ISPM 15 Heat-Treated Pallets for Export

Specifications

From log to treated pallet: how it's made

Making an ISPM 15 pallet at Maderas Caamaño starts at our own sawmill, where pine and eucalyptus sourced from Galician forests are cut into the blocks, boards and stringers that make up the finished unit. Before heat treatment, the wood is debarked: ISPM 15 requires packaging material to be effectively bark-free, within narrow tolerances, because bark is exactly where insects and larvae tend to shelter. Once the components are prepared, the batch goes into a heat-treatment chamber, where the core of the wood — not just the surface — must reach a minimum of 56°C for at least 30 continuous minutes. That process eliminates living organisms that could otherwise travel with the wood into another country, without relying on chemical fumigants. Once treatment is complete, every pallet is stamped with the ISPM 15 mark on at least two opposite faces, clearly and permanently, before moving to storage for dispatch. We log the batch and treatment date internally, so any consignment we deliver can be traced back to its treatment record. That batch tracking is particularly useful for customers receiving several shipments over the course of a year: if a customs query comes up about a specific batch, we can pull the record and provide what's needed without relying on anyone else. This applies equally to repaired pallets: if a unit comes back to us for repair and any part is replaced with new timber, that replacement piece goes through its own heat-treatment cycle before the pallet is marked and released again, rather than the whole unit simply carrying its original stamp forward.

Wood species and why they matter

We work mainly with Galician pine (Pinus pinaster and Pinus radiata) and eucalyptus, two species that behave differently under heat treatment and in export pallet use. Pine offers good dimensional stability, solid mechanical strength and an even response to heat, which makes it the usual choice for load-bearing blocks and stringers. Eucalyptus has a denser grain, giving better surface hardness and wear resistance under heavy handling, though it needs more careful drying beforehand to avoid internal stress or cracking once it goes through heat treatment. Species choice and the wood's moisture content at the time of treatment both affect how long the core takes to reach the required 56°C, so we adjust the process to the batch in front of us rather than running a single fixed cycle. For exporters who also need timber with controlled moisture for other parts of the shipment — internal packaging, blocking, bracing — we also supply kiln-dried (KD) timber with stable moisture content, useful alongside the pallet itself when a shipment needs extra protection in transit. On mixed orders, it's not unusual for a customer to combine pine blocks in the load-bearing structure with eucalyptus boards on the top deck, balancing cost, weight and strength against the type of cargo being shipped.

ISPM 15 vs EPAL: two different standards, often confused

ISPM 15 and EPAL get mixed up constantly, but they solve entirely different problems. The EPAL/EURO standard is a dimensional and quality specification for pallet exchange within Europe's pooling network: it fixes the size (800x1200mm), the nailing pattern, quality grades A or B, and approved components, so that a pallet can be swapped hand to hand between logistics operators across the EU. ISPM 15 says nothing about size or shape at all — it's a phytosanitary requirement that the wood be heat-treated and debarked so that it can legally cross into a country outside the EU's internal market. A pallet can be EPAL-specification and not need ISPM 15, if it only ever moves within the EU. It can be ISPM 15 treated and not be EPAL-specification, if it's built to custom dimensions for a one-way shipment to the UK, Switzerland or the United States. Or it can be both at once, when a customer exports outside the EU but still wants to keep the pooling network's standard dimensions. It's worth checking this with your freight forwarder or your customer's purchasing department before an order is confirmed, because buyers sometimes ask for an "EPAL pallet" when, because the shipment is heading outside the EU, what they actually need is ISPM 15 treatment, with or without the pooling network's dimensions. We manufacture to either specification, separately or combined, depending on what each shipment requires.

Industries and use cases

ISPM 15 pallets are used by any business shipping palletised goods outside the EU. Food and agricultural exporters rely on them for fruit, preserves, wine and fresh produce heading to the UK or markets further afield, where border phytosanitary checks are particularly strict. Machinery and industrial component manufacturers use them for heavy or irregularly shaped parts, often built to custom sizes. Automotive suppliers use them to move parts and subassemblies between plants outside the EU customs area. Consumer goods, building materials and chemical companies use them for one-off shipments to a single destination where there's no plan to recover the pallet afterwards. For that kind of one-way trip, many customers pair ISPM 15 treatment with a lighter build that trims shipment weight without giving up strength — an option we offer through our one-way lightweight export pallets, also available with heat treatment for non-EU export. In every case, we size the pallet and its load rating to the actual cargo, not a fixed catalogue entry. Order sizes vary widely too, from a handful of custom pallets for a single container to standing orders that repeat every month for a client shipping on a fixed schedule. We also supply warehouses and distributors who need a steady volume of treated pallets as part of their own onward-shipping operation, without every individual order having to go through a separate quoting process.

Forest sourcing and sustainability

Our raw material comes from forests and holdings in the surrounding area, within Galicia's long-standing tradition of managing and working pine and eucalyptus stands. Sourcing close to home means we know where each batch of timber comes from, and we work in a way that's aligned with the responsible forest management principles promoted by frameworks such as FSC and PEFC, though we don't hold formal certification under either scheme. ISPM 15 treatment itself has a real environmental angle too: because it relies on heat rather than chemical fumigants such as methyl bromide — increasingly restricted in various countries because of its impact on the ozone layer — heat treatment is now the preferred route on regulatory as well as sustainability grounds. Cutting down on the spread of pests and invasive species between continents is, at bottom, a form of forest protection on a global scale, and getting the treatment right the first time also avoids wasted material from cargo held up or destroyed at customs. Making sure each log is used as fully as possible — for pallets, for sawn timber, or for by-products such as wood chip and biomass — is part of that same approach of not generating more waste than necessary from a resource that's renewable but not unlimited.

Exporting outside the EU: customs and logistics

Shipping palletised cargo outside the EU takes more than a well-built pallet — it means lining up the phytosanitary treatment with the rest of the export paperwork. We work to the usual Incoterms — EXW, FOB, or delivered, depending on what's agreed with the buyer's carrier — and can issue the documentation needed to show that a pallet meets ISPM 15 at both origin and destination customs. This matters in particular for the United Kingdom, which since leaving the EU has required the ISPM 15 mark on all solid wood packaging entering the country, as well as for Switzerland, Norway, the United States, China and most markets outside the EU customs area. Within the EU itself, by contrast, this treatment generally isn't required for goods moving between member states, which is why many exporters end up carrying two pallet types — a standard one for EU customers and a heat-treated one for everywhere else. The full technical rules, including debarking tolerances and approved treatment methods, are maintained by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), the body responsible for the ISPM 15 standard worldwide. We coordinate production timing with your collection date or container slot, with typical lead times of one to three weeks depending on volume and season. If the final destination isn't settled yet when production is booked, we can talk it through in advance and have paperwork ready for either scenario, so there's no last-minute delay when the shipment is confirmed.

Why choose Maderas Caamaño

We're a family business, not a middleman: sawing, treatment and marking all happen under one roof, which gives us direct control over every stage and the flexibility to adjust dimensions, species or volume for orders that don't fit a standard catalogue line. We handle both one-off export orders and recurring supply for companies shipping regularly to the UK, Switzerland or other non-EU markets, and we can combine ISPM 15 pallets with other lines from our range — sawn timber, kiln-dried board or EPAL pallets — to cover a whole export order through a single supplier. Our base in Vimianzo, A Coruña, puts us close to the port and the main transport routes of north-west Spain, which makes it easier to coordinate with freight forwarders working the rest of Europe. If you need help working out which combination of treatment, dimensions and wood species suits your cargo and destination country, get in touch and we'll talk through the specifics with you, with no obligation and no fixed quote sight unseen. We would rather set out clearly what each option covers before you decide than have you find out halfway through a shipment that the pallet you chose didn't match the destination country's requirements. Whether you already know exactly which markets you ship to or are exporting outside the EU for the first time, we're happy to walk through what ISPM 15 does and doesn't cover before you place an order.

Applications & uses

• Food and agricultural exports to the UK and non-EU markets
• Machinery and industrial component shipments outside the EU
• Automotive parts moved between international plants
• Building materials for projects abroad
• One-way shipments with no pallet return
• Mixed EU / non-EU orders combined with EPAL pallets
• Chemical and consumer goods export shipments

Gallery

Frequently asked questions