A Euro container, also called Eurobox, Euro crate or KLT box (from german: Kleinladungsträger, "small load carrier"), is an industrial stacking container conforming to the VDA 4500 standard. The standard was originally defined by the
German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) for the automotive industry, but was subsequently adopted across many other areas of manufacturing and the shipping industry. The most common sizes (length × width) are 600 × 400 mm and 400 × 300 mm, which can be stacked together to fill a
Euro-pallet measuring 1200 × 800 mm.
Dimensions
Eurocontainers are based around two standard heights of and , including a overlap in the vertical direction—the height of the feet, or base, stacked into the lip of the box below:
These containers are manufactured typically in grey polypropylene or another thermoplast by injection molding.
Containers with full floor and walls are watertight. Many designs have at least two or more often four rectangular (about 12 x 4 cm) rounded grip-holes near the middle of the lips. The design may include some small holes in the lowest parts of at least two walls to let liquid run out if stored outdoors in rain or after washing. Walls constructed as grids allow one to see from the side into the box. If the bottom is formed by a grid, too, air may flow easily through even stacked boxes to keep bakery dry or allow quick cooling.
Euro-containers mounted on the rear rack of a bicycle or small motorcycle are widely used by newspaper-deliverers in Austrian towns. A Euro-container fits between the frame tubes in the low transportation bay of the Danish freight bike
Bullitt.
Related standards
The 400×300-millimetre sizes and stacking height were adopted in the early 1990s for inter-stacking
Systainer
Systainers (from sys-tem con-tainers) are modular inter-stacking plastic containers used for transporting power tools. Boxes from different manufacturers are compatible and can be stacked and clipped together. A design using four joining clips was ...
boxes.
See also
*
Cardboard box
**
Banana box, a type of cardboard box designed for transportation of bananas
*
EUR-pallet, the standard European pallet
*
Gastronorm
Gastronorm (GN), sometimes spelled ''Gastro-Norm'', is a European standard for kitchenware tray and container sizes that is commonly seen worldwide in the catering and professional food industry, as well as in certain parts of the high-end consu ...
, a European standard for sizes on containers for kitchen use
*
Milk crate
Milk crates are square or rectangular interlocking boxes that are used to transport milk and other products from dairies to retail establishments.
In English-speaking parts of Europe the term " bottle crate" is more common but in the United ...
, a similarly-sized standardized container
*
Preferred metric sizes
*
Reusable packaging Reusable packaging is manufactured of durable materials and is specifically designed for multiple trips and extended life. A ''reusable package'' or container is “designed for reuse without impairment of its protective function.” The term ret ...
*
Reverse logistics
Reverse logistics encompasses all operations related to the upstream movement of products and materials. It is "the process of moving goods from their typical final destination for the purpose of capturing value, or proper disposal. Remanufacturin ...
References
*
*
Shipping containers
Transport in Europe
Packaging
{{Europe-transport-stub