A French wholesaler, honest about geography
DirectPAL is a French B2B wholesaler of wooden pallets. We do not claim warehouses across Europe: our 3 storage sites are in the Paris region, France — Mitry-Mory (77) on the A1 corridor to the north, Pontault-Combault (77) on the A4/Francilienne, Chilly-Mazarin (91) on the A6/A10 to the south. That is precisely what keeps the offer competitive: the truck is loaded once, at our depot, and drives straight to your dock — no cross-docking, no intermediary, no fictitious local branch.
This is not a theoretical promise. We already load full trucks for clients outside France every month — Belgium above all — and we already work with UK buyers on an ex-works basis. Every lead time on this page is one we actually run, not one we hope for.
The full-truckload rule
Delivery by full truckload from 300 pallets — below that, pickup at one of our 3 depots in the Paris region, France. The threshold is not a commercial whim: 300 pallets is where a full truckload starts making economic sense across a border. A standard semi-trailer takes roughly 500–600 EPAL pallets or 650–800 one-way 80×120 pallets depending on the model and stacking height; below 300, the freight cost per pallet explodes and delivery stops being worth it — for you as much as for us. The practical details, depot addresses and loading procedure are on the pickup & delivery page.
Who books the truck
Both options work, and we quote both: delivered — we book the transport per full truckload with our carriers and you receive a single delivered price; or ex-works — your carrier collects at our depot on an agreed slot, which many clients prefer when their trucks return empty from France. Either way, the CMR consignment note is signed at loading and the invoice is only issued once the goods have shipped.
VAT and paperwork
Intra-EU supply: invoice without VAT with your valid EU VAT number (reverse charge, Art. 138 of Directive 2006/112/EC). For the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the invoice is issued without French VAT as an export outside the EU; import VAT and duties are then handled in the destination country by the importer. Commercial invoice, packing list and CMR are prepared in English on request — Our team replies in French and English.
ISPM 15: when the wood itself needs a passport
Inside the EU, pallets circulate freely — with the notable exception of Portugal, which requires ISPM 15 even intra-EU because of the pine wood nematode. Outside the EU, and for the UK since Brexit, heat-treated pallets marked ISPM 15 (56 °C at the core for 30 minutes) are required; Switzerland is a signatory but in practice exempts EU-manufactured packaging under a bilateral agreement. We supply them on request; check our ISPM 15 guide and the ISPM 15 country list 2026 before locking in a pallet choice.
