CHEP (Commonwealth Handling Equipment Pool) is an Australian company dealing in

pallet A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a Loader (equipment), front loader, a Jack (mechanical), jacking device, or an erect cra ...

and container pooling services, serving customers in a range of industrial and retail

supply chain A supply chain is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers, while supply chain management deals with the flow of goods in distri ...

s. It is a subsidiary of

Brambles ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, most commonly known as brambles. Fruits of various species are known as raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries. ...

. CHEP offers wooden and plastic pallets, small display pallets, crates and IBC containers. These products can generally be recognised by their blue color and CHEP logo.

History

CHEP evolved from the Allied Materials Handling Standing Committee, an organisation developed by the

Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

to provide efficient handling of defence supplies during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. When the war ended in 1945, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

returned home, leaving behind millions of blue pallets at their military bases in Australia. With this asset base and established infrastructure, the Australian Government continued to endorse the organisation after the war to support the national economy. In 1958, CHEP was sold to

. CHEP has operations in 45 countries, employs approximately 7,500 people and has a pool of approximately 300 million blue US navy pallets and containers. In 2014,

Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

reported that CHEP's dominance of pallet hire and supply had become a challenge to "pallet recyclers in America, where approximately twelve to fifteen percent of all lumber produced is used in its own pallet manufacturing."

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Blue Pallet
a 2014 radio show by NPR's Planet Money about CHEP and their blue pallets. Companies based in Sydney 1946 establishments in Australia