The five centimetres are an allowance for the insulation of the cooled body. Because the wall of a refrigerated body is thick, the width left inside is clearly less than the width outside, and that difference falls right on the threshold that decides whether three Euro pallets fit side by side.
What the rule says
The figures appear in the same lines in two Turkish regulations: Article 128 of the Road Traffic Regulation as renewed by the amendment of 17.4.2015, and Article 5(1)(a) of the regulation on vehicle loading dimensions and procedures. The maximum width of vehicles is 2.55 m, 2.60 m for the refrigerated structure of refrigerated vehicles only, and 2.65 m for municipal trolleybuses. Width covers every fixed part projecting to the sides, excluding rear-view mirrors (Article 4(c)).
The Turkish text does not define a refrigerated structure. Its European counterpart is Directive 96/53/EC: Annex I 1.2, as amended by 2015/719, grants 2.60 m to the superstructures of conditioned vehicles and to conditioned containers and swap bodies carried by vehicles. A conditioned vehicle is one equipped for goods at controlled temperatures whose side walls, insulation included, are each at least 45 mm thick (Article 2).
Where the five centimetres go
An EPAL Euro pallet measures 800 × 1,200 mm; three pallets with their 800 mm sides together need 2,400 mm. The section below subtracts only two straight side walls:
| External width | Side wall | Internal width | Against 2,400 mm |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,550 mm | 70 mm | 2,410 mm | 10 mm left |
| 2,600 mm | 70 mm | 2,460 mm | 60 mm left |
| 2,550 mm | 80 mm | 2,390 mm | 10 mm short |
| 2,600 mm | 80 mm | 2,440 mm | 40 mm left |
With 70 mm walls, the one centimetre left in a 2.55 m body is no loading margin; the same wall at 2.60 m raises the margin to six centimetres, and with 80 mm walls three pallets no longer fit a 2.55 m body at all. The margin is the total for the whole row: interior protection rails, packaging overhanging the pallet, restraints and air paths come off it, and the pallet must also pass the door opening and internal projections. The measuring method is in the refrigerated vehicle width and loading article.
Where the argument about dimensions leads in practice is gathered under cold transport without a reefer.
When a container goes into a panel van. Because the Turkish text writes the exception for refrigerated vehicles, an insulated container placed inside a panel van does not change the vehicle's width limit. In that arrangement the deciding dimensions are the van's internal width and the clearance between the wheel arches. The pallet-base GEBHARDT Isotec TBX 900, 1000, 1070 and 1170 are 797 mm wide, so three side by side need 2,391 mm; match model dimensions to the variant in the TBX model and dimensions guide and the quoted drawing.
The 2 per cent tolerance is not a permission
Article 8 of the loading regulation accepts a dimensional measurement tolerance of at most 2 per cent of the dimensions in Article 5. At 2.55 m that is 5.1 cm, almost exactly the difference granted to a refrigerated body, but under Article 4(f) the tolerance is the deviation of the measuring instrument and not an allowance to design into the body. A body quotation should therefore list, beside the external width, the narrowest internal width, wall thickness, door opening and clearance between the wheel arches on separate lines.
