Container Loading Best Practice
When you get into the container loading phase, examine the container thoroughly before moving anything inside the container. Also make sure there are no holes in the container before leaving the driver.
Start with large heavy objects such as equipment and place them against the front wall of the container on the floor
Load Calculator
Container Loading Calculator: Optimize Your Shipping Efficiency
Are you looking to maximize your shipping efficiency and reduce costs? Our Container Loading Calculator is the perfect tool for logistics professionals, supply chain managers, and anyone involved in international shipping. This guide will walk you through how to use our advanced container loading calculator to optimize your cargo distribution and choose the right containers for your shipments.
Why Use a Container Loading Calculator?
Before we dive into the how-to, let’s understand why a container loading calculator is essential:
- Maximize Space Utilization: Efficiently pack your goods to reduce wasted space.
- Reduce Shipping Costs: Optimize container usage to minimize the number of containers needed.
- Improve Load Planning: Quickly determine the best container size and quantity for your cargo.
- Enhance Shipping Efficiency: Save time and resources in the planning process.
- Prevent Overloading: Ensure compliance with weight restrictions and regulations.
Step-by-Step Guide to Using the Container Loading Calculator
Step 1: Set Your Measurement Units
- Select your preferred length unit (mm, cm, m, or in) from the dropdown menu.
- Choose your desired weight unit (kg, g, or lb) from the options provided.
Step 2: Enter Pallet Information
- Input the maximum weight per pallet in your chosen weight unit.
- This is crucial for accurate load distribution calculations.
Step 3: Add Your Items
- Click the “Add Item” button to input details for each type of item you’re shipping.
- For each item, enter:
- Item Name
- Quantity
- Weight (in your chosen weight unit)
- Length, Width, and Height (in your chosen length unit)
- Add as many different items as needed to represent your entire shipment.
Step 4: Calculate Your Optimal Load
- Once all items are entered, click the “Calculate” button.
- The calculator will process your input and provide detailed results.
Step 5: Interpret the Results
The calculator will display:
- Number of Pallets: Total pallets required for your shipment.
- Items per Pallet: Average number of items that can be loaded on each pallet.
- Container Recommendation: Suggested container size and quantity (e.g., 1 x 40ft Container).
- Total Weight: Combined weight of all items in your shipment.
- Total Volume: Total volume occupied by your cargo.
- Detailed Container Distribution: How your pallets should be distributed across containers.
Tips for Efficient Container Loading
- Mixed Cargo: When shipping various item types, start with the largest and heaviest items as a base.
- Weight Distribution: Ensure even weight distribution within containers for safe transportation.
- Fragile Items: Place fragile items on top and use appropriate padding.
- Regular Shapes: When possible, use boxes of similar sizes for easier stacking and space optimization.
- Leave Some Breathing Room: Allow for a small margin of error in your calculations, especially for irregularly shaped items.
There are two charging strategies for container loading:
When you get into the container loading phase, examine the container thoroughly before moving anything inside the container. Also make sure there are no holes in the container before leaving the driver.
Start with large heavy objects such as equipment and place them against the front wall of the container on the floor.
Load heavier items on the floor and in front of the container, and place lighter items on top of them.
Pack the items well, so nothing moves. Browse the layers by loading from the bottom up. Examine the spaces in the layer, and then find an element to fill in. Sometimes you can use an empty box, pillow, blanket or even stuffed animal to fill in the gaps.
Packing and loading the container is the key to keeping your shipment in good condition at the other end.
The boxes are easy to transport and stack. Pack as many items as possible in boxes. Try using newer boxes. Reused boxes may collapse during shipment.
If in doubt, put another layer of packaging material around your items. Prevention is better than cure! It may be useful to write the content outside the boxes. When you reach your destination, you know where each carton goes.
Use blankets, bubble wrap, and cardboard to prevent objects from rubbing against each other. Blankets, bubble wrap and cardboard can also be used to fill empty spaces. It is important that everything is set perfectly so that nothing moves during sea transport.
If necessary, you can attach items with straps to the sides of the container. On the ceiling and floor, there are rings throughout the container that you need to provide your own straps.
The bottom of the container is made of wood. Feel free to make your own wooden supports to secure the items in the container. You do not want empty space in the container or your goods will move during shipping.
There are two charging strategies for container loading:
Container “loading on the ground”, which keeps the ground level. When the bottom of the container is covered, the goods cannot move from one side to the other.
Creating a partition: This happens when you load the container from floor to ceiling and build a wall so that the goods do not fall into free space. You can build the wall with plywood boards and 4×4 wood.
How do you calculate the space in a container when loading?
Although the containers are available in various sizes, the standard units are either units that correspond to 20 ft. container or units that correspond to 40 ft. container.
To properly package such containers, the width, height and length of the container should be measured and multiplied. For example, a twenty foot container may be five feet wide and ten feet high.
If you multiply these numbers one by one (example 5 x 10 x 20), you get 1,000 cubic feet. It is the volume of the container; that is, how much it can contain. You then need to measure the size of your packages (or other freight items) using the same formula to determine their volumes. To learn more about shipping container follow the link
How many pallets can be load in a 40 ft. container?
Standard pallets are mainly used by American and Canadian companies. For this reason, standard pallets are also referred to as North American pallets.
Another name of the standard pallet is industrial pallet. The dimensions of a standard pallet are 1000 mm wide and 1200 mm long. In the US, a width of 39.37 “and a length of 47.24” is being used.
The inside dimensions of a 40 ft. container are 2352 mm wide and 12032 mm long. But in the United States, an inside width of 7 feet 8 5/8 inches and an inside length of 39 feet 5 5/8 inches is being used.
You can install a maximum of 21 standard pallets in a 40-foot container in multiple container load units. To learn more about pallets read our article about shipping pallets.
How much weight can a 20 ft. container and 40 ft. container can load?
20 ft. containers are designed to carry more weight than bulky loads. Examples are minerals, metals, machinery, sugar, paper, cement, steel coils, all of which are heavy cargoes.
On the other hand, 40 ft. containers are designed to carry bulky goods rather than heavy goods. Examples are furniture, steel pipes, waste paper, cotton and tobacco, all of which are bulky cargoes.
Although you cannot pack twice the weight of 20 ft. container cargo in a 40 ft. container, you can certainly pack more than twice the loading capacity of 20 ft. container in a 40 ft. container.
This is possible thanks to the volume / payload reports. According to the ratio of generic volume to payload provided by the container manufacturers.
How to calculate CBM for a 20 feet container and a 40 feet for container loading ?
To calculate CBM for a 20 ft. container and a 40 ft. container size See below the average CBM capacity for each container.
20 ft. Container- Maximum capacity -26CBM to 28 CBM.
40 ft. container Normal Container- Max capacity -55CBM to 58 CBM
40 ft. capacity High cube Container- Max capacity – 65 CBM TO 68 CBM.
To calculate CBM for 20 feet container, is simple by using the formula for calculating CBM detail of your goods but the length, width, height and no of cartons has to be known.
The Formula for CBM calculation which is: Length (cm) x Width (cm) x Height (cm) x No of cartons (pcs) / 1000000= Total CBM of your goods.
Example- If carton size is 70 x 50 x20 cm.
No of carton 400 pcs.
As per formula- 70 x 50 x 20 x400 / 1000000 = 28 CBM (Require 20″ container for 400 cartons)
How to Load a shipping Container
Load heavier items on the floor and in front of the container, and place lighter items on top of them.
Pack the items well, so nothing moves. Browse the layers by loading from the bottom up. Examine the spaces in the layer, and then find an element to fill in. Sometimes you can use an empty box, pillow, blanket or even stuffed animal to fill in the gaps.
Packing and loading the container is the key to keeping your shipment in good condition at the other end.
The boxes are easy to transport and stack. Pack as many items as possible in boxes. Try using newer boxes. Reused boxes may collapse during shipment.
If in doubt, put another layer of packaging material around your items. Prevention is better than cure! It may be useful to write the content outside the boxes. When you reach your destination, you know where each carton goes.
Use blankets, bubble wrap, and cardboard to prevent objects from rubbing against each other. Blankets, bubble wrap and cardboard can also be used to fill empty spaces. It is important that everything is set perfectly so that nothing moves during sea transport.
If necessary, you can attach items with straps to the sides of the container. On the ceiling and floor, there are rings throughout the container that you need to provide your own straps.
The bottom of the container is made of wood. Feel free to make your own wooden supports to secure the items in the container. You do not want empty space in the container or your goods will move during shipping.