Pallets and Unit Loads

Abstract

Some attempts to unitize marine freight go back to very ancient history. Unitized handling as we know it today really had its impetus with the technologies developed to supply the military during World War II. At that time, the industrial truck was still in its earliest development stages. A wood platform or pallet was recognized as the best way to allow the industrial forklift truck to transport a number of small pieces of freight. The first such platforms were skids, consisting of a deck of wide boards nailed across two or more runner boards which raised the platform enough to allow the forks to move underneath and pick it up. Because of the need for stability in high stacking, the skid evolved into today’s warehouse pallet when additional boards were nailed across the bottom of the runner boards to provide stability. Pallets were and are primarily made of wood, simply because wood is the lowest cost construction commodity available in most countries.