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Top 8 Ways to Avoid Freight Damage | LOTUS Containers

The supply chain is one of the most pivotal parts of businesses of all kinds whether it be small, medium or large scale business. A proper supply chain management ensures that the products are supplied to you without any damage. Shipping goods in a proper condition is imperative for customer satisfaction as well as the business itself. Every day tons and tons of goods are being loaded in shipping containers and transported from one place to another via several intermodal transportation services. The overall activities of transporting goods from manufacturers to the end-consumers need lots of care and effort during the journey. Many freight forwarders avoid this need simply by overlooking some important points that should be kept into consideration to prevent any damage to your product.

Let’s dive deep into some helpful measures to avoid freight damage Proper Packaging: Not all goods are of the same size, same weight or same type. The properties of freight vary and similarly the way of packaging also varies. To fulfill your top priority of shipping goods profoundly to your customer, you must enquire what special packaging does your freight requires. The packaging is done in different ways- from using simple carton boxes,

pallets, shrink wrap, bind or staple to large wooden crates. Knowing what packaging suits your freight is of uttermost importance.

You must avoid a few mistakes while packaging Single Risk Packaging: Wrapping your consignment is good but it can only protect it from scuff and dust, it cannot avoid the damage from crush, vibration or any kind of crashes. To safeguard your product, you should not only wrap it but also pack it inside stiff boxes, etc.

Leave Space: While packing goods inside boxes, one must leave adequate space between the goods and inner walls of the boxes. The vacant space then must be filled with thermacol, airbags, foams, etc to avoid breakage.

Avoid Recycled Packaging: Some packing materials like cartons or polystyrene are not suitable to use the second time for packaging. Instead of protecting your freight, it may cause extra damage.

Proper Palletizing: One must be very cautious while considering the type of pallets on which the cargoes are to be loaded. It’s not the pallet type that ensures safety but the way in which goods are stacked over also matters a lot for cargoes' safety. Pallets differ in size, types, materials, stackability, structural integrity, etc that make it either fit or unfit for your cargo type. Wrapping your goods with at least 5 layers of plastics and shrinking them by a heat gun or sending them through a shrink tunnel makes the packing durable and strong enough to stand firmly on pallets. The boxes should be laid on pallets like bricks; the pyramid structure should be avoided in arranging boxes. Heavy and bulky loads must be placed below the light-weighted materials.

Proper Labeling: The chances of freight damage can be reduced by labeling each box with every necessary detail used between the destinations. The shipping label is a type of identification label sharing important information to describe and classify the cargoes inside the boxes. It helps shippers to make important decisions during the entire supply chain. Proper labeling of packaged cargoes helps to avoid extra handling and reduces manpower efforts. Shippers would not need to open each box and know what’s inside and then process accordingly.

Effective Containerization: Shipping containers are extensively being used by the freight forwarding companies to transport loads of goods in a safe and protected manner from more than 50 years. Obviously, containerization provides safety to the goods but only if it is loaded keeping few things in mind. The goods must be distributed evenly on the floor with no vacant space to maintain its center of gravity. Before loading, you must investigate whether the cargo containers are properly cleaned or not. The essence of previously loaded materials may destroy your freight or may give rise to the birth of certain bacteria and fungus.

Proper Loading: Proper loading of goods in containers and then containers on a ship is a requisite to avoid freight damage between transits. By applying given below points one can succeed in having effective loading.     

The goods must be stacked uniformly on pallets to provide stability.

Heavier goods should be kept at the bottom and over them; the lighter one should be stacked.

Double stacking cartons or pallets should be avoided Proper spacing should be left between the product and carton’s walls For cargoes exceeding the height of the containers, use hard top open top containers.

Proper Handling Practices: Proper handling practice can be achieved by improvising two important factors of the supply chain- First- machinery & equipment and Second- human resource. Using proper equipment that can easily and systematically handle freight is a must to ensure customer satisfaction regarding his freight. Before practicing it for loading or unloading, make sure material handling equipment like cranes, forklifts, trucks, pallet jacks, conveyors, strapping machines, etc are at proper working conditions. Apart from the machinery or tools, employees and staff should also be provided with adequate training to reduce in-time mistakes.

For example- the forklift operators should know well about the weighing capacity of the forklift.

Unaware of the machinery knowledge may damage machines and freight both causing great loss to the company itself.

Proper Warehousing: Proper warehousing plays a key role in ensuring your freight safety. You must verify from your shipping company that the warehousing facility they are handling is good or not. A good warehousing company will identify the atmosphere required by your freight and will keep your freight accordingly. You must ensure about cleanliness, spaciousness, security, place, electricity, etc as it will give an idea that whether the particular warehouse is safe for your type of freight or not.

Associate With The Right Freight Partner: Even if you keep in mind all the above-discussed points, but you ignore the importance of selecting the right shipping company the chances are high the above-applied things won’t work for you. It’s always advisable to think multiple times before coming into a contractual agreement with a freight forwarder. The right freight partner works with the motive to deliver excellence in each service to its customers. LOTUS Containers, serving clients from all across the world from decades is one amongst profound shipping Container companies, known to deliver A+ services for your freight storage and transportation both.