If you need to ship bulky freight or palletised freight, there are specific carriers who are equipped to get your goods transported quickly and efficiently. Each carrier works a little bit differently, and not all bulky freight needs to be on a pallet. This article discusses what you need to know to choose a carrier, and to prepare your bulky or palletised freight for shipping.

In the e-commerce industry, bulky freight refers to goods that require pallets, skids, tail-lifts, forklifts, or are otherwise unable to be lifted by hand. According to occupational health and safety rules in Australia, anything that weighs over 30kg must not be lifted by hand.

Bulky goods includes things like furniture, flat packs, outdoor furniture, BBQs, white goods, appliances, building and landscaping supplies, and cartons of alcohol.

Bulky goods can also include things like:

Even though you might be able to lift more than 30kg, occupational health and safety regulations stipulate that anything over 30kg must be lifted with machine assistance, such as a forklift. To stay within these regulations, drivers need heavy goods to be put on pallets or skids so that they safely lift the goods onto their truck, and they can be safely unloaded at the delivery point. Additionally, all drivers need to be compliant with the chain of responsibility (COR), which requires everyone involved in transporting bulky freight to do so safely.

When you book or manifest bulky goods orders through Shippit, the required vehicle type is requested automatically. You need to make sure that you are packaging your bulky freight correctly for the carrier, to avoid additional charges or missed pickups.

The standard pallet size in Australia is 1.165m x 1.165m and can usually hold weights up to 2000kg. However, carriers each have their own restrictions, so make sure you check this before you start shipping.

Although it's not ideal, you can also put wider and higher items on pallets. This is called an oversized pallet. Usually, an oversized pallet can be up to 2m wide and 1.5m high, but check the restrictions provided by your carrier.

Stack within the dimensions of the pallet, don't stack pallets too high, and use stackable pallets where you can. Always keep pallets level and stackable. These help to maximise capacity within the truck, and helps carriers to avoid problems with fitting oddly shaped packages together. Carriers do not accept pallets with over-hanging goods, and you might need to pay surcharges if your pallet isn’t stackable.

Always put goods over 30kg on a pallet. If the carrier has to palletise your freight for you it results in additional surcharges.

When communicating the weight of your shipment to a carrier, make sure you include the weight of the pallet in the order. For example, if you goods weigh 85kg, and your pallet weighs 30kg, the total weight you need to communicate is 115kg.

Use pallet wrap to stretch wrap your pallets, or use at least two straps from both sides to hold items in place. When you wrap or strap pallets, make sure you include the pallet itself, don't just wrap the goods alone.

Clearly label your pallets. Fix labels to the side of the goods, not on the top, because another pallet could be put on top.

For more information about packaging guidelines, see the Recommended packaging guidelines article.

Before you start, make sure that the carrier you want to use is suitable for bulky or palletised freight. For a list of carriers that support pallets and bulky goods, see the Carrier Matrix. For more information about an individual carriers, see the relevant know your carrier article.

When you know which carriers you want to use for your bulky goods, download and complete the the Bulky goods request form. Send the completed form to your Shippit account manager, or email it to configuration team, and we'll get you started.