Cargo Shipping Tips and Guidelines for Palletizing Cargo

Guest Blog by Gareth Collins

Freight shipments may weigh quite a bit and their storage needs special care, so if you’re planning on shipping cargo of your own you should do your best to leave the job to the professionals rather than trying to handle things yourself. If you are keen on doing the preparations by yourself, you should follow some basic tips, such as the following:

• Load up your shipment on a pallet. You should make sure you find the right size pallet for your needs and the cargo you’re planning on palletizing. When you do that you will make the end costs smaller as well as protecting the cargo further against damage. In all cases you can work with either used or new pallets to get the job done, just remember to double-check them for integrity and strength so they won’t fall apart. Putting the items on the pallet as close as possible will allow you to protect them as much as possible while keeping them compact as well. Shrink-wrap the entire pallet as close and tight as possible, bracing all items against each other in the process.

• Put your pallet down for easier wrapping on top of another pallet. That way you won’t have to bend too far and you will have a stable base. You could even place the pallet at a 45-degree angle if you have the space for it so it will overlap with those underneath it for greater stability.

• To wrap the pallet down you should start by doing the following: Peel off a few feet of shrink wrap and use about eight or so inches of it to create a ropey end so you can squeeze it through one end of the pallet where you should tie it up. You should avoid making a knot as it will be hard to make one, you could just wrap it around until it holds so you’ll have an easier time wrapping the rest of the pallet. This will keep the loose ends from unwrapping.

• Wrap the base of the pallet in the direction of your choice and make sure you do so several times on a single spot so the wrap will hold. This is a very important step that keeps your cargo safe from spilling all over the place so don’t skimp out on the shrink-wrap. Pull the wrap tight along the cargo and make sure it’s as secure as possible, then tuck the end of the wrap in once you’re done with it.

• You will want to aim at making the entire pallet a single unit capable of moving as one without anything falling off of it. Make sure you wrap things as thoroughly and strongly as possible before you consider them ready for transport with several layers on top of each other.

This was a guest blog by Gareth Collins.

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