How Many Pallets Fit in a Truck? Loading Metres (LDM) Explained

The short answer: pallets per trailer

Pallets on the floor, one tier, for the most common European load spaces. All dimensions are internal — the space you can actually load, not the outside of the body:

Industrial pallets (120 × 100 cm) go two across with the 120 cm side across the width: 26 fit in a 13.6 m trailer. Payloads above are typical values; check the actual vehicle.

What a loading metre (LDM) is and how to calculate it

Groupage is priced and planned in loading metres. One loading metre is one metre of trailer length at the full width of the load space, taken as 2.4 m — so 1 LDM is 2.4 m² of floor, and a 13.6 m trailer offers 13.6 LDM.

LDM = pallet length (m) × pallet width (m) / 2.4

For a stack of two, count the floor of one pallet. The standard pallets work out like this:

Example: a consignment of 12 EUR pallets and 6 industrial pallets is 12 × 0.4 + 6 × 0.5 = 7.8 LDM. Many tariffs also convert weight into loading metres at a fixed rate and charge whichever is higher — check your carrier's terms.

Why the formula and the real load differ

The formula assumes pallets can be cut and spread over the floor like sand. Real pallets are rectangles that have to fit next to each other in a 2.48 m wide box, so the length they actually occupy is often longer:

• Rows round up. Three industrial pallets are 1.5 LDM by the formula, but two fit side by side per 1 m row, so the third starts a new row: they take 2.0 m of trailer.
• Mixed sizes leave gaps. A row of EUR pallets across (3 × 0.8 m) and a row of industrial pallets (2 × 1.2 m) have different depths, and the joints between groups rarely line up.
• Not everything can be stacked. The formula halves stacked pallets, but only pallets marked as stackable can carry load, and only if the two together fit under the trailer's internal height.
• Containers are narrower. At 2.35 m, three EUR pallets with the 80 cm side across (2.4 m) no longer fit, so each pallet blocks more length than in a trailer.

That is why a dispatcher's real question — “is there room for one more consignment?” — is answered by the occupied length of the actual layout, not by a sum of LDM.

Height and stacking

A second tier doubles the pallets per metre, but only if three conditions hold:

• The lower pallet can carry load. Fragile or crushable goods cannot be stacked on, whatever the height.
• Both pallets fit under the roof. In a 2.7 m curtainsider two pallets of up to 1.35 m each fit; a 3.0 m mega takes two pallets of up to 1.5 m; a reefer has only 2.6 m.
• The weight still fits. 68 EUR pallets in 24 t is an average of about 350 kg per pallet.

This is where a mega trailer earns its place: the same floor as a standard curtainsider, but 30 cm more height for the second tier.

Weight: the other half of the answer

A trailer can run out of payload long before it runs out of floor. 34 EUR pallets in a 24 t curtainsider allow about 706 kg per pallet on average; 33 in a 22 t reefer, about 667 kg. Heavy goods such as drinks, tiles or paper often hit the weight limit with free metres left.

Keep the total under the payload and spread heavy pallets along the length rather than piling them at one end — axle limits apply too.

Count it on screen with the 3D trailer configurator

Instead of adding up LDM by hand, put the real pallets in a model of the trailer. The 3D trailer configurator lays them out and shows the occupied loading metres, floor usage and weight as you go. More on the configurator page.

1. Pick the load space: curtainsider, mega, reefer, container or road train.
2. Add each client's pallets: type, height, weight, whether load can go on top, and quantity.
3. Read the loading metres taken and still free, then press Optimize to look for a tighter layout.

For groupage, each client gets its own colour, and the free metres for the next consignment are right on screen:

Common mistakes when planning a load

• Using outside dimensions. A “13.6 m trailer” is about 13.6 m inside; a reefer of the same length outside is shorter and narrower inside.
• Counting stacked pallets that cannot be stacked. Agree in advance which consignments can carry load.
• Forgetting the height. Two pallets of 1.4 m will not stack in a 2.7 m curtainsider.
• Checking space but not weight — or the other way round.
• Summing LDM for a mixed load and promising the last metre to a new client before checking the real layout.