PalletTrader and Europe's Pallet Control Tower Create Alliance

By MMH Staff March 19, 2025

Originally: PalletTrader announces strategic alliance with Europe’s Pallet Control Tower

PalletTrader, the U.S. supply chain industry’s first online digital marketplace and management platform for white wood pallets, announced today a collaboration with Pallet Control Tower (PCT), the European standard and digital platform leader for pallet collection, matching and delivery in the European Union.

Under this collaboration, the two platforms intend to offer a new service which will enable U.S. shippers to obtain and reuse European-standard pallets, initially used to transport goods into the U.S. from Europe, to ship U.S. exports back to Europe. At the same time, European-based shippers who receive imported goods on U.S-standard pallets, will benefit from the digital-driven platform operated by PCT to source and reuse these pallets for exports to the U.S.

The two companies independently have built digital e-commerce platforms from which shippers and pallet providers can procure and manage their needs for a wide variety of shipping pallets, within their respective regions.

The opportunity for a trans-Atlantic pallet trading market was driven by the European Union’s recently enacted Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). This regulatory initiative articulates a comprehensive framework for EU businesses intended to eliminate packaging waste and promote accelerated recycling and reuse of packaging materials, including pallets. It will subject manufacturers, distributors, e-commerce retailers, fulfillment operators, packaging producers, transportation firms and other supply chain participants to a wide range of regulations, with reuse targets designed to eliminate waste and create a “circular supply chain.”

In today’s market, U.S.-standard pallets are built to a specific dimension, usually measured in inches. European-grade pallets are built to a different, separate dimensional standard using centimeters. The differences make it difficult if not impossible for the pallets to be used in warehouses and automated material handling systems outside of their respective geographic regions.

“Previously, there was no market for European pallets in the U.S., they had no value and there was no formalized mechanism, process or incentive to find and use them for return trips,” noted John Vaccaro, president of PalletTrader. “Typically, those pallets were treated as a discarded commodity, waste that went into landfills or were ground into mulch.”

“Now we are working together with PCT to establish a common process, through PalletTrader in the U.S., to provide an option for transatlantic pallet exchange, which would allow U.S. shippers to source, sell and reuse EU-grade pallets,” he explained. “That will bring new value to these EU-origin shipping assets, which can be repurposed as export shipping platforms,” he said.

“Perhaps more importantly, this collaboration would provide an avenue for shippers to comply with PPWR mandates while reducing the expense associated with disposal,” Vaccaro said, noting that under PPWR, reuse and reshipping of EU-grade pallets back to their origin also potentially provides a form of credit to the shipper that can offset some pallet costs. And with the Trump Administration’s recent imposition of tariffs across many imported products, “The timing could not be better for international shippers to embrace this to avoid tariff impact buying pallets for a one-way use,” Vaccaro added.

“European shippers will have to comply with these new mandates, the first phases of which went into effect in June 2024,” noted Bart Meijnen, president of Pallet Control Tower. “PCT will provide a service to collect and sell both U.S. and European pallets within the Continent and with the goal of repurposing these as assets to reduce waste and capture monetary value for each market.”

Continued Meijnen, “so when a European manufacturer wants to ship products to the U.S., they now have a mechanism to acquire and utilize U.S-grade pallets sourced from inventories in Europe. European pallets can also be sourced on PCT and used for shipping within the EU,” he noted.
Pallet users in Europe today can place a request for quote or bid on pallet inventories displayed on their PCT dashboard, accepting a quote with one click. As part of its online process, PCT also arranges pickup or delivery of the pallet order.

PalletTrader would provide a similar service to U.S. businesses and pallet recyclers who have surplus lots of European-grade pallets. Those pallets could be advertised over the PalletTrader platform to its user base, enabling those assets to be sourced, delivered and transactionally settled in the same way as U.S.-grade pallets.

Meijnen added that under the new EU regulations, reused and recycled pallets will have a value represented in “e-Credits.” Those credits have monetary value in the EU that can help shippers on both sides of the Atlantic earn revenues that can help reduce overall pallet purchasing and retrieval/reuse costs.

PalletTrader operates as an independent, neutral online business platform, enabling and streamlining the sale and collection of pallets in a collaborative, secure self-service eCommerce environment, or under a fully managed service, providing its user community with workflows and tools to drive new efficiencies into pallet supply and management. It was conceived, funded and built by Bettaway Supply Chain Services.