International pallet-size battle crunch date in October
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• Continental railways and many large commercial customers are to press the International Standardization Organization to declare as international standard the 32in. by 42in. pallets used extensively on European rail services. The Continental rail pallet pool is based on this size and many warehouses and transport systems have been designed around it.
Imperial Chemical Industries, who have taken a leading part in practical research for efficient container loading, are concerned at this attempt which they see as threatening Britain's export trade using standard ISO containers based on the 8ft by 8ft module.
Mr. David Hunter, ICI's head of central distribution, said recently that ICI would have had to impose a £70,000 p.a. premium on a German order if delivery by standard European pallet was insisted on; the customer was talked out of it and the business was obtained.
The smaller 32in. by 42in. pallet is said to waste up to 30 per cent of volume in a standard ISO container in contrast to the 89 per cent stowage efficiency when 44in. wide pallets are employed.
The issue may be decided at a plenary session of the ISO's container section in New York in October. The Continental railway spokesmen will press for the adoption of the smaller pallets while the maritime trading nations Britain, the United States and Japan—will back the 40in. by 44in. pallet size.
The recent decision of the German Rail, 'ways to order a batch of non-standard containers 8ft 6in. wide is relevant to thi pallet-standardization battle: there would be room for three 32in.-wide pallets to be loaded within the 8ft 6in. overall dimension of the new containers.
The most likely outcome of the October meeting of ISO is the endorsement of both popular pallet sizes. With a heavy investment by both camps neither side will readily concede defeat.