Ask a forwarder how many pallets go on a truck and you get 33. Ask the company that builds the trailer and you get 34. Both are right, and neither number is the one that decides your shipment.
Short answer: a 13.6 m curtainsider holds 34 Euro pallets (1200x800 mm), 33 in the conservative three-across layout, or 26 industrial pallets (1200x1000 mm), all in a single floor layer. Schmitz Cargobull publishes 34 and 26 for its 13.62 m S.CS; the 33 that circulates in the trade is the figure for the shorter insulated box body.
Then the constraints arrive in the opposite order to the one everybody quotes. The floor gives you 34. The payload plate takes it down. And the 11.5-tonne drive axle takes it down again — while the combination is still four tonnes under its 40-tonne gross limit, purely because of where the pallets are standing.
The Short Answer, in One Table
| Pallet | Footprint | Across | Rows | Per trailer | Floor used |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Euro / EPAL 1 (mixed) | 1200 x 800 mm | 3 and 2 | 12 | 34 | 96.6% |
| Euro / EPAL 1 (3 across) | 1200 x 800 mm | 3 | 11 | 33 | 93.8% |
| Industrial / EPAL 2 | 1200 x 1000 mm | 2 | 13 | 26 | 92.4% |
| Half pallet / EPAL 6 | 800 x 600 mm | 3 | 22 | 66 | 93.8% |
| Euro, double-decked | 1200 x 800 mm | 3 and 2 | 12 x 2 | 67 spaces | — |
What 13.6 m Actually Means Inside
The standard European semi-trailer measures 13,620 x 2,480 x 2,700 mm inside. Those are not round numbers pulled from a brochure — Schmitz Cargobull's build sheet for the S.CS 24/L reads "Internal length ap. 13620 mm", "Internal width ap. 2480 mm", "Internal height ap. 2700 mm", and Krone publishes 2,480 mm for the Profi Liner as well.
The width is the number that matters and the one most often quoted wrong. 2.44 m is not a European trailer dimension — 2,438 mm is the internal width of an ISO shipping container, and it leaks into trailer articles constantly. Curtainsiders are standardised at 2,480 mm; only insulated box bodies drop to 2,460 mm or rise to 2,490 mm, because rigid insulated walls cost what curtains do not. It is the same nominal-versus-actual gap we mapped for boxes in shipping container dimensions.
| Body | Internal L x W x H | Euro pallets | Industrial | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Curtainsider 13.6 m | 13.62 x 2.48 x 2.70 m | 34 | 26 | The default European trailer |
| Mega / low-deck | 13.62 x 2.48 x 3.00 m | 34 | 26 | Same floor, +30 cm of height |
| Insulated box 13.4 m | 13.40 x 2.46-2.49 x 2.60 m | 33 | 26 | Insulation costs 22 cm of length |
| Jumbo / road train | 7.7 + 7.7 m | 38 | 30 | Two bodies, 15.65 m loading length |
| Rigid 18 t | ~9.1 x 2.48 x 2.60 m | 22 | 18 | Own axles, no fifth wheel |
The Pallet Standards That Decide It
| Pallet | Dimensions | Safe working load | Where it rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPAL 1 (Euro) | 1200 x 800 x 144 mm | 1,500 kg | Europe — over 650 million in circulation |
| EPAL 2 (industrial) | 1200 x 1000 x 162 mm | 1,250 kg | Heavy and oversize loads, UK, parts of Asia |
| EPAL 3 | 1200 x 1000 x 144 mm | 1,500 kg | Closed-loop industrial pools |
| EPAL 6 (half) | 800 x 600 x 144 mm | 750 kg | Retail, display and multi-drop |
| GMA / ISO | 1219 x 1016 mm | — | North America (48 x 40 in) |
| Asian square | 1100 x 1100 mm | — | Japan, China, Korea |
| Australian | 1165 x 1165 mm | — | Australia (AS 4068) |
The Euro pallet's 800 mm side is not an accident of history. Three of them side by side make 2,400 mm, which drops into a 2,480 mm body with 80 mm to spare. Schmitz even labels its sliding roof "pallet width (2480 mm)" on the spec sheet. The trailer was shaped around the pallet, not the other way round.
Where 34, 33 and 26 Come From
EURO, THREE ACROSS 3 x 800 = 2,400 mm (2,480 available)
13,620 / 1,200 = 11.35 -> 11 rows
11 x 3 = 33 pallets, 420 mm to spare
EURO, MIXED 2 turned rows of 2 (800 mm deep) + 10 rows of 3
2 x 800 + 10 x 1,200 = 13,600 mm
4 + 30 = 34 pallets, 20 mm to spare
INDUSTRIAL 2 x 1,200 = 2,400 mm across
13,620 / 1,000 = 13.62 -> 13 rows
13 x 2 = 26 pallets, 620 mm to spareGiven 36 Euro pallets and a 13.6 m trailer, CargoDuo's optimiser returns exactly the mixed layout: two turned rows of two against the headboard, then ten rows of three, 34 placed and 2 left over. It reaches the same figure the trailer maker publishes, from geometry alone.
The 34th pallet is a tolerance bet
Here is what neither the forwarder nor the brochure tells you. UIC 435-2 dimensions the Euro pallet as 800 +3/-0 mm and 1200 +3/-0 mm — the tolerance is one-sided upward, because wood shrinks as it dries but is never built undersize. A compliant Euro pallet may be 803 mm. It may never be 797 mm.
The 33-pallet layout uses 13,200 mm of a 13,620 mm floor. Even if every pallet in the load runs to its maximum tolerance, 11 x 1,203 = 13,233 mm, and you still have 387 mm of slack. That layout cannot fail. The 34-pallet layout uses 13,600 mm and leaves 20 mm across twelve rows — break-even is an average of +1.7 mm per row out of a permitted +3. Add stretch-wrap overhang, a slightly proud corner block, or a pallet that has been through fifty round trips, and the 34th pallet stops fitting.
Payload Runs Out Before the Floor Does
Divide the real payload by the count and the picture changes immediately: 25,200 / 34 = 741 kg per pallet, or 764 kg if you load 33. An EPAL 1 pallet is rated for 1,500 kg. The pallet is almost never the binding constraint — the vehicle is. It is the trap we ran into on the sea leg too, in how many pallets fit in a 40ft container.
| Average pallet weight | Pallets before the plate | Floor spaces used | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400 kg | 34 (13.6 t — weight not reached) | 34 of 34 | Packaging, textiles, flat-pack |
| 620 kg | 34 (21.1 t) | 34 of 34 | Mixed groupage, dry goods |
| 741 kg | 34 exactly (25.2 t) | 34 of 34 | The break-even load |
| 900 kg | 28 | 28 of 34 | Tinned food, paint, small appliances |
| 1,500 kg | 16 | 16 of 34 | Bagged cement, floor tiles, stone |
The Limit That Binds First
Legal on gross weight is not the same thing as legal. Council Directive 96/53/EC sets, in international traffic, 40 tonnes for a five- or six-axle articulated combination, 11.5 tonnes on the driving axle, 10 tonnes on a single non-driving axle, and 24 tonnes on a semi-trailer tri-axle with 1.3-1.4 m spacing. Each of those ceilings applies on its own, and where the cargo sits decides how the total is split between them.
It is lever-arm mechanics. Every kilo forward of the trailer bogie transfers through the fifth wheel onto the tractor's drive axle; every kilo at the tail presses on the bogie. Load too far forward and the drive axle goes over 11.5 t. Load too far back and — a detail almost nobody quotes — you breach Annex I 4.1, which requires the driving axle to carry at least 25% of the laden combination weight. The drive axle has a floor as well as a ceiling.
Here is that failure in real output. Twenty-six industrial pallets at 660 kg — 17.2 t of cargo, 32.0 t gross, eight tonnes under the limit — spread evenly across the deck in 13 rows of two. CargoDuo reads the drive axle at 11,692 kg against 11,500 kg: 101.7%, while the trailer bogie sits at 55.9%. Nothing about the load is heavy. The load is simply in the wrong place.
Now the same 26 pallets with axle enforcement switched on. Same trailer, same total weight, not one pallet removed — the optimiser turns the first three rows and shifts mass toward the bogie. Drive axle 10,830 kg, 94.2%. Bogie 60.1%. The difference between an illegal load and a legal one was 862 kg of moment, and it cost nothing.
Same 26 Pallets, Two Plans
The second constraint is the one that costs pallets. Take the 34 Euro pallets at 620 kg from the top of this article — 21.1 t of cargo, 35.9 t gross, comfortably legal — and turn axle enforcement on. CargoDuo will not put 34 on that trailer: it loads 32 and moves 2 to a second vehicle, holding the drive axle at 99.7%.
That is the whole argument for planning the floor and the axles together. Two pallets is an unpleasant phone call. Two pallets discovered at a Dutch or German roadside check is a detained vehicle, a reworked load on a public weighbridge, and — under Articles 10e and 10f of the directive as amended in 2015 — penalties that reach past the driver to the operator and to the consignor who declared the weight. Türkiye now writes that split into its own traffic code — the tiers are in our post on Türkiye's overload fines under Law 7574.
Double-Stacking and Double Decks
Two pallet loads of 1.25 m clear a 2.70 m roof, so "34 becomes 68" is geometrically true. It is also, for most freight, weight-impossible. A demountable double-deck system gives you up to 67 pallet spaces — Schmitz rates its second floor at 6,000 kg for the LIGHT system and 10,000 kg for the HEAVY one. Spread 25.2 t of payload across 67 spaces and you get 376 kg per space, of which 25 kg is the pallet.
Operational rules land in exactly the same place. Palletline's driver guidance is blunt: "On Top Deck, Pallet maximum weight is no more than 400 KGS", "Never double stack pallets on the top deck", "Heaviest pallets over rear axle". Double-decking is a volume play — empty packaging, textiles, insulation, flat-pack. It is worthless for anything dense, and the arithmetic says so before the loader does.
What the Curtain Can Actually Hold
EN 12642 is a body-strength standard, not a loading rule, and the two get conflated constantly. A Code L body is rated to restrain 40% of the payload against the front wall, 30% sideways and 25% at the rear — and on a curtainsider the curtains themselves carry no side rating at all, so you secure the load as if it were on a flatbed. A Code XL body is certified to 50% forward, 40% sideways and 30% rearward.
| Front wall | Side walls | Rear wall | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EN 12642 Code L | 40% of payload | 30% (curtains: 0%) | 25% |
| EN 12642 Code XL | 50% of payload | 40% | 30% |
| Restraint duty | 100% of load weight | 50% | 50% |
Loading Metres: 13.2 or 13.6
LDM = (length x width) / 2.4 both in metres Euro pallet (1.2 x 0.8) / 2.4 = 0.40 LDM Industrial pallet (1.2 x 1.0) / 2.4 = 0.50 LDM Half pallet (0.8 x 0.6) / 2.4 = 0.20 LDM 33 Euro pallets x 0.40 = 13.2 LDM 0.4 LDM unsold 34 Euro pallets x 0.40 = 13.6 LDM the full trailer 26 industrial x 0.50 = 13.0 LDM
The loading metre is how part-loads are priced across the German- and Polish-speaking markets, and it quietly assumes the 34-pallet packing: only 34 x 0.4 fills 13.6 LDM exactly. Load three-across and you have sold 13.2 and paid for 13.6. Two further wrinkles are worth knowing: the formula's 2.40 m denominator is narrower than the real 2.48 m deck, so LDM under-counts about 3% of your actual floor — and any part-width item is charged for the full-width strip, because nothing else can stand beside it. If you are pricing by volume rather than by floor, our guide to CBM calculation covers the other convention.
Before the Truck Is Booked
- Average pallet weight against 741 kg — above it, plan for a count below 34.
- Drive axle and bogie computed separately, not inferred from the gross weight.
- Load centre of gravity inside its window: about 6.8 m from the kingpin, plus or minus 0.2 m at full payload.
- Positive fit intact after every drop on a multi-drop run, or lashings added when it is not.
- The declared weight on the transport document matching what was actually loaded — the consignor is liable for it.
Conclusion: The Count Is the Easy Part
34 Euro pallets, 33 with tolerance in hand, 26 industrial. Those numbers take ten seconds and a tape measure. What takes judgement is the next three questions: how heavy is the average pallet, where does the mass sit on the deck, and what does each axle read when it does. A trailer that is legal on all three is a planning result, not a loading habit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Euro pallets fit in a 13.6 m trailer?
34 in a single floor layer, using two turned rows of two plus ten rows of three across a 13,620 x 2,480 mm deck. That is the capacity Schmitz Cargobull publishes for its 13.62 m curtainsider and the figure CargoDuo's optimiser reaches independently. Loaded three-across only, the same trailer takes 33.
Why do most sources say 33 rather than 34?
Because 33 is the robust number. Eleven rows of 1,200 mm use 13,200 mm and leave 420 mm of slack, so the layout works even when every pallet is at its maximum tolerance. The 34-pallet layout uses 13,600 mm of 13,620 and leaves 20 mm, and UIC 435-2 allows a Euro pallet to be up to 3 mm oversize on each side.
How many industrial pallets fit in a 13.6 m trailer?
26 — two across on their 1,200 mm side in 13 rows of 1,000 mm. Unlike the 34-pallet Euro layout, this one has 620 mm of length to spare, so it cannot be defeated by tolerance stack-up. Trailer makers publish 26 for both curtainsiders and shorter insulated box bodies.
How much can each pallet weigh?
About 741 kg on average if you load 34, or 764 kg across 33, based on roughly 25.2 t of payload for a five-axle combination at 40 t gross. Above that average, the payload runs out before the floor does and the trailer leaves with empty pallet spaces.
Can a truck under 40 tonnes still be overloaded?
Yes. Gross weight and axle weight are separate limits. In our worked example a combination at 32.0 t gross — eight tonnes under the limit — read 11,692 kg on a drive axle rated for 11,500 kg, purely because 17.2 t of cargo was spread evenly instead of biased toward the bogie.
What is the drive-axle limit in Europe?
11.5 tonnes under Directive 96/53/EC in international traffic, with 10 tonnes on a single non-driving axle and 24 tonnes on a semi-trailer tri-axle spaced 1.3-1.4 m. The same annex also sets a minimum: the driving axle must carry at least 25% of the laden combination weight. National domestic limits differ — Belgium permits 12 t on the drive axle, the UK caps it at 10.5 t above 40 t gross.
How many pallets can be double-stacked?
Up to 67 pallet spaces with a demountable double-deck system, but only for freight averaging about 376 kg per space, pallet included. Deck ratings and operator rules agree: Schmitz rates its second floor at 6,000 or 10,000 kg, and Palletline's drivers are told to keep top-deck pallets under 400 kg and never to double stack up there.
What is a loading metre and how many does a trailer have?
A loading metre is one metre of deck length across a 2.4 m width: LDM = (length x width) / 2.4. A Euro pallet is 0.4 LDM, an industrial pallet 0.5, a half pallet 0.2. A 13.6 m trailer is 13.6 LDM — which only works out exactly if you load 34 Euro pallets; 33 pallets is 13.2 LDM.
Equipment figures from the published specifications of Schmitz Cargobull and Krone; pallet dimensions and tolerances from EPAL and UIC 435-2; weights and axle limits from Council Directive 96/53/EC as consolidated on 14 August 2019, with combination tare and the centre-of-gravity window from Tata Steel UK's TIS-0012 (November 2024) and load-securing practice from the DVSA code of practice (December 2024). National weight limits differ from the international-traffic figures quoted here — check the country you are running in. Every CargoDuo reading in this article is real output, reproducible in the app.