Sit-down rider counterbalanced forklift trucks up to 6,000-lbs. capacity will require aisle widths of approximately 13-feet for handling standard 48" long pallet loads of materials and right-angle stacking for placement of loads in storage racks.

If you are using a counterbalanced sit-down rider truck (any fuel type) from 4,000 lbs. to 6,000 lbs. capacity, and are handling standard 48" long pallets of materials, you will require 13-foot wide aisles for storing and retrieving pallets in a pallet rack system.

If you have a 3,000 lbs. capacity truck, you will require 12-1/2 foot wide aisles which is not likely to change your overall layout or the number of rows the building will accommodate.

For each additional double-row of racks added to the layout shown here, you would require an additional 21-1/2' of building width to accommodate the double row of racks and the additional aisle needed to access them.

The locations of building columns, utilities, and other obstructions may affect your layout and may prevent the use of some pallet positions.

Stand-up rider narrow aisle forklift trucks will require aisle widths of approximately 9-feet for handling standard 48" long pallet loads of materials and right-angle stacking for placement of loads in storage racks. This is true for the most common narrow aisle reach trucks in 3000-lbs. and 4,000-lbs. capacity.

Straddle trucks without reach (pantograph) can operate in aisles as narrow as 7-1/2' to 8' wide.

If you are using a stand-up narrow aisle reach truck from 3,000 lbs. to 4,000 lbs. capacity, and are handling standard 48" long pallets of materials, you will require a minimum of 9-foot wide aisles for storing and retrieving pallets in a pallet rack system.

For each additional double-row of racks added to the layout shown here, you would require an additional 17-1/2' of building width to accommodate the double row of racks and the additional aisle needed to access them

The locations of building columns, utilities, and other obstructions may affect your layout and may prevent the use of some pallet positions.

If you currently have a counterbalanced sit-down rider truck aisle layout with approximately 13-foot wide aisles and are handling standard 48" long pallets, you may be asking yourself whether you can narrow your aisles using a stand-up narrow aisle truck and gain an additional row of storage racks.

These side-by-side layout drawings show that if you have five aisles and four double rows of racks, you are at the point where the system width (108') is enough such that when the aisles are narrowed to 9', there is sufficient space to add a fifth double row of racks.

Turret or Swing-Mast Very Narrow Aisle forklift trucks will require aisle widths of approximately 4-1/2-feet to 5-1/2-feet for handling standard 48" long pallet loads of materials and placing and retrieving those loads in storage racks.

If you are using a swing mast or turret truck (Very Narrow Aisle truck) from 3,000 lbs. to 4,000 lbs. capacity, and are handling standard 48" long pallets of materials, you will require a minimum of 4-1/2 foot wide aisles for storing and retrieving pallets in a pallet rack system.

For each additional double-row of racks added to the layout shown here, you would require an additional 13' of building width to accommodate the double row of racks and the additional aisle needed to access them.

The locations of building columns, utilities, and other obstructions may affect your layout and may prevent the use of some pallet positions.

If you currently have a counterbalanced sit-down rider truck layout or a stand-up narrow aisle truck layout with either 13-foot wide aisles or 9-foot wide aisles, and are handling standard 48" long pallets, you may be asking yourself whether you can narrow your aisles even further, using a very narrow aisle (VNA) turret or swing-mast truck to gain additional rows of storage racks within the same building space / footprint.

This chart shows that the very narrow aisle layout will nearly always produce an increase in storage capacity. However, there are significant cost increases as compared to sit-down and narrow aisle layouts, for the turret or swing-mast trucks that are required in order to work in these aisles.

The cost per additional pallet position for the VNA layout may not be economically justifiable in all cases. Or, the cost of additional floor space to accommodate additional pallet positions in the sit-down or narrow aisle truck layouts may be less than the cost of the VNA turret or swing-mast equipment.

Stand-up rider narrow aisle double reach or deep reach forklift trucks will require aisle widths of approximately 10-feet for handling standard 48" long pallet loads of materials and right-angle stacking for placement of loads in storage racks.

These trucks have double-scissors pantographs allowing for storage and retrieval of pallets in two-deep racks.

If you are using a stand-up narrow aisle double reach (deep reach) truck from 3,000 lbs. to 4,000 lbs. capacity, and are handling standard 48" long pallets of materials, you will require a minimum of 10-foot wide aisles for storing and retrieving pallets in a pallet rack system.

For each additional quad-row of racks added to the layout shown here, you would require an additional 27-1/2' of building width to accommodate the four rows of racks and the additional aisle needed to access them.

The locations of building columns, utilities, and other obstructions may affect your layout and may prevent the use of some pallet positions.