Truckload calculator

Pickup terms usually depend on whether a lot fills a truck. Add your lines and see the floor positions, the trailers, and how full the last one is.

Lines in the load
Item	Quantity	Per position	Positions
Item, line 1	Quantity, line 1	Units per floor position, line 1	0
Item, line 2	Quantity, line 2	Units per floor position, line 2

Trailer

Load turned (40 in side along the trailer)

No lines yet

53 ft dry van, straight: about 26 floor positions of 48 x 40.

Add a line to see how much of a truck it fills.

How is a floor position counted?

One floor position is one 48 x 40 inch footprint on the trailer floor. Two fit side by side across a standard trailer. The calculator divides each line’s quantity by how many units fit on one position (stacked or folded), and rounds up.

Where do the trailer figures come from?

From the trailer’s length. A 53 ft trailer has about 636 inches inside: 636 / 48 gives 13 rows of two, 26 positions, loaded straight; 636 / 40 gives 15 rows of two, 30 positions, turned. The same math gives 24 and 28 for a 48 ft trailer and about 12 and 14 for a 26 ft box truck. Real equipment varies by a few inches.

Weight can run out before space: heavy bales or racking may hit the legal weight limit first. Truckloads and minimums explains more.

Default units per position

Planning assumptions. Change the figure in any line to match how yours are packed.

Item	Per position
Gaylord boxes set up, two high on one floor position. Knocked-down flat boxes take far less space.	2
IBC totes empty, stacked two high on their own pallet base (48 x 40 footprint).	2
Steel drums four per pallet, two tiers high.	8
Plastic drums four per pallet, two tiers high.	8
Fiber drums four per pallet, two tiers high.	8
Wood pallets one stack about nine feet tall (roughly six inches per empty pallet).	18
Plastic pallets one stack; nestable models fit far more.	20
Wire baskets folded flat in one stack.	8
Metal cages and racks set up, two high.	2
Bulk bags (FIBCs) folded flat and stacked on one pallet; the count varies a lot by bag size.	100
Plastic crates and bins stacked on one pallet; nesting models fit more.	40
Wood crates and bins two high.	2
Handling equipment and racking one unit per floor position; racking bundles vary widely.	1
Cardboard bales two bales stacked. Heavy bales can hit the trailer weight limit before the floor fills.	2

Trailers: 53 ft dry van 26 straight / 30 turned · 48 ft trailer 24 straight / 28 turned · 26 ft box truck 12 straight / 14 turned