Plastic pallets delivered in Florida

A peninsula with ports on both coasts

Florida has more deepwater seaports than most states, and they face two directions. The Atlantic ports at Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Everglades and Miami serve the East Coast lanes, the Caribbean and South America. Tampa and Port Manatee on the Gulf side serve Mexico, Central America and bulk trades.

Miami has long worked as a gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean, so many Florida buyers are exporters loading containers or air cargo pallets for markets to the south.

The I-4 corridor and the grocery hubs

I-4 runs from Tampa through Lakeland and Orlando to Daytona Beach, and the land along it is the state's main distribution belt. A building in Polk County can reach Tampa, Orlando and much of the peninsula's population in a short drive, which is why grocery and retail chains put large DCs around Lakeland, Winter Haven and Plant City.

Those DCs mostly run the 48x40 footprint. Racked storage needs a pallet with a published racked load from the maker, while floor-stacked beverage and dry goods can use stackable models.

North-south freight moves on I-95 along the Atlantic coast, I-75 down the Gulf side from the Georgia line to Tampa and across Alligator Alley to Fort Lauderdale, and Florida's Turnpike through the middle. I-10 crosses the Panhandle from Jacksonville to Pensacola.

Jacksonville, where I-95 meets I-10, is the state's main rail and trucking crossroads and the headquarters city of CSX. Orlando's theme parks, hotels and convention center draw a steady flow of food and beverage freight, and Pensacola and Panama City anchor deliveries along the Panhandle coast.

• Grocery distribution →
• 48x40 plastic pallets →

Heat, humidity and winter produce

Florida grows much of the country's winter vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn and green beans from the southern counties, and strawberries around Plant City. Citrus groves in the central ridge still supply juice plants. Packing sheds move fruit straight into coolers, so open-deck plastic pallets that let cold air pass are common.

Humidity is a real problem for wood here. Wood pallets take up moisture, grow mold and gain weight in a warm, wet climate, while plastic does not absorb water and can be washed.

Sugarcane grows south of Lake Okeechobee, and the state's beverage bottlers ship heavy cased drinks. Check the dynamic rating of any model that will carry full cases on forks all day.

• Fresh produce →
• Beverage →

Why freight leaves Florida cheaper than it arrives

Florida consumes far more freight than it ships out, so many trucks that deliver into the state leave it empty or lightly loaded. That imbalance tends to make inbound lanes cost more than outbound ones.

For a buyer, it means a delivered price into Miami or Fort Myers can look high next to one into Atlanta. For a seller, it means a load of surplus pallets leaving Florida can be easier to move than in many states.

A full order rides on a 53-foot dry van that is about 52.5 feet long and 100 inches wide inside. A published Rehrig Pacific heavy-duty nestable 40x48 loads 1,200 to the trailer; smaller orders go LTL to a single shed or shop.

Key West and the rest of the Keys are reached only by US-1 over the Overseas Highway, with weight-limited bridges and no alternate route, so deliveries there are priced as a separate run.

• How many pallets fit a trailer →

Exporting out of Florida

Exporters to the Caribbean and Latin America often load mixed cargo in 20-foot and 40-foot containers, about 19.3 and 39.5 feet long inside. Plastic pallets avoid ISPM 15, which governs wood, and USDA APHIS lists them among the wood packaging alternatives it does not regulate.

A light nestable export pallet cuts container weight, but the dynamic rating on its sheet tells you whether it can carry the load you have in mind.

• Plastic export pallets →

Selling surplus pallets from Florida

Seasonal packers often end the winter with pallets they will not need until fall. Send count, footprint, resin, condition and pickup ZIP, and we reply with an offer as pallets or as regrind; cracked HDPE is worth quoting before it is scrapped.

• Sell plastic pallets →