally need it.

What it does not do

• It does not dry the wood. A pallet can be heat treated and wet.
• It does not prevent mould. Heat-treated pallets loaded into trailer vans while still hot are susceptible to mould; the treatment does not make wood immune.
• It does not make a pallet Grade A. Grade is about repairs; the stamp is about treatment.

Ordering heat-treated pallets

Heat treatment can apply to new, combo or sorted stock. Ask for it alongside the size and build, and say where the freight is going. For Euro pallets, see the 800 x 1200 mm page.

The treatment is explained here; ISPM 15 certification and stamping are separate. The mark has to be on the pallet you receive, and you should check it. The identification guide shows how.

Humidity after the heat

Orlando averaged 51.45 inches of rain a year over 1991-2020. A treated pallet that waits in an open yard for a trailer in July will pick the water back up. Keep treated stock under cover and let air move around it.

Reading the mark on a treated pallet

The mark a U.S. producer applies carries the IPPC symbol, a two-letter country code (US), the number assigned to the producer, the code of the accredited agency that supervises the facility, and the treatment code HT. USDA states that U.S. producers label pallets with the quality mark of an agency accredited by the American Lumber Standard Committee. A smeared or non-standard mark is a reason to ask the producer for another pallet.

What a buyer can check at delivery

• The mark is legible on two opposite sides of the pallet, as most receivers expect.
• Every element named above is present, including HT.
• No board without a mark has been added since treatment.
• The wood has not been wetted since: treated pallets still absorb rain.

How the treatment is verified

In a heat-treatment chamber the wood is stacked with air gaps so hot air reaches every piece, and a temperature probe is pushed into the core of the thickest timber in the load. The 30 minutes begin only when that probe reads 56 °C, which can be hours after the chamber itself has reached temperature. A treatment record that shows only the chamber temperature, not the core, does not show the standard has been met.