Here are two tips for retailers who'll be transporting stock in shipping containers for the first time.

They should carefully consider their approach to packaging their products

It's common for shipping containers to be subjected to vibrations and other movements when they're in transit, and when they're being loaded or unloaded with forklifts or reach stackers. Furthermore, there may be times during their transportation when they're handled roughly. As such, it's essential for retailers to consider how they'll approach packaging their products before they put them into shipping containers, so these items will stay intact during their journey.

For example, rather than using double-walled cardboard boxes and one layer of bubble wrap around each product, they might want to use triple-walled boxes, along with both multiple layers of bubble wrap and foam inserts or packing peanuts. This will keep their products stable, protect them from impact-related damage and greatly reduce the chances of the boxes tearing and leaving the contents exposed within the shipping container. Additionally, they should also try to select boxes whose dimensions are such that they'll fit tightly into the container after it's filled; this will reduce the risk of the boxes sliding around and the products inside them getting damaged.

They should devise ways to optimise space within the shipping container

It's vital for any retailer who'll be using a shipping container to consider how they can optimise their use of the available space. This will allow them to maximise the number of products they can fit into, for example, a 20-foot shipping container, which could then save them the costs of having to use a second container. When deciding how to do this, the retailer should ensure they have the exact dimensions of their chosen container on hand. They can then calculate how many of their cardboard boxes the container's height will allow them to stack vertically within it, as well as how many boxes can fit down the length of this container.

If a retailer plans to stack their boxes of products vertically inside their container, they should also consider the weight distribution of the products within these boxes. They should, for example, ensure their heavier products are positioned on the lower half of each stack rather than the upper half, as otherwise, these heavier boxes might crush the boxes beneath them. This is crucial, as the destruction of a retailer's lighter products could cancel out any savings they make by using space optimisation to fit everything into the smallest, least expensive shipping container.

For more information on shipping containers, contact a company near you.