| The protection that a container gives the cargo generally allows shippers to reduce packing costs. For example, lighter and less costly packing materials can be used without fear of damage due to weather or theft. Naturally, not all the products are shipped door to door. You may wish to separate the load within a container to distribute it between several receiving points, for further overland transport. For these reasons, attempts to reduce the quality or strength of the packing materials too much could cause handling damage at transfer points. Thus, you must decide if your products will be carried in the container for the whole trip, and if not, to take necessary precautions.
Adequate packing is particularly important for homogeneous products that will be stacked on top of each other. A formula for calculating the strength of a stack of a given type of package is: Strength of a stack of empty packages = 1.5 x the weight of the full package x the number of bundles stacked vertically minus 1. Packages with rigid contents that can withstand considerable pressure in stacks (eg. cans) do not need as much stack reinforcement. When calculating the strength of cardboard cartons, you should consider the amount of moisture that may be present, and the length of the trip. |