What is a loading meter (LDM)?

A loading meter (LDM, Lademeter) is one metre of a truck’s load floor at the full 2.4 m width: 2.4 m² of floor. Road freight in Europe uses it to price goods that take floor space rather than weight. A load’s loading meters are its footprint divided by 2.4 m:

LDM = length (m) × width (m) ÷ 2.4

A Euro pallet (1.2 × 0.8 m) is 0.4 LDM, an industrial pallet (1.2 × 1.0 m) is 0.5 LDM, and a 13.6 m trailer is 13.6 LDM. The 2.4 comes from the trailer: about 2.45 to 2.48 m inside, which takes three Euro pallets side by side, so 2.4 m is the width a row actually uses. The formula is a pricing unit, not a floor plan: 13.6 ÷ 0.4 says 34 Euro pallets, and a trailer takes 33 in the usual layout (34 with the last rows turned). For industrial pallets it says 27; two across on their long edge fill the width, but 13 rows of 1 m leave 0.6 m at the end, and 26 fit.

Loading meters to kg. Carriers turn loading meters into a weight to bill: the 7 published carrier rules in Trailer fit use 1,650 to 2,000 kg per LDM. There is no single figure; the carrier’s conditions decide.

Loading meters to m³. There is no conversion without a height: m³ = LDM × 2.4 × height. One loading meter of pallets 1.2 m tall is 2.9 m³.

Stacking changes the count. Two pallets stacked take the floor of one, and most carriers then bill by volume instead. Why the invoice rarely matches the formula: Loading meters, and why your invoice says a different number. Trailer fit draws the trailer floor and gives the loading meters for mixed loads. Related: What is chargeable weight in road freight?

Sources

• Carrier factors: the published rules in Trailer fit (DHL Freight NL, SK and NO, Posti, DB Schenker BE, DSV IT), each linked on the tool page.
• Pallets per trailer: the Trailer fit engine, 13.6 × 2.48 m floor, not stacked.