How pallet freight pricing works in Australia (and why direction changes the rate)

A pallet space is three limits, not one

A truck has a finite deck and a finite legal payload, so a carrier sells both. The standard space is a 1165 × 1165 mm footprint — the Australian pallet — stacked to 1.8 m and weighing up to 500 kg. Stay inside all three and a pallet is one space; over 500 kg a pallet bills pro rata — 1.25 spaces at 625 kg, 1.5 at 750 kg, 2 at 1,000 kg, because the pallet is using payload another pallet now cannot. Stack above 1.8 m and it bills 2 spaces, because nothing can go on top of it; above 2.4 m it is off the card and priced by hand.

Only the limit you break counts. A heavy, short pallet is billed for weight; a light, tall one for height; never both. That is the rule to check on any quote, because a carrier that bills weight and height separately is charging twice for one pallet.

Headhaul, backhaul, and why one direction is cheaper

Every corridor has a direction that runs fuller. Freight does not flow evenly: more goes into some cities than comes out, and the trucks still have to come back. The return leg — the backhaul — runs with empty deck, and empty deck is what a carrier most wants to sell, so it carries the lower rate. On our card that is visible rather than hidden: Sydney → Adelaide is $339 a pallet and Adelaide → Sydney is $340; Melbourne → Brisbane is $340 and Brisbane → Melbourne $340.

The engine behind the card prices each direction on how full that leg typically runs, and flags the backhaul legs on the lane pages. A quote that gives you one price for "Sydney–Adelaide" without asking which way is averaging two different jobs.

What one, two and eight pallets pay each

The per-pallet rate steps down as the consignment grows, because the fixed cost of a pickup and a delivery is spread over more spaces. Melbourne → Sydney today: $245 for one pallet, $203 each for two, $199 each for four and $184 each on a deck of eight. The rate card quotes the 8+ figure as the anchor and every lane page prints what a single pallet actually pays, because that is the size most businesses ship.

What's inside the price, and what isn't

Inside: GST, fuel and the linehaul itself. Nothing is added at invoice — there is no fuel levy, now or when diesel moves, because the card moves with it instead. Outside, and printed flat so you can add them yourself: a tail-lift where there is no forklift or dock ($45 a pallet per end, up to 750 kg), and a residential end — a home rather than a dock — at $55 per end. Dangerous goods do not travel on shared decks at any price.

The other thing outside the price is your own transit cover. Shared-deck freight travels under our Terms of Carriage, and most business insurance packages include or can add transit cover; check yours before the first shipment and declare high-value consignments at booking.

Why we publish it

Almost nobody in Australian pallet freight prints a rate card. The usual model is a quote form, a callback and a price that depends on who you are. Publishing the card means you can total a consignment before you give us anything — and it means the two directions of a corridor are both on the page, which no form ever shows you. Every corridor and its rate is on one page, and each corridor has its own.

The big three corridors each have a page with both directions priced side by side: Sydney ↔ Melbourne, Sydney ↔ Brisbane and Melbourne ↔ Brisbane — the quickest way to see what direction does to the rate.

• A space is 1165 × 1165 mm, 1.8 m, 500 kg — break one and you buy more space, never twice.
• The emptier direction of a corridor is cheaper, and a quote that does not ask which way is averaging two jobs.
• One pallet pays more each than eight: $245 vs $184 on Melbourne → Sydney today.
• GST and fuel are inside the number; tail-lift and residential ends are printed flat; dangerous goods never ride a shared deck.