Sizes in print: Euro
800 x 1200 mm pallets: the Euro pallet
The 800 x 1200 mm pallet is the Euro pallet: 800 mm wide by 1,200 mm long, about 31.5 by 47.2 inches. It matters in Orlando for freight bound for Europe.
Metric by design
Measured in millimetres, the Euro pallet is 1,200 long by 800 wide, a footprint that suits European trucks, containers and racks. In inches that is 47.2 by 31.5. The deck is about 10.3 square feet, noticeably smaller than the 13.3 of a 48 x 40.
Conversions
| Measure | Millimetres | Inches |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 1,200 | 47.2 |
| Width | 800 | 31.5 |
| Deck area | 0.96 sq m | 10.3 sq ft |
Exports and treatment
Freight to Europe is where wood packaging rules bite. ISPM 15 regulates wood packaging material in international trade, and the mark shows heat treatment to a core temperature of 56 °C for at least 30 minutes. Read the ISPM 15 guide before ordering and ask for the mark in the request.
Euro pallets and Orlando docks
A Euro pallet is not a 48 x 40 and cannot be swapped into the same rack. Mixing them is how a mixed load happens. If a Euro pallet shows up in an inbound container, sort it out from the standard stock.
What a genuine Euro pallet is made of
The EUR pallet is specified at 800 by 1,200 millimetres and 144 millimetres high, with 78 nails in a prescribed pattern, a weight of 20 to 25 kilograms and a safe working load of 1,500 kilograms. It is built only from dry wood, to reduce mould, and carries the EPAL and EUR marks branded on its corner legs. A pallet without them may have the footprint but not the specification.
On an American trailer
With the 1,200 mm side across the trailer, two pallets use 94.5 inches of a 98-inch interior and the 800 mm side runs along the length, giving twenty rows and 40 pallets in a layer. That is the arithmetic that has made the Euro pallet a favourite for space, but its smaller deck and lighter build mean it is not a replacement for a 48 x 40 in an American rack.
Reading a Euro pallet by eye
A Euro pallet stands on nine blocks and is 144 millimetres tall, a little under 5.7 inches, so it sits about as high as a standard American pallet. A repaired board should be fixed with the same nails in the same pattern. A buyer can check the height, the block count and the branding on the corner blocks from a few feet away, and a pallet that fails any of the three is a copy of the footprint, not a Euro pallet.
The EUR family
The EUR 1 is the 800 by 1,200 pallet. It weighs 20 to 25 kilograms and has a listed load of 2,490 kilograms. Its relatives share a height of 144 millimetres: the EUR 2 at 1,200 by 1,000, 33 kilograms; the EUR 3 at 1,000 by 1,200, 29 kilograms; and the EUR 6 at 800 by 600, a half pallet of 9.5 kilograms. A request that says only "Euro" should name which one, because the receiver's racks are built for one.
Space lost in a container
The 800 x 1200 leaves 15.2 percent of a 40-foot container floor unused, the highest of the six ISO sizes. The loss is why shippers load other footprints into containers when they can. It also explains why a Euro pallet arriving in a US container is often a sign that the freight was packed to a European order.
Sources
Last reviewed 12 November 2026.