Cold-store operators ask us the same question every summer: why do our pallets arrive dry and end up damp? The answer is almost never the pallet. It is the dew point.
The condensation mechanism
A pallet that has been sitting at minus eighteen degrees is far below the dew point of humid August dock air. Move it out, and water condenses on every surface within seconds — exactly as it does on a cold glass. The wood then absorbs that water, and if the pallet goes back into the freezer it locks in as ice.
Repeat the cycle enough times and you have a pallet that is heavier, weaker at the fasteners and perfectly capable of growing mould during its next spell at ambient temperature.
What to do about it
- Minimise dwell time on the dock. Condensation is a function of exposure.
- Use a staging airlock or dehumidified dock if you have one, and run it in summer.
- Pull cold-chain stock from covered, dry storage — never from an outdoor yard.
- Rotate pools so the same decks are not cycled repeatedly through the dew point.
- Inspect fasteners rather than boards; the damage shows up at the joint first.
Grade selection for cold chain
We recommend #1 or A grade for cold-chain work, not because freezers are structurally demanding but because the moisture cycling is. A deck with full-length companion repairs and sound fasteners tolerates it; a plugged #2 loosens quickly and ends up as a hygiene conversation.
When plastic is the right answer
Inside a washdown zone, in direct contact with unpackaged product, or in a pool that cycles through the dew point several times a day, plastic is correct and we will say so. Wood is the right answer for the overwhelming majority of cold-store movements — but not for all of them, and pretending otherwise would cost somebody a product recall.
Written at the Meeks Blvd yard, St. Louis, and published on February 11, 2025. Markets and specifications move; if a figure here no longer matches what you are seeing, tell us and we will update it. Our model constants live on the Carbon Ledger.
How this was written
Drafted at the grading line from our own weighbridge records, line notes and customer correspondence. Figures quoted as ours are measured; figures quoted from the wider industry are labelled as estimates. Nothing here was written to rank for a search term, and we correct articles rather than quietly deleting them.
- Author
- Yard desk
- Published
- February 11, 2025
- Category
- Operations
- Reviewed
- Annually, with the model constants
- Corrections to
- sales@repalletshop.com
What to do with this
- Check the figures against your own invoices before acting on them.
- Ask us for the underlying scale tickets if you need audit evidence.
- Send the article to whoever owns your pallet spec — most of this is their decision.
- Disagree in writing. Several of these pieces exist because a customer corrected us.
How to cite
Yard desk, “Cold storage and condensation: pallets in the freezer aisle”, Repallet Shop, February 11, 2025. repalletshop.com/blog/cold-storage-and-condensation