FREIGHT PACKAGING. Find Out How Goods Are Shipped!

Freight packaging as we know is one of the standard measures put in place as global practice in the maritime industry, and as such, it’s required that goods to be shipped over a long distance are packaged accordingly to enable proper handling, precisely with the aid of appropriate container needed to be deployed for the shipment of that goods. A regulatory measure for shipping that is often taken care of at the country or place it originated.

Our focus here is the right way freights to be shipped are packaged (either as importation or exportation) over a long distance without difficulties in loading and unloading cargoes in a container. While we focus on sea freight, in our next post, we would look at airfreight owing to the fact they are equally packaged. However, due to cargo weight and dimension, different measures are deployed for general or breakbulk cargo. With that in mind, breakbulk cargo and the determination of its CBM (cubic meter) would also be discussed in a separate post.

Let look at how one could properly package a client’s or your freight before shipping while abiding with global best practices, noting easy equipment handling from the port loading and unloading, while such products will include agricultural produce, factory goods, vehicles, and raw materials to be shipped over a long distance with the aid of a container that is appropriate to be used.

PALLET

First on the list is PALLETS. This could be viewed as the most widely used for packaging goods when it comes to the use of containers, either by air, sea, or rail. Meanwhile, our focus here is on containerized sea and rail freights.

Pallets mean a piece of equipment that facilitates the mechanical handling of stacked (pallets) goods for forklift trucks.  This method of packaging is regarded to be a sure-safe way of dispatching marine cargo consignments. The pallets are usually made of rough (undressed) wood and commonly 4×4 feet or (1.2×1 meter in Europe) in dimension. Also, this plane or flat structure (pallet) is used to support goods to be containerized.

Cargoes associated with this type of packing are majorly factory products that can be parked in sets, cartons, bottles, drums, or bags. Equally, the shipping of Agricultural produce is also carried out with this form of packaging, either in bags or depending on its nature.

This method of packaging can carry a typical load of one metric ton (1,000 kilograms or about 2,200 pounds), which serves as a base for assembling, handling, storing, sorting and transporting goods as a unit load.

CRATE

Crates are no other but a large shipping container. And this form of freight packaging is used to ship or to store heavy items in a container often made of wood. Though, aluminum and steel are also used.

Cargoes that could be shipped with the aid of a crate includes plant spares, heavy equipment, and machinery. While all these would require special design based on the item to be shipped.

CASE OR BOX

Case or box is also a medium or small shipping container, often made of wood. However, these boxes come in a different dimension and predominantly used to ship lightweight cargoes, such as electronic equipment, accessories, cartons of printed books, and fragile goods.

PIECE

Items shipped in pieces are practically containerized in bundles or sets for better handling, and equally on a single unit. Which could be pipes, sets of used items, and so on.

For a single package, every piece of length, width, and height has to be selected. This is because the dimensional weight of each piece is expected to be known.

PAPER ROLL

Paper rolls are paper products to be shipped for further processing or use, practically shipped with the aid of a container over a long distance while offering protection on transit. And best container preferably used for such shipments is the DRY VAN container, which may not necessarily need to be palletized.

LIQUID PRODUCTS

Products in this class require the use of special equipment, such as the tank container, while products that fall in this category are chemical products and so on. This class of goods does not require the packaging process mentioned above.

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