It's a bit crazy in a way. Originally in countries that worried about such things, all the attention was on timber products as goods when it came to ferrying around wood-destroying beasties. The packaging was ignored.

Now we've got this international convention on packaging material which is quite rigidly controlled while in many parts of the world, the attention to timber goods is far from where it should be. A reversal of sorts.

Comment about steel noted. There's also a growing trend towards other alternatives, such as plastic pallets.