Pallets are essential to the transportation industry. Because of the ubiquitous presence of pallets in shipping, the state of the pallet industry can provide insight into the health of the supply chain.

John Vaccaro, founder and CEO of PalletTrader, the world’s first online pallet marketplace, believes the supply chain is in the final stages of recovery.

“I think we all realized that there was a contraction overall in the supply chain a few months ago. Transportation, the way I review it right now, is leading pallets by about three months,” Vaccaro said. “Transport, in my mind, has already hit bottom or is coming back up. Pallets are still slightly behind. Most pallet depots are still working through excess inventory.”

Based on these and other positive signs, Vacarro said he sees the overall U.S. economy returning to pre-pandemic conditions.

“I’m seeing across all of our divisions, especially pallets, the orders and the manufacturing cycles are returning to normal. The orders are in line where they should be this year; everything seems to be leveling out,” he said. “So I believe what we basically had in the supply chain was a reset, an unfortunate reset, due to the overstocking. I think, in all areas, we’re kind of close to the end of that.”

As demand for freight eventually increases, accessing pallets will become more of a challenge as well. Vaccaro added that organizations with more complex supply chains usually have more trouble getting their hands on specialized pallets they require. In a tight market, though, it can even be difficult for the average company to get regular pallets.

As the need for pallets grows with the economic changes, PalletTrader will be the transportation industry’s go-to source to buy and sell pallets of all kinds to keep freight moving.

PalletTrader has been in the market for less than a year, but Vaccaro said feedback has been nothing but positive thus far.

“It’s always validating to hear people say, ‘What a great idea’ or ‘How come no one thought of this sooner?’” he said. 

PalletTrader took its next step in June when it announced PalletTrader+ during FreightWaves’ Future of Supply Chain conference. 

PalletTrader+ is the outsourced division of the pallet marketplace, providing users with managed pallet supply services. This is ideal for large corporations that like the idea of PalletTrader but require outsourced assistance managing their pallet procurement and selling processes. 

To learn more about PalletTrader, click here.