Who ships on what
Who ships on what: pallets by industry in Orlando
Seven kinds of freight account for most of the pallets that move through Greater Orlando docks, and each one asks something different of the pallet: grade, size, dryness or a stamp.
About 80 percent of workers are outside leisure
Orlando is known for tourism, but about 80 percent of workers are employed outside leisure and hospitality. Behind the parks and hotels is a logistics economy, and the pallet trade lives there. The industries below are the biggest pallet users in the metro.
What each one asks of a pallet
| Industry | Usually asks for | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitality supply | Dry Grade A or B; steady weekly volume | Open |
| Food distribution | Clean, dry, sound Grade A | Open |
| Pharmaceutical and medical | Clean and dry; treatment only for export | Open |
| E-commerce and 3PL | Sorted 48 x 40 and a way to move mixed empties | Open |
| Nurseries and foliage | Standard and odd sizes, off a damp yard | Open |
| Beverage and bottling | 42 x 42 and 48 x 40, with a flow of cores | Open |
| Building materials | Heavy-duty pallets and a route for broken ones | Open |
Where they cluster
Orlando's three largest industrial submarkets in the first quarter of 2025 were Airport and Lake Nona, Orlando Central Park and Southpark, and Silver Star and Apopka. Hospitality and food sit toward the first two, nurseries in the third, and bottling and big-box distribution out on the Turnpike in Lake County. The areas hub follows each one.
Which sizes go with which freight
The 48 x 40 is the default for grocery, retail and general freight. Square 42 x 42 pallets are associated with beverage, and 48 x 48 with chemicals; 48 x 42 appears in chemical and beverage work and 48 x 45 in automotive. The Euro pallet, 800 by 1,200 millimetres, belongs to freight bound for Europe. Each size changes how many fit on a trailer, from 26 to 30 for the inch sizes to 40 for the Euro, so the freight decides the pallet before price does.
A map of the pallet flows
| Freight | Cluster |
|---|---|
| Hospitality and food | Orlando Central Park and Southpark |
| Air cargo, e-commerce, medical | Airport and Lake Nona |
| Nurseries | Apopka and Silver Star Road |
| Beverage and grocery cross-docks | Lake County, near the Turnpike |
Reading the table by weight
The seven industries differ most in what each case or bag weighs. A carton of tissue or linen weighs a few pounds and fills a pallet by volume long before it reaches any weight limit. A bag of mortar mix or a case of bottled drink can bring a pallet near its rated load with no height to spare. That one difference explains why a hotel supplier can live on used Grade B stock while a block yard wants heavy-duty frames, and why a pharmacy distributor cares about cleanliness over strength.
What is not in the list
Pallets also leave tourism freight, printing and paper, auto parts and aerospace suppliers, and plenty of small manufacturers. Those docks are not given a page because the sources do not describe them in enough detail to say what they ask of a pallet. A request from any of them is welcome, and the form takes the same few facts: what you need, how many, the size and where it sits.