Cantilever vs Telescopic Cantilever vs CTU Racking: Which One Does Your Warehouse Actually Need?
A 6-metre length of steel pipe and a carton of vitamins have nothing in common. Except, in a lot of warehouse briefs we get, they're both filed under one word: "racking."
That's where the trouble starts. Cantilever, telescopic cantilever and CTU racking all hold stock off the floor, but they're built for completely different jobs. Pick the wrong one and you don't find out on install day. You find out three months later, when forklifts are doing three-point turns in an aisle that's too tight, or pickers are walking the length of the building for a single carton, or half your bay space is holding air because the arms don't suit your stock.
So here's how the three actually differ, and a quick table at the end to help you work out which one fits your floor.
Cantilever racking: for long, bulky and awkward loads
Cantilever racking is the classic choice for anything that won't sit on a pallet. Timber, steel bar, pipe, conduit, sheet material, extrusions, rolled carpet. If it's long, heavy or oddly shaped, this is usually where it lives.
The design is simple. Upright columns sit on a base, and arms extend out horizontally. There are no front uprights, which is the whole point. You can slide a 6-metre length of timber on or off without threading it between posts, and loads can run past the end of the bay if your stock varies in length.
When you're specifying it, the two numbers that matter most are:
Arm length. It needs to match the depth of your load, so a bundle of pipe sits fully supported rather than hanging off the tip.
Arm spacing. Long material flexes. Arms need to be close enough together that the load doesn't sag between them.
Get those two right and cantilever racking is tough, forgiving and easy to live with. It's typically loaded by forklift or side loader, which means you'll need wider aisles (plan for around 3.5 metres or more).
One compliance note we get asked about a lot: cantilever racking sits outside the scope of AS 4084, the Australian standard for steel storage racking. That doesn't mean "anything goes." It means design, load ratings and inspections should come from your supplier's engineering, not an assumption that the pallet racking rules carry over.
If you're still deciding on arm length and capacity, our earlier guide on how to choose the right cantilever racking for long or bulky loads goes deeper.
See the product: Cantilever Racking
Telescopic cantilever racking: same stock, tighter floor
Telescopic cantilever handles the same kind of stock as standard cantilever (pipe, plate, steel profiles, timber). When people ask us about cantilever vs telescopic cantilever, it usually comes down to two things: the arms, and how you load them.
On our CH Telescopic Cantilever Rack, the arms extend and retract, adjustable from 0.6 to 1 metre. Instead of a fixed arm length for every level, you set each level to what it's actually holding. Mixed stock profiles, one rack.
And because the arms pull back in when you're not loading them, you don't need forklift clearance. The system is loaded by overhead crane, which drops the recommended aisle width to under 1.5 metres, compared with 3.5 metres or more for standard cantilever. That's where the floor space saving comes from, up to 40% in the right layout.
A few specs that tend to settle the decision:
Up to 2,000 kg per level, and 6,000 to 8,000 kg at the base
Access to any level, in any order, without shuffling stock around
Hand-crank or electric arm control, depending on how often you're loading
Fair warning though: if your building doesn't have overhead crane capacity, or you're not planning to add it, standard cantilever is usually the more practical call. Telescopic earns its keep in steel yards, fabrication shops, pipe and plumbing wholesalers and building material suppliers where cranes are already part of the day.
It was also the product people kept stopping at on our stand at CeMAT Australia this year. Plenty of steel and timber operators had the same question: "Can I get more stock into the same shed?"
See the product: Telescopic Cantilever Racking
CTU racking: when the problem is speed, not size
This is where the conversation changes completely.
CTU racking isn't about holding big, heavy things. It's the racking side of an automated carton handling system. Autonomous case-handling robots (ACRs) travel the aisles, climb to the right level, pick the carton or tote, and bring it to a picker at a workstation. Goods-to-person, rather than person-to-goods.
That makes it a strong fit for operations where hundreds or thousands of small SKUs move every day and picking accuracy really matters:
Food and beverage distribution, where rotation and traceability are non-negotiable
Pharmaceutical and health products, with high SKU counts and tight accuracy requirements
Fast-moving retail and e-commerce, where order volumes spike and pick rates decide whether orders ship on time
Because the robots handle the retrieval, the racking can go taller and the aisles narrower than a human picker could comfortably work. CTU systems can hold up to three times the storage of conventional shelving in the same footprint, and they scale as volumes grow. Bin-level, carton-level and pallet-level storage can sit in one integrated system.
Two things to know before you enquire. CTU racking is a supply-and-install project, not an off-the-shelf item, so it's designed around your SKU profile, throughput and building. And it only makes sense if your stock is carton or tote-sized. If most of what you store is 4 metres long, a robot isn't going to help you.
See the product: ACR / CTU Racking
Quick decision guide: which racking fits your stock?
Your stock | How it's handled | Rotation / access need | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
Long, heavy or irregular loads (timber, pipe, steel bar, sheet) | Forklift or side loader | Moderate turnover, bulk in and out | Cantilever racking |
Long materials with mixed profiles and depths (pipe, plate, steel profiles) | Overhead crane | Any-level, any-order access in narrow aisles | Telescopic cantilever racking |
Long materials where floor space is the main constraint and a crane is available | Overhead crane | Frequent access, tight floor plan | Telescopic cantilever racking |
Cartons, totes and small-to-medium SKUs (food, pharma, retail) | Robots bring stock to pickers | High rotation, high SKU count, accuracy-critical | CTU racking |
Carton-sized stock picked by hand at low volumes | Hand-pick | Low to moderate rotation | Probably none of these. Talk to us about longspan shelving |
Still stuck between two? That usually means your stock mix is split, and the answer might be a combination. Plenty of sites we work with run cantilever for bulk materials along one wall and a completely different system for smaller stock.
Not sure which one fits? Send us your floor plan
We'll look at your stock, your handling equipment and your building, and tell you which system makes sense (including when the answer is "you don't need anything new yet"). The layout consultation is free.
We supply and install across Australia and New Zealand from our Dandenong South base.
Book a free layout consultation or call us on 03 8766 9072.
Explore the systems: Cantilever Racking | Telescopic Cantilever Racking | ACR / CTU Racking
Frequently asked questions
Cantilever vs telescopic cantilever: what's the difference?
Standard cantilever has fixed-length arms and is loaded by forklift, so it needs aisles of around 3.5 m or more. Telescopic cantilever has arms that extend from 0.6 to 1 m and is loaded by overhead crane, which brings aisle width under 1.5 m and lets you access any level in any order.
What is CTU racking?
CTU racking is the storage structure for an automated carton handling system. Robots retrieve cartons or totes from the racking and deliver them to pick stations, which suits high-SKU, high-turnover operations like food, pharma and retail distribution.
Does AS 4084 apply to cantilever racking?
No. Cantilever racking falls outside the scope of AS 4084, so design and load ratings should come from the supplier's engineering.
Is CTU racking available in Australia?
Yes. CH Racking & Displays supplies and installs ACR/CTU racking across Australia and New Zealand. Each system is designed around the site's SKU profile and throughput.
