53 ft Trailer Pallet Calculator

What the result means

• Pallets you can load is the smaller of two limits: how many fit on the floor (in the best layout, stacked if you said the freight can stack) and how many your rig can carry legally by weight.
• Straight and turned show both single-layer layouts so you can see what turning the pallets gains.
• Linear feet used is how much trailer length the load takes. On a partial, that's what you're selling, and what's left over is room for another partial.
• The floor plan draws the best layout from the nose to the doors, with the pallets on this load filled in.

If the shipper's count is more than you can legally carry, the result says so and tells you which limit stopped it.

How it's calculated

pallets per row   = floor(inside width / pallet side facing across)
rows              = floor(inside length / pallet side running lengthwise)
floor spots       = pallets per row x rows        (checked both ways, best kept)
floor fit         = floor spots x layers          (2 if stackable)
by weight         = floor(legal cargo weight / weight per pallet)
pallets you load  = the smaller of floor fit and by weight
linear feet       = rows needed x lengthwise side / 12

Assumptions

• Inside length is 630 in (52 ft 6 in) for a 53 ft van, based on a current manufacturer spec, and 570 in for a 48 ft van, estimated with the same allowance for the nose wall and doors. Older or different builds can vary by a few inches.
• Inside width defaults to 100 in. Current vans run about 100 to 101 in; some older sheet-and-post vans are narrower. See 53 ft dry van dimensions.
• Legal cargo weight is your number, not a federal one. The federal gross limit is 80,000 lb on the Interstate System; your cargo allowance is what's left after your tractor and trailer.
• Everything runs in your browser, and the result link stores your inputs in the URL.

How to use it before you accept a load

1. Get the real count, size and weight from the rate confirmation or the shipper. "22 pallets" means little without the weight.
2. Enter your legal cargo weight from a scale ticket of your empty rig.
3. Check the limit. If weight limits the load before space does, the floor plan will have empty spots and that's fine; overweight is not.
4. Price partials by what they use. Linear feet and weight are what the load costs you in capacity.
5. Look for a second partial if the load leaves a lot of floor open.

For the layouts in more detail, read how many pallets fit in a 53 ft trailer. Matching pallet counts, weights and partials to a van all week is part of what our dry van dispatchers do, so your trailer leaves full and legal.