What a brillent thread i love what your doing and as been said before just need some way of making everything water proof
just a few points may be of use
in the past for many years i have delivered overnight refigerated trailers (refers) of fruit and veg from Harwich /Europe to Spitalfields, New covent garden, and Western Markets (nr Heathrow). All different types of Veg require slightly different types of boxs and pallets So a few points may help
1/ There are two different pallet sizes, Standard 1200 x !000mm and Euros 1200mm x 800mm
2/ A 40' container or a 45' Lorry trailer is internally just over 2 meters wide so you can get 2 pallets across of either Euros or standard
3/ As a 40' container is as wide as a railway wagon i suppose the dimesions work to a box car
4/ Most veg gets packed into cardboard Trays these trays are a standard 600mm x 400mm (different heights depending on the veg to be packed)
So you get 4 on a euro pallet on each layer or 5 on a standard
5/ a punet of strawberrys for instants is the right size to pack 24 in a tray
6/ a box of Bannanas would be the same size as a Tray 600mm x 400mm
7/ untill it gets to market a pallet of veg would not be shink wraped in cling film as they are transported in a fridge (refer) and you need to have airfow all around and through the pallet. To keep it together the trays have tags that interlock and then long strips of angled cardboard run the full height of the pallet and the whole thing straped with nilon binding straps
8 The height of the pallet can be upto and is normally 8 feet high though you can have 2 x 4 ft on top of each other
9 finally as veg is alive it creates heat so if you cling film it a pallet would swet and rot
Hope this makes sence and is of some use please ask if you need anyother information
Tony