Palletizing in Sea freight | Chargeable (Gross) Volume | Guidelines | Sipping barrels | Shipping Cargo in Crates

Palletizing and crating in international shipping from the USA

International LCL freight is the cost-effective solution for shipping relatively large cargo from the USA overseas.

If you ship freight in boxes, bins, or smaller cases, your shipping items will most likely be palletized regardless of transportation mode. Palletizing is mandatory in cargo transportation. Shippers can either palletize their cargo themselves or request a freight terminal to palletize everything at the time of delivery for a fee if such a service is available.

On one hand, palletizing your shipping items is essential for safe and damage-free shipping. On the other hand, if a freight terminal palletizes your shipping items, it adds a palletizing fee and increases the chargeable volume of your cargo. If you are new to international cargo transportation, we highly recommend reading this webpage to avoid confusion about palletizing your shipping items for international shipping from the USA.

Shipping overseas goods in loose boxes

If you ship a few items weighing less than 75 lbs, they may be shipped loose. When shipping goods in boxes, we recommend using heavy-duty cardboard shipping boxes. Shipping loose boxes from the USA overseas has advantages and disadvantages.

ADVANTAGE: If shipping a few items weighing less than 75 lbs and not exceeding 72" in length, shipping such items LCL should not incur additional freight costs for international transportation from the U.S. That is because the total sea freight cost will be calculated by combining the volumes of separate shipping units.

DISADVANTAGE: Shipping multiple items separately is unreliable for delivering goods from the U.S. to other countries.

If you ship items heavier than 75 lbs that are not accessible to forklifts, they must be placed on a pallet for handling.

If you ship smaller shipping units loose, each one will be handled by hand at all stages of international transportation. There is no guarantee that your shipping goods will be appropriately handled. Cargo can be easily damaged. Loose shipping items can be separated at warehouses or sea freight containers. Such shipments can be partially lost or misrouted during the delivery from the USA overseas. Loose shipping items can be easily stolen.

IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND AND REMEMBER!: If your cargo consists of up to 3-5 loose shipping units, you may ask to ship it loose. However, IF YOU ARE SHIPPING FROM THE USA MORE THAN 3-5 SHIPPING BOXES/UNITS OR THE WEIGHT OF A SINGLE SHIPPING BOX/UNIT EXCEEDS 75 LBS, THEN THE OCEAN FREIGHT CARRIERS' TERMINALS (CFS) MOST LIKELY WILL REJECT SHIPPING IT LOOSELY. THEY WILL PALLETIZE ALL YOUR ITEMS ANYWAY, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU REQUEST OR NOT TO PALLETIZE YOUR CARGO.

Shipping from the U.S. cargo on pallets in shrink-wrapped skids.

The dimensions of the standard U.S. pallet used in international cargo transportation from the USA are 48x40x6 inches (or 1.2x1.0x0.15 meters). If smaller shipping units are stacked on a pallet and wrapped with plastic film, it is called a "pallet" or "skid."

Even though pallets of standard sizes are most commonly used in international cargo transportation, there are various pallets of other sizes and forms. Pallets have to be strong enough to hold shipping goods, accessible for forklifts, and fit into 40-foot sea freight containers. Shipping items exceeding 72" is considered oversized and subject to surcharges.

If you request an ocean freight carrier's terminal (CFS) to palletize your shipping boxes or smaller shipping units, the cargo will be appropriately stacked by the CFS on certified ISPM15 pallets and shrink-wrapped. Each pallet will carry as many shipping items as possible for safe handling by forklifts.

If you palletize your cargo on your own, then follow these rules:

It is not recommended to exceed the height of the skid more than 60" (1.52m). The height of the skids depends on the strength, weight, and size of the shipping boxes.
The entire skid should be shrink-wrapped and secured with a plastic film.
Bases of shipping pallets should be accessible for pallet jacks with a minimum clearance of 3.5".
All skids prepared for international transportation from the USA must fit into a 40' multimodal sea freight container.

When palletizing cargo for shipping from the U.S. overseas, always pay attention to wood packing restrictions that apply in international cargo transportation.

international shipping of pallets in ocean freight

ADVANTAGES: There are a lot of benefits to shipping palletized and shrink-wrapped cargo. Compared with no palletized cargo, palletized cargo has a much higher probability of reaching destinations without damage or loss. Forklifts will safely handle palletized cargo. Being palletized, all shipping boxes are securely kept together. So, a partial loss probability is insignificantly small. Palletized ocean freight is much better protected from potential theft at any stage of transportation from the USA to the destination country.

As a U.S. Freight Forwarder, AMID Logistics highly recommends palletizing loose shipping boxes for international transportation from the U.S.

DISADVANTAGES: Additional charges will apply if you deliver your shipping items loose and ask a freight terminal to palletize everything. Please note that the shipping cost estimated using our online freight calculator does not include the charges unless you ship overseas cargo on appropriate pallets or forkliftable crates. It will apply to the carrier's freight cost and relates to:

Cost of the pallet(s) and labor;
Increasing the chargeable volume of palletized cargo.

IMPORTANT! Some freight terminals may not offer palletizing services or may limit the number of shipping boxes that can be palletized. If you are shipping from the USA with a large number of boxes, let's say 35+, it's essential to consider self-palletizing your cargo before or when it is delivered to the freight terminal. Feel free to ask the freight terminal if they provide certified pallets and shrink-wrap film. If they do and you can do the job, plan for extra time to palletize your shipping items at the terminal.

Estimation of chargeable (gross) volume after cargo palletization

To avoid confusion when reading invoices for international transportation of palletized cargo, you should clearly understand that:

1. Ocean freight carrier's terminal (CFS) charges a fee to palletize and shrink-wrap loose shipping items. The fee varies from $35 to $75 per pallet, depending on CFS. The fee includes the cost of a certified pallet(s) that comply with ISPM15.

CFS may charge an hourly labor fee if you ship many loose items. Please remember that palletizing many shipping boxes may not be available at certain CFSs. If you ship from the USA too many boxes (say 30-50+), you may need to self-palletize your cargo before or at the time of the delivery to CFS.

A PALLETIZING FEE IS NOT INCLUDED IN QUOTES OBTAINED IN OUR ONLINE FREIGHT CALCULATOR. The fee will be determined upon completing palletizing. It will be added to the carrier's freight invoice, billed to us, and added to your final invoice. Note that we never mark up the fee. You will see it in the ocean freight surcharges breakdown in your rated carrier's bill of lading.

2. PALLETIZING INCREASES CHARGEABLE VOLUME. Regardless of the sizes of your shipping boxes, the overall chargeable (gross) volume will always be calculated based on the longest, widest, and highest dimensions of your skid. See the pictures to see how it works:

palletizing in LCL international shipping

For example, a skid with dimensions 40x48x60 inches equals shipping of 1.89 gross cubic meters (or 67 gross cubic feet).

People ask: How much does it cost to palletize my boxes? How can I estimate it?

The answer is: A CFS should properly palletize and shrink-wrap your shipping boxes for $35-75 per pallet. The fee depends on the CFS. The price includes the cost of a certified pallet provided by CFS. Remember that if you palletize many shipping boxes, the CFS may charge you for the labor per hour.

The dimensions of the standard U.S. pallet itself are 40x48x6 inches. It is recommended not to exceed the height of skids by more than 60 inches. Otherwise, it may become unstable. Then, a single pallet is unlikely to exceed two cubic meters.

Calculate the total volume of your shipping items using our online freight calculator to estimate the number of pallets needed for your international shipping. Then, add 15-35% to the volume and divide it by two cubic meters.

However, this is a very rough estimation. The actual sizes of pallets will depend on the sizes and shapes of your shipping items. To decrease the "dead" volume, we'd recommend shipping boxes of the same size. Then, they should fit into pallets evenly.

For example, you ship 20 Walmart LARGE boxes, sized 22x18x18 inches, and 10 Walmart MEDIUM boxes, sized 17x16x16 inches. Using our online freight calculator, you've calculated the total volume of cargo that ships at 3.15 cubic meters.

Then, after the palletizing, the rough estimation is 3.15 CBM x 1.25 = 3.94 CBM.

3.94 CBM : 2 CBM per pallet ~ 2 pallets. I.e., most likely, your cargo should fit into two pallets.

Please understand that no one can predict the number and sizes of your pallets until palletizing is completed. The palletizing charges will be included in the ocean carrier's rated bill of lading's freight surcharges.

IMPORTANT! If you requested to palletize your cargo at CFS but, at the time of delivery, a CFS cargo recipient says that they are unaware of the palletizing, please do not worry. Most likely, the employee has not yet received a work order to palletize your cargo.

Do not argue. Just submit your shipping boxes loose. Ensure that the cargo recipient wrote the number of boxes submitted on a copy of your dock receipt, dated it, and signed it. Keep the copy as proof of your cargo delivery.

Upon receipt of a warehouse receipt from the CFS, we'll reconfirm the palletizing work order. Your goods will be palletized appropriately, and we will inform you about that in our update email.

Guidelines on palletizing in shipping freight LCL

Before purchasing shipping boxes, consider how they will fit into a skid(s).

Your boxes will most likely be stacked on a U.S. standard pallet(s) with a base of 40x48 inches (~1x1.2 meters). If possible, always purchase boxes of the same size and so many boxes that they fill the rows of boxes on the pallet(s).

If you do not (or cannot) follow this rule, then it may result in a sharp increase in the "dead volume" of your internationally shipping goods. Below are pictures that show how the chargeable volume almost doubled, comparable to the "net" volume of shipping boxes, due to the improper set of boxes chosen for shipping from the USA. The sizes of shipping boxes are different:

Ship boxes from the USA abroad

Below are shipping boxes of the same size, but they do not fill the second row:

Shipping boxes from the USA overseas

Ocean freight terminals do their best to make skids as compact as possible. Below is a sampling of how mixed sizes of boxes and bins can be palletized by decreasing the "dead volume" to the minimum:

Send boxes from the USA abroad

In the pictures below, you can see how perfectly shipping boxes fit into skids if you follow the rule above. Professional exporters know that, and the "dead volume" for such shipmates is minimized and virtually does not impact the cost of international cargo transportation:

Deliver boxes from the USA abroad

Here are the helpful hints if you self-palletize your cargo and deliver to a CFS entire skid(s):

Wood packing restrictions (ISPM15 rules in international shipping from the U.S.): Always consider the wood packing restrictions when palletizing cargo for international transportation from the USA with wooden pallets. Use only certified ISPM15 or plastic pallets.
Addressing and Labeling: We recommend labeling all individual shipping boxes whenever possible before palletizing your loose boxes. It will help to recognize your shipping boxes if your skid falls apart during international transportation from the USA to the destination country. Remove or erase old labels (if any). Pay extreme attention to old dangerous goods labels.

After you have palletized your cargo, label two sides of each skid, and include your consigner and consignee's contact info, and (that is very important!) your ocean freight carrier's booking number on the labels. With AMID Logistics, you will receive a web link to print your shipping labels in an email with shipping instructions.

Do not write about the commodity inside shipping units on your shipping boxes or pallets. You will provide commodity descriptions in your international shipping documents: commercial invoices or valued packing lists. All your shipping documents should be submitted electronically.
Size and Weight: In shipping cargo from the U.S. LCL, shipping units should not exceed 2,200 lbs by weight, 70" in height, 119" in length, and 80" in width. Otherwise, such shipping pallets require prior approval from the international ocean freight carrier assigned on your shipment. Shipping items that exceed 72" are subject to over length surcharges.
Safety on loading and stacking shipping boxes into skids: At a time of palletizing loose shipping boxes for international transportation from the USA, it is recommended to:

(1) Distribute weight evenly. Stack shipping boxes squarely corner-to-corner to the skid's edge to maximize compression strength, but do not allow shipping boxes to hang over the skid.

(2) Keep the top of the skid flat to minimize loss or damage to cartons; do not pyramid-stack.

(3) Place angled fiberboard (angle board) between shipping boxes to prevent crushing.

(4) Cover the top of the skids with a plastic film to protect your shipping boxes from weather damage during transportation from the USA overseas.
Securing of skids: Wrap skids in 70-gauge stretch wrap. Pass at least two bands (tightly secured) through the skid voids and around all cartons. Use steel, rayon, polypropylene, nylon, or polyester strapping to band shipping boxes if possible. Use shock-absorber connections or cushioned skids, if applicable, when bolting.

Sipping barrels. Not recommended.

Occasionally, people want to ship goods in barrels. For some reason, barrels are commonly used to ship from the USA to the Caribbean and Latin America.

Yes, you can ship goods overseas in barrels. However, we highly recommend packing your goods in heavy-duty cardboard boxes. You can purchase heavy-duty cardboard boxes at Walmart, Home Depot, etc., or order them online. They cost about the same as regular cardboard shipping boxes.

Please keep in mind that besides the difficulties of handling heavy barrels, the barrels will be palletized and shrink-wrapped for international shipping. Then, a dead volume will occur due to palletizing, especially if you send overseas several barrels that are not a multiple of four to fit in a U.S. standard pallet with the base 40"X48" (1X1.2 in meters).

shipping barrels shipping goods in barrels overseas

Shipping goods from the USA in crates

Crating cargo for international transportation from the USA overseas can be quite expensive. However, in certain circumstances, the crating of shipping goods is necessary.

Shippung International LCL. Smaller Crate.

Crating cargo is necessary if you ship valuable or fragile goods, such as assembled furniture, large but fragile items, or certain irregular and fragile items requiring extra protection in their transportation from the USA overseas. Regular or custom-made solid crates can be purchased from packing companies or ordered online.

You may also hire a professional packing company to crate your shipping goods to international shipping from the U.S. As a U.S. Freight Forwarder, we'd suggest you ask a suck packing company if they are familiar with regulations in international cargo transportation, particularly with wood packing restrictions.

Note that crates built for shipping from the USA LCL, the same as pallets, must be forkliftable and fit into 40' multimodal sea freight containers.

Forklift in sea freight

Suppose a custom-made crate exceeds 48" in width. In that case, it will most likely not be accessible by a regular forklift and unsuitable for international cargo transportation from the U.S. overseas LCL.

International Shipping. Custom built crate.

Mixing different types of shipping units

Depending on shipping, it is sometimes a good idea to ship freight in different shipping units. That means you can palletize and shrink-wrap smaller shipping boxes, crate most valuable or fragile items, and leave oversized items loose. This approach can give you peace of mind about the safety of your shipped goods and save gross chargeable volume in your international shipping from the USA.