How we pack an export container, and what shipping to 20+ countries has taught us
Once the seal goes on the container door, you cannot fix anything until the buyer opens it on the other side of the world.
That one fact decides how we pack. We export packaging to 20+ countries, and every container is a small exam. The buyer marks it when the doors open.
This post is our checklist. It will help you whether you buy from us or from someone else.
The short answer
Palletise unless your buyer has the labour to unload loose cartons. Build each pallet to the size the destination warehouse uses. Keep the cartons strong and dry, keep wood pallets ISPM 15 marked, label every carton and pallet, and take photos at every stage of loading.
Most damage I have seen in packaging exports comes from two things. Cartons that were too weak for the stack, and water that came into the container with the cargo.
Palletised or loose?
Loose loading (cartons stacked straight on the container floor) fits more cartons in the box. Freight per carton goes down. But unloading takes hours of manual work, and every carton is handled one more time.
Palletised loading wastes some space and adds the cost of pallets. In return, a forklift empties the container quickly and the cartons stay together as one unit.
My view is simple. If the buyer's warehouse works with forklifts, I would palletise every time.
Many warehouses in Europe and the UK will only accept pallets anyway. Loose loading makes sense for light, bulky goods going to a buyer who has asked for it and has people to unload.
Pallet size for the EU, UK and US
Before I talk about price with a new export buyer, I like to know one thing: which pallet does your warehouse use? Build the pallet to the size your buyer's racking uses. A pallet that does not fit the racks gets re-stacked by hand, and that is where damage starts.
| Market | Common pallet | Size |
|---|---|---|
| EU | EUR pallet (EPAL) | 1200 x 800 mm |
| UK | UK standard pallet | 1200 x 1000 mm |
| US | GMA pallet | 48 x 40 inch (1219 x 1016 mm) |
All three sizes are among the pallet sizes listed in ISO 6780, the international standard for pallet dimensions.
Container loading charts from freight forwarders put a 20 ft container at about 11 EUR pallets, or about 10 of the larger 1200 x 1000 mm size, in one layer. A 40 ft container takes about 24 EUR pallets, or 20 to 21 of the larger ones. Ask your forwarder for the exact plan for your container.
One rule of the trade: design the carton for the pallet, not the pallet for the carton. A carton that hangs 2 cm over the pallet edge loses a large part of its stacking strength, because its walls are no longer resting on wood.
Stacking and crush
A container moves. It sits on a truck, on a crane, on a ship that rolls for weeks. The bottom cartons carry the full weight of everything above them for the whole trip.
- Put the heaviest goods at the bottom and the lightest on top.
- If you double-stack pallets, put a flat board or a strong top sheet on the lower pallet first, so the load spreads evenly.
- Choose carton board for the stack it will carry at sea, not for a dry warehouse in Jaipur. Corrugated board gets weaker as it absorbs humidity, and a long voyage through the tropics gives it plenty.
- Fill the gaps. Empty space lets loads shift. Use void fill, airbags or dunnage between pallets.
Moisture and container rain
Container rain is condensation. In the day the temperature of the steel roof climbs and the air inside picks up water. At night the roof cools, the water condenses on the ceiling and it drips on your cartons.
I found the clearest explanation in the Container Handbook published by GDV, the German insurers' association. Its point surprised me. Large amounts of sweat in a closed container almost always come from the cargo and its packaging, not from the air. In one worked example, 2 tonnes of wooden dunnage and case timber at 30% moisture instead of the usual 15% brings about 600 kg of water into the container.
So I would put it simply. The fixes start before loading:
- Use dry pallets and dry dunnage. Wet wood is the biggest water source.
- Do not load cartons that have sat in the rain or on a wet floor. In the Indian monsoon, this needs a covered loading area and some discipline.
- Hang container desiccant bags along the side walls. Follow the maker's guidance on how many for your container size.
- Lay kraft paper or a plastic sheet over the top layer of cartons to catch drips.
- Check the empty container before loading. Look for daylight through holes, a wet floor or a musty smell. Reject it if needed.
Carton strength for tape rolls and paper rolls
Packaging is a strange cargo. Tape rolls are small but very heavy for their size. Paper rolls, like honeycomb wrap and void fill paper, are light but crush and tear at the edges.
For tape rolls, the carton has to carry dead weight without the rolls pressing their cores out of shape. For paper rolls, it has to protect the ends and stop the roll from flattening.
I will admit one of our own mistakes here. Once, our packing let the cores of 650 m tape rolls bend in transit. The tape was fine. The cores were not, and a roll with a bent core will not sit properly on a machine. It was our packing, not the shipping line. That case taught us to test packing much harder before a container leaves. Today long tape rolls go out on heavy-duty cores, pallets stop at 2,200 mm, and every lot passes our standard packing checks before the container is loaded. I have written the full story of that mistake in a separate post.
Stretch wrap and strapping
A pallet is only as strong as what holds it together.
- Wrap the load with stretch film and take the film down over the pallet deck, so the load and the pallet move as one piece.
- Add a top sheet before wrapping, to keep dust and drips off the top cartons.
- Use strapping with corner boards for heavy loads. Corner boards stop the strap from cutting into the carton edges.
- Do not over-tighten. I have to say this often, because a strap that crushes the top cartons does exactly the damage it was meant to prevent.
ISPM 15 for wooden pallets
If your pallets are solid wood, they must meet ISPM 15, the international rule for wood packaging in trade. It is run by the IPPC, the international plant protection body.
The wood must be debarked and then treated, usually by heat treatment. Heat treatment means the core of the wood reaches at least 56°C for at least 30 minutes. The pallet then carries the IPPC mark with the country code, the treatment provider's code and "HT".
Plastic pallets and pallets made of processed wood, like plywood or pressed wood, do not need ISPM 15 treatment. Some countries add their own checks on top, so ask your freight forwarder about the destination before you book.
Labels and packing list
Every carton should tell a stranger what is inside without opening it.
Good documentation saves days at customs.
- On each carton: product, size, quantity, carton number (for example 12 of 480), gross and net weight, and the buyer's PO number.
- On each pallet: a pallet label on two sides with the pallet number and carton count.
- A packing list that matches the invoice line by line, pallet by pallet.
When customs or the buyer's warehouse opens one pallet, they should be able to find it on the packing list in a minute.
Photos at loading
Photographs protect the supplier and the buyer equally. They show the empty container, each layer as it goes in, the last layer at the door and the seal number.
We photograph our export containers at loading and share them with the buyer. If your supplier does not offer this, ask for it in the purchase order.
What buyers should ask a supplier
- Will the goods be palletised, and on which pallet size?
- Are the wooden pallets ISPM 15 marked, or are they plastic or processed wood?
- What carton board is used, and has the packed carton been tested for the stack height in the container?
- What moisture protection is used, desiccants, top sheets or liners?
- Will I get photos of the loading, with the seal number?
- Will the packing list match the invoice pallet by pallet?
A good supplier answers these without fuss. I am happy to answer every one of them for our own containers.
If you get vague answers, expect a vague container.
You can see the countries we ship to in the export section of our customers page, and our tape range for export buyers on the BOPP tape page.
If you are planning an import of packaging from India, send us your pallet size, destination port and product mix. Our sales team will come back with a quote and our suggestion on how to pack it.
