Choosing between a full load and groupage is not just about pallet count. Four things decide: how much space the goods take in loading metres, how fixed the deadline is, whether the load tolerates transhipment, and whether the route has one consignee or several. You buy a full vehicle when you need the trailer to yourself. The break-even point starts at roughly a third of a trailer, about a dozen pallets.
Loading metres, not pallet count
The first mistake is counting pallets alone. A standard trailer has a set floor length, and how much of it a consignment takes is expressed in loading metres, that is a strip of floor across the full trailer width. Two euro pallets side by side take one loading metre, but an industrial pallet or a load with an unusual footprint counts differently. Then comes height: if the goods can be double stacked, the same pallet count takes half the floor. The arithmetic is set out in our texts on loading metres and on trailer capacity.
When groupage is the obvious choice
Groupage makes sense when the load takes clearly less than a full trailer, the deadline has a few days of slack and the goods tolerate transhipment: stable pallets, well wrapped, uniform. Add something customers appreciate only later: on groupage you do not pay for air. Sending three pallets on a full vehicle means paying for thirteen metres of floor and using one and a half. Our regular UK departures are described on the groupage LTL page, and the mechanics in our text on groupage from a single pallet.
When a full vehicle wins despite a small load
Sometimes six pallets travel on a full vehicle and that is a rational decision. There are several reasons. A deadline fixed to the day and hour, with no room for transhipment and consolidation. Sensitive cargo we do not want to touch en route: machines on non-standard pallets, calibrated equipment, goods in packaging that will not survive a third handling. An exclusivity requirement from the receiver, for example no tolerance of other goods alongside food or cosmetics. A load close to the weight limit that will use the full payload anyway. Finally, a sender with several UK consignees who wants a multi-drop route on their own terms. The FTL scope is on the full truckload page.
Time: the gap is smaller than people think
There is a persistent belief that groupage is always slow. In practice on the Poland to UK route the difference is modest, because we run scheduled line-haul departures rather than gathering freight for weeks. Groupage reaches consignees usually within two to three working days of loading, a full vehicle runs direct and arrives sooner, and genuinely urgent consignments go on an express van departing from 24 hours and running without transhipment. Realistic times are broken down in our text on how long transport from Poland to the UK takes.
Risk and liability: what changes
On groupage the goods pass through transhipment, which means more handling operations and a much greater weight on how well the pallet was built. A well built pallet goes through a hub without a mark; a badly built one collapses on the first forklift manoeuvre. So on groupage we pay more attention to wrapping and to whether anything overhangs the footprint. The rules are covered in our texts on securing a pallet and on preparing a pallet for the UK. A separate matter is neighbours: with food and cosmetics we watch what travels alongside, covered in our text on odour contamination and in the article on what travels next to your pallet.
The middle option: part loads
Between one pallet and a full vehicle sits the part load, several to a dozen loading metres taking part of a trailer, usually with one or two co-loads rather than a dozen. It suits senders who want to limit handling but do not need the whole trailer. In practice, for anything above a few loading metres we always price both options and show the difference rather than assuming groupage.
How to decide in five minutes
Gather four things: dimensions and weights of every item, whether double stacking is possible, how fixed the deadline is, and the number of delivery points. From that comes trailer occupancy, and it is clear whether we are talking groupage, a part load or a full vehicle. The rest, what builds the cost and why two quotes for the same load can differ, is explained in our texts on what builds pallet transport pricing and how to read a carrier quote.
Not sure which option suits your load? Send dimensions, weights and dates through the quote form and we will price both and show the difference. The route is described on the transport to the United Kingdom page.
