What Wooden Pallets Have to Do With Russia’s War on Ukraine
A shortage of the humble item may be one reason why the Kremlin’s forces are struggling to gain ground.
Stacks of custom, manually made pallets, in a warehouse at Pacific Pallet in Abbotsford, Canada, on April 1
Photographer: James MacDonald/BloombergListen to Odd Lots on Spotify
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts
Most people don’t think much about wooden pallets—and that might be true even of people waging large-scale military invasions. Recent reports claim that Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine has been hampered by a lack of pallets, making it more difficult to move the vast amounts of supplies needed to support soldiers and tanks.
Meanwhile, the disruption of Ukraine’s lumber industry could make a global shortage of wooden pallets even worse, resonating far beyond the battlefront. On this episode of the Odd Lots podcast, we catch up with Marshall White, professor emeritus at Virginia Tech, to talk about the role of the humble wooden pallet in warfare and the broader economy.