Packing for the Journey
Export packaging is the business of protecting products from the harazrds inherent in the shipping route. Ti’s “The toughest leg of the journey,” and the choosing a professional export packer with the right experience, capability and equipment is vitally important to getting the job done right the first time. There is a variety of ways to protect every type of macinery and supplies to mines all over the world while fulfilling the terms of the customer’s contract. Naturally there are many factors involvwed in shipping equipment, and here a just a few things worth knowing.
Insurance statistics indicate that 80% of damage claims are preventable through the use of proper export packaging. Factors such as theft, water/condensation damage and handling/stowage are the main causes of claims with handling/stowage weighing in at a hefty 45%. Fortuitous damages such as the sinking of a ship, derailment of a train or the hijacking of a shipment are not preventable by means of good packaging, and shipping cargo into developing countries is much different from shipping mining machinery to developed countries.
For example, a country in which the average per capita income is $300 per year is very prone to theft. The resale of some pressure gauges removed from a mining machine will probably pay for many weeks of food in a poor part of the world.
Some cargo travels “break bulk” because it is too large or heavy to be transported in an intermodal shipping container. Break bulk cargo is exposed to all of the hazards of the journey. Hazards include moisture damage caused by salt-laden condensation and temperature inversions. It can also be caused by falling or driven water at sea and heavy rains. These moisture hazards are exacerbated when cargo is travelling on railroad flat cars, waiting on the docks, or laden on open barges. Physical hazards include rough train shunting, hoisting into ships’ holds, shifting of cargo on a ship in rough seas, very rough roads or tracks to remote mine sites and improvised handling devices in third world countries.
Your Export Packer
Mass production of export packaging for mining equipment is not always the case. Packaging is often custom made, or for one-offs of large machinery or components. If the exporter buys empty skids, pallets, cradles, crates, boxes or dunnage, then loads their own cargo, the exporter is fully responsible for the condition of the cargo at the final destination.
If the exporter contracts an export packaging company to load and secure the cargo into or onto a packaging unit or load and block an intermodal container, then the export packer bears a large part of the responsibility for the safe delivery of the cargo.
Export Packaging Products
There is a wide variety of preservation products. Contact preservatives should always be applied to bare metal surfaces. The best ones have an integral, volatile corrosion inhibitor or VCI.
VCI products that prevent corrosion on all sorts of metals are also available in wrapping materials, emitters and many more formats. Vacuum-sealed moisture barriers are used in conjunction with moisture absorbing desiccants and VCI.
Some cargo is suitable to be loaded and blocked into intermodal shipping containers with minimal packaging. Care should be taken to secure the cargo. Adequate blocking and securing must be used to meet international containerization regulations. Be sure to check the capacity and specifications of both materials and containers carefully.
Skid bases, saddles and open frame crates facilitate material handling and provide shipping platforms for durable items. Skid bases and saddles should be constructed from timbers that are commensurate with the size, weight and point loads of the product to be shipped. Timbers should be secured with bolts of adequate capacity. Small and medium sized frame crates provide a good method for unitizing cargo in shipping containers; making long, multiple piece cargo easier to unload at destination.
Plywood boxes provide adequate outer packaging for containerized cargo and for shipments to areas with more modern infrastructure. Reinforced wooden boxes are more durable and are much better for meeting the needs of break bulk shipping. They withstand the shifting and impacts of rough transport much better than other packages. A typhoon will push water through just about any small crack, so additional moisture barriers are added to the wooden box, preventing the entry of driven or falling water.
Stopping Bugs
Many of the world’s forests, including Canada’s, are experiencing major deforestation, caused by beetles. This has been precipitated by climate change, past forestry practices and the proliferation of worldwide transportation inherent in globalization. Ever since Napoleon travelled with scientists, we have been watching the transport of pests from one ecosystem to another in wooden packaging.
More than a decade ago, regulations to stop this from happening were enacted by the IPPC, (International Plant Protection Convention).
Canada, the United States and Europe were at the forefront of the implementation. It is now widespread around the globe. Each country has an NPPO (National Plant Protection Organization). Canada’s is the CFIA. NPPO’s in each country regulate the wood packaging industries. This prevents the transmission of regulated pests to other ecosystems under the regulation ISPM#15. Our program is called the CWPCP (Canadian Wood Packaging Certification Program). It is illegal to ship wooden packaging from Canada without registered certification from the CFIA. Each Registered Facility has a number issued by the Canadian Government. If an exporter wishes to ship overseas, it is mandatory to either buy export packaging from a registered facility or register the company to become one.
*Simon Trillwood is President of the Canadian Wood Pallet and Container Association and President of Topax Export Packaging Systems, Concord, ON.
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