Pallet supplier Chep Australia has settled a dispute with a Victorian food wholesaler over use of its blue pallets.

Chep took legal action against the wholesaler after commercial negotiations failed.

It is the fourth dispute over pallet ownership that Chep has successfully resolved over the past year.

Chep tells Forkliftaction.com News that only the company's customers and their agents are entitled to use its equipment. Neither its customers, nor anyone else, can buy, sell, modify or otherwise exchange its pallets.

Chep Australia president Paul McGlone said: "Those who seek to gain an advantage by attempting to use Chep assets, like pallets, without being a customer will be caught out.

"Unauthorised use of Chep assets erodes the value of our managed, returnable, reusable system and creates unnecessary control burdens and costs on our legitimate users," he said.