To ensure that your goods are well taken care of shippers have issued certain guidelines. These include cargo care that must be upheld by the customers in order for the shipment to be transported safely. As a code of practice by which different stakeholders in the freight and logistics process must abide from, learning why these are enforced can help you understand its necessity.
To ensure that your goods are preserved during transport between the factory or warehouse to the final destinations, and what can be a laborious journey with numerous stops, bumps and dips on the way, proper cargo care is essential. It is important to remember that often during the freight journey the cargo will be subjected to a lot of elements, from weeks’ worth of transits, weather conditions, temperature variances to improper packaging, improper use of containers, and incorrect labelling (which will misinform the care needed). If you want to avoid freight damage, then ensuring due cargo care is taken has to be part of your supply chain processes.
Ensuring protection against pressures of long sea freight journeys and handling it important. Often with sea freight, the cargo is subjected to a lot of movement, variation in temperature and not to mention weather. Thus, your cargo care and packaging need to account for it, especially when concerning larger goods. In the case of LCL or Consol Cargo, your cargo will often be stacked, and thus making your cargo stackable is important and further must be able to endure the weight of the other items being stacked atop it. Also, it should be protected by whatever other goods it will be placed along side it.
Further, it should be clearly labelled, not only to inform cargo handlers on the requisite movements and handing, from forklift access to upright/tilting positions. It should also be labelled to inform the type of contents within, whether its fragile or else the type of signage that has been set as a standard.
Tilting is not only a concern when handing the cargo, but if you’re sending the cargo either via sea or air, there will be some form of titling (during the sea freight due to swells, during air freight due to takeoff/landing). Thus, to preserve the cargo care must be taken to compact the goods within to avoid it moving around. This will also help with the movement of the ocean (whether it heaves, surges, sways, yaws, pitches, and/or rolls).
Keep tuned for more cargo care tips to come.