PalletLab · Reference
How many pallets fit in a lorry?
33 Euro pallets on the floor of a semi-trailer. The exact count, vehicle by vehicle.
The short answer
A standard 13.6 m semi-trailer takes 33 Euro pallets on the floor, or 99 over 3 tiers. By turning the pallets, you fit 34 on the floor and the lorry carries 102, i.e. 2,584 kg of empty pallets.
The famous “33 pallets” refers to straight loading, lengthwise. Turning the pallets through 90° fits one more per layer, a real gain, provided the goods allow it.
Euro pallets per vehicle
| Vehicle | On the floor | Optimised | Stacked ×3 (optimised) | Payload |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-trailer (13.6 m) | 33 | 34 | 102 | 24,0 t |
| Rigid truck 19 t | 12 | 12 | 36 | 11,5 t |
| Rigid truck 12 t | 9 | 9 | 27 | 7,0 t |
| 20' container | 9 | 9 | 27 | 21,7 t |
| 40' container | 20 | 20 | 60 | 26,7 t |
| 40' High Cube container | 20 | 20 | 60 | 26,5 t |
Euro pallet 1200 × 800 × 144 mm, 25.3 kg each. PalletLab calculation from the real internal dimensions of each vehicle.
What really limits the load
Two ceilings, and the lower one decides.
Empty pallets never max out the weight: 102 EPAL pallets weigh only 2,584 kg, far below the permissible 24.0 tonnes. Loaded, the trade-off almost always reverses: weight is what decides, and the lorry leaves with unused space.