Plastic pallets delivered in New Jersey

The busiest port on the East Coast

The Port of New York and New Jersey is the largest container port on the East Coast, and most of its cargo crosses the docks at Port Newark and the Elizabeth Marine Terminal. Bayonne and the Staten Island terminal at Howland Hook handle much of the rest.

Rail at the port, through ExpressRail, puts containers onto trains bound for the Midwest. The rest leave by truck on the New Jersey Turnpike, I-78 and I-95, and much of it gets unloaded in buildings a short drive from the docks.

That makes northern and central New Jersey a place where pallets arrive under import cargo every day, and where exporters load outbound containers with goods bound for Europe, Latin America and Africa.

Jersey zones and what they need

Pharma and chemicals in central Jersey

New Jersey has long been home to a large share of the US pharmaceutical industry, with research, manufacturing and packaging sites spread along US-1 between New Brunswick and Princeton and up the I-287 corridor.

Those sites ask for pallets with smooth, closed decks and no hidden pockets where dust or residue can collect. A pallet going into a clean area should be molded from virgin resin and supplied with the maker's documentation, since recycled resin can carry unknown content.

Chemical and coatings plants in the northeast of the state, and refineries near Linden, ship drums and pails. Drums usually sit four to a deck on 48x48 or 44x44 footprints, and a drum pallet's static rating must come from the maker's sheet for that model.

North and central Jersey are also home to cosmetics, flavor and fragrance producers. Their filled jars, tubes and essential-oil drums travel on clean pallets with flat decks, and a spill on plastic wipes off rather than soaking into the boards.

• Pharmaceutical pallets →
• Drum pallets →

Export loading without ISPM 15

Wood pallets in an export container need heat treatment or fumigation and the IPPC mark under ISPM 15. Plastic pallets fall outside that standard, and USDA APHIS lists them among the alternatives to wood packaging that it does not regulate.

A 40-foot container is about 39.5 feet long and 7.7 feet wide inside, and a 20-foot box is about 19.3 feet long. Shippers into Europe often ask for the 1200x800 or 1200x1000 footprints that fit European racking, while North American footprints suit loads bound for Canada or Mexico.

Light nestable export pallets save weight on a container that is close to its limit, but check the dynamic rating before loading heavy cargo onto one.

• Plastic export pallets →
• 1200x800 pallets →

Delivering into tight North Jersey docks

A full order rides on a 53-foot dry van, about 52.5 feet long and 100 inches wide inside. One published heavy-duty nestable 40x48 from Rehrig Pacific loads 1,200 to the trailer, while rackable models with runners load far fewer.

Older buildings in Newark, Jersey City and Paterson can have tight yards and short docks. Tell us the dock height and whether a 53-foot trailer can reach it, and we will quote LTL or a smaller truck where needed.

South Jersey growers around Vineland and Hammonton, which calls itself the blueberry capital of the world, pack berries, peppers and tomatoes in summer and often need pallets in seasonal batches by LTL.

Selling surplus pallets from New Jersey

Import pallets pile up in North Jersey warehouses because they rarely travel back overseas. Send us the count, footprint, resin, condition and pickup ZIP, and we make an offer for them as pallets or as regrind. Mixed makers that share a footprint can sell together as a mixed lot.

• Sell plastic pallets →