Considerations When Designing your Export Crating

There are numerous issues to review when designing export crating and packaging for your product.  The Height and width of your crate may the biggest determinant of shipping cost and time.  For air shipments, the aircraft door sizes will determine which type of aircraft is used for your shipment.  The size of the aircraft needed will not only determine your cost it may also affect your schedule.  Keeping the crate to less than 10 feet in length is important as airfreight pallets typically are either 10 feet or 20 feet.  Exceeding the 10 ft length by even a few inches can result in being charged for two pallets.

While there is more flexibility with ocean bound freighters, there are still important limitations to consider.  20’ and 40’ standard sea containers are the two most commonly used sea containers. Door openings are 94” wide and 90” tall, and the entire inside width is 94”.

In virtually all export shipping, a truck is used to haul the container to and from the cargo carrier.   So the truck sizes that are available in both the exporting and importing countries must be considered.

Some additional items to consider are markings, perishable cargo, liquid cargo, water damage protection, ISPM15 compliance, and dangerous goods.  The shipping environment must be considered on the product.  Certain products may require specific markings on the container to make it through customs.   Packing slips and export documentation with gross and net weights are required.  The above just scratches the surface in terms of consideration and planning. 

Overlooking some of these details can add time and cost to shipping.  Your best bet is to use an expert to help with your packaging and routing. They will probably save you a ton of time and money.   Custom crating considerations by Dan Schultze offers more information on this topic