Plastic crates and bulk bins in Kentucky

Louisville's air hub and the warehouses around it

UPS Worldport, the company's global air hub at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, covers about 5.2 million square feet and can handle about 416,000 packages an hour. Hubs like that tend to attract service-parts depots, e-commerce fulfillment and returns processing nearby, and all of those run on small returnable containers.

Parts depots and fulfillment centers buy hand-held nest-stack totes for picking and shelving, and attached-lid containers for orders that leave the building sealed. Conveyor-fed operations care about a flat, scannable bottom, consistent outside dimensions and a height that clears photo-eyes and diverters. Shelving operations care more about a front opening or a label plate that faces the aisle.

Kanban, small lots and hand-held bins

Toyota builds vehicles at Georgetown, north of Lexington, and the lean methods associated with that company shape packaging across the region's supply base. Small, frequent deliveries mean many parts arrive in hand-held containers rather than big bulk boxes. A kanban card or label rides on each bin; when the bin empties at the line, it goes back to the supplier and signals a refill.

That system needs uniform containers. Every bin in a loop should share the same footprint, height and stacking rim so it fits the flow rack, the tugger cart and the return rack. Common sizes run around 24x16 inches or metric 600x400 and 400x300 mm, in a range of heights. Mixing models from different makers can cause bins to hang up on rollers. Send us the model you run, or its dimensions and photos, and we'll quote a match.

Ford, GM and the 48x45

Ford builds vehicles at Kentucky Truck and Louisville Assembly, and GM at Bowling Green, on I-65 near the Tennessee line. Bulk parts for programs like these generally travel in the AIAG 48x45 footprint: ORBIS describes its 48x45 BulkPak as that standard, in 17 heights from about 19 to 50 inches, rated about 1,500 to 2,000 lb.

A pickup or SUV program moves large, heavy parts: seats, fuel tanks, bumper fascias, door modules and frame members. Suppliers choose containers with drop doors for line-side access, a lid when dust is a concern, and fitted dunnage that holds each part in place. We quote shells and dunnage separately, since dunnage changes with the part number.

Kentucky containers at a glance

Farms, poultry and the Ohio River

Kentucky produced about 291 million broilers in 2025; corn at about $1.08 billion, hay, and soybeans at about $819 million led its crops. The state has about 67,700 farms on 12.3 million acres. Poultry plants buy washable lugs and combo bins rated for cold rooms; for product contact we never call a used box food-grade, so ask the maker's documents and tell us what it held. Farms buy sturdy totes and solid bins for seed, supplies and shop parts.

Along the river, the Ports of Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky ranked 19th among US ports by 2023 total trade, mostly barge cargo.

Interstates and freight

I-65 runs from Louisville to Bowling Green and Nashville. I-64 crosses from Louisville through Lexington toward West Virginia, I-75 runs north-south through Lexington and Georgetown to Cincinnati, I-71 links Louisville and Cincinnati, and I-24 crosses the western end near Paducah. Most Kentucky addresses we quote sit near one of these.

A depot adding a few hundred totes ships LTL; nested totes pack densely on pallets. A supplier stocking collapsibles for a program buys by the truckload, and the count per trailer depends on folding. PHS Plastic lists 88 of its 48x40x45 collapsibles per 53-foot trailer assembled and 128 folded. See trailer fill.

Selling surplus from Kentucky

Program changes leave suppliers with collapsibles and hand-held bins that still have years of life. We buy them in volume, along with totes from depots that change systems. Send counts, model, color, grade and the pickup address. Start at sell.