Warehouse Racking Singapore

M&C designs, supplies and installs warehouse racking in Singapore, and we supply the forklifts that run in it. Selective, double-deep, VNA and drive-in racking, plus heavy-duty builds. Because the rack and the truck come from one team, the aisle width on the drawing is the width the truck actually needs.

Design the racking and the truck together, or you pay for it twice

Aisle width comes from the truck's turning radius. Beam height comes from its lift height. Both are numbers off the truck's datasheet, and they decide the whole layout.

What usually happens is the racking comes from one company and the trucks from another, and the two never speak. The rack goes in, the truck arrives, and the aisle is 200mm short or the top beam sits above the truck's lift height. Fixing that after installation means unbolting and re-siting whole rows, which costs more than the rows did.

One detail catches people out more than any other. Aisle figures on a truck datasheet are pallet to pallet, not rack to rack. On our standard 900mm deep frame a 1200mm deep pallet overhangs 150mm each side, so the gap between the racks must be 300mm wider than the datasheet number. Set out a reach truck aisle at 2,900mm rack to rack and you have left the truck 300mm short of what it needs to turn. Every M&C drawing labels both figures, stacked, pallet to pallet over rack to rack.

The four rack types, and the trade-off that decides it

Underneath every racking decision is one trade-off: selectivity against density. Every pallet you can reach directly costs floor space. Every bit of density you gain costs access to some pallets. Nothing gets round it.

Selective is the default and right for most Singapore warehouses. Every pallet sits on an aisle face, so you pick anything in any order. Choose it for many SKUs with one or two pallets of each, or date-coded stock that must move first in, first out. Heavier loads and taller builds use heavier frames and beams, not a different rack type.

Double-deep stores two pallets deep, which halves the number of aisles. The catch is the truck: a double-deep reach truck with telescopic forks, needing a slightly wider aisle. It works if you hold at least two pallets per SKU. Hold one and the back position sits empty.

VNA-configured is the same selective racking set out for a very narrow aisle truck in a wire or rail guided aisle, down to about 1.7m pallet to pallet. Highest density without losing selectivity. The costs are real: the truck is expensive, the floor must be flatter than an ordinary warehouse floor, and guided aisles commit the layout. See VNA forklifts.

Drive-in has the truck driving into the lane, pallets on rails, almost no aisles. Only the outer pallet of each lane is reachable, so it runs last in, first out, one SKU per lane, and a part-empty lane wastes the whole lane. Right for cold store, seasonal buffer and single-SKU volume. Expect slower put-away and rail damage from trucks.

What the site survey covers

The survey is free, and it decides the design. What we measure:

• Clear height under the lowest obstruction, not the roof apex. Sprinkler heads, lights, ducts and downstand beams set the real ceiling, often a metre below what people expect.
• Floor flatness and floor loading. Selective racking tolerates an ordinary floor. A guided VNA aisle does not, which is worth knowing before you buy the truck.
• The column grid: column size, pitch between lines, and where the lines fall against the walls.
• Doors, roller shutters and the loading bay, and the clear space trucks need in front of them.
• Fire and sprinkler clearances. In-rack sprinklers, clearance under the heads, hose reels, exits and travel routes. Set by the SCDF Fire Code and your building's sprinkler design, and they can cap your top beam level.
• Your pallets, size and weight. P1 at 1200 x 1000, P2 at 1100 x 1100 and Euro at 1200 x 800 all behave differently on the same beam.
• Load height per pallet, including wrap and overhang.
• Existing racking. Often we can infill against frames you already have rather than replace them.
• The trucks you already own, with their datasheets.

How pallet positions are actually worked out

Here is how the number is built, so you can check whatever a supplier quotes you.

Across the floor. The cross section repeats: one double row, one aisle, the next double row. On our standard module that double row is a 900mm frame, a 400mm back-to-back gap and another 900mm frame, so 2,200mm of steel. The 400mm is not arbitrary. It is 150mm of pallet overhang each side plus a 100mm load flue between, so the pallets never touch. Add the aisle and you have the pitch that repeats across the building:

• Reach truck: 2,900mm pallet to pallet, 3,200mm rack to rack, 5,400mm pitch.
• VNA truck: 1,700mm pallet to pallet, 2,000mm rack to rack, 4,200mm pitch.

On a clean 50m span with no columns in the way, that is roughly nine double rows with a reach truck and eleven with a VNA truck. Two extra double rows is four extra runs of racking, in the same building, on the same rent.

Along the run. Our stock beam is 2,700mm, and pallets per bay come off the beam rather than the other way round: a P1 pallet loaded 1,000mm wide gives two per bay, a Euro pallet at 800mm gives three. In a 60m deep building a run is roughly 22 bays, so about 44 positions per beam level with P1 pallets.

Up the frame. Beam pitch is the load height plus about 100mm clearance, and the number of levels is the usable clear height divided by that pitch. One extra beam level across a whole warehouse beats any discount you will negotiate.

Columns, low beams and the things that ruin a clean grid

Real warehouses have columns in inconvenient places. These are the rules we design to, and we do not break them to make a drawing look tidy:

• A column in an aisle is never acceptable. Either it comes out of the aisle or the layout moves.
• Swallow the column in the back-to-back gap where we can. A column hidden in the flue costs zero pallet positions.
• If it cannot go in the flue, it costs one bay, never two. A column straddling two rows is a design error, not bad luck.
• Aisles get widened to line up with the column pitch, never narrowed. The datasheet aisle width is a floor, not a target.
• Only the pair hosting the column gets the wide gap. Widening every gap to solve one column throws away the floor.
• A low duct or downstand beam means we build that stretch shorter, with fewer beam levels, rather than delete the bays.
• Pallets never touch the wall. Behind a wall run we leave the pallet overhang plus clearance.

Safety, load notices and inspection

Singapore does not have its own pallet racking standard. Be careful of anyone who tells you it does. What applies is the Workplace Safety and Health Act, and the duty sits with you as the occupier: keep the workplace and the structures in it safe for the people working under them. In practice that is four things.

1. Know the rating, and post it. Every run should carry a load notice showing the maximum load per pair of beams and the pallet configuration it was designed for. Our stock 2,700mm beams carry 2,000kg per pair, which is two 1,000kg pallets. Put three 1,000kg pallets on the same pair and you are 50 percent over. Nothing on the steel tells the operator that. The notice does.
2. Install to the design, and keep the drawing. Anchors, base plates, bracing and beam pins are not optional. The drawing and the load rating are your evidence that the rack was designed for what is sitting on it.
3. Inspect on a set cycle. Uprights at fork height, base plates, loose or missing anchors, missing beam pins, beam deflection. Write down what you find and when.
4. Act on strikes. Rack damage almost always comes from a truck, and bent steel does not recover. Unload the bay, take it out of use and get it looked at. A damaged upright is replaced, not straightened.

Because the damage comes from trucks, operator competence is part of rack safety. Operators need valid WSQ Operate Forklift certification, and from 1 January 2027 refresher training completed within the previous three years. See the new MOM rule.

High-bay racking and mezzanine floors are a step up. Structural drawings need a Professional Engineer's endorsement, and a mezzanine also brings BCA and SCDF submissions. We tell you at survey stage which category your job is in, because it changes the programme, not just the price.

How a racking job runs

1. Survey. Free, on site. We measure the building, your pallets and your trucks.
2. Layout drawing. Plan view, front and side elevation, and a pallet position schedule so you can see where the total comes from. Drawn on your own floor plan where you have one, DXF or PDF.
3. Capacity and cost comparison. Two or three options: what you get with the trucks you own, and what you get if you change the truck.
4. Supply. Reconditioned stock we hold can move in about a week. New racking brought in to order typically runs four to seven weeks.
5. Install. Around your operation, in phases if you cannot clear the floor. You get a system ready to load, plus the drawing and the load rating.

Racking is quoted per pallet position, all in, covering supply, delivery and installation. The rate per position drops as the job gets bigger, because delivery and installation spread over more steel. We do not publish a rate, because a 200 position job and a 2,000 position job are not the same product.

What to send us for a first layout

Floor plan as DXF or PDF, or a dimensioned sketch. Clear height measured under the sprinklers, not to the roof. Pallet type, weight and load height. Roughly how many SKUs and how many pallets of each. The trucks you run or are considering. And whether the warehouse has to keep working during installation.

If storage is the real problem rather than the rack type, our guide on increasing warehouse storage capacity works through the aisle maths, and you can rent the truck to test a layout before committing.

Moving to a new site or closing one down? See our page on warehouse relocation and closure for how racking dismantle, transport, re-install and reinstatement fit together.

Is racking covered by a grant?

Conventional pallet racking has not been a standard item on the PSG pre-approved list, though automated storage and retrieval is a different category. The current position is set out in can you get a government grant for a forklift in Singapore?

Frequently asked questions

What racking suits a small warehouse?

Selective pallet racking is usually the best start: flexible and every pallet directly accessible. If space is tight and you want maximum density, VNA racking with a VNA truck stores far more.

Can you match racking to my forklift?

Yes, and it matters. Aisle width and rack height depend on the truck. We supply both, so we design the racking and the forklift as one system.

Do you install the racking?

Yes. We supply and install, working around your operation, so you get a finished ready-to-load system.

What is VNA racking?

Racking set out for very narrow aisle trucks, with guided aisles as narrow as 1.6m. It gives the highest storage density for the same floor area.

How is racking load rated?

Every run is specified to the load it will carry and installed to standard. Racking holds tonnes above people, so correct rating and installation are essential.

Do you do both racking and forklifts?

Yes. One supplier, one quote and one responsible team for racking, forklifts and servicing.

What is the difference between selective and drive-in racking?

Selective puts every pallet on an aisle face, so you pick anything in any order. Drive-in has almost no aisles and stores far more in the same floor, but only the outer pallet of each lane is reachable and the lane runs last in, first out. Selective for many SKUs, drive-in for high volumes of one SKU.

How do I know if my aisle is wide enough for the truck?

Check which measurement you are looking at. Truck datasheets quote aisle width pallet to pallet. On a 900mm deep frame with a 1200mm deep pallet, the rack to rack gap must be 300mm wider, because the pallet overhangs 150mm each side. A reach truck needing 2,900mm pallet to pallet needs 3,200mm between the racks.

Do I need a Professional Engineer for warehouse racking in Singapore?

For ordinary selective racking, usually not. For high-bay racking and any mezzanine floor, the structural drawings need a Professional Engineer's endorsement, and a mezzanine also brings BCA and SCDF submissions. We tell you at survey stage which category your job is in.

What should I do if a forklift hits the racking?

Unload the affected bay and take it out of use, then get it inspected. Bent steel does not recover, and a damaged upright is replaced rather than straightened. Under the Workplace Safety and Health Act the duty to keep the structure safe sits with you as the occupier, so record the strike and what was done about it.