- Palletized transportation - ways to make transport of products safer and easier
- What is pallet delivery and how does a pallet distribution network work?
Pallets are plane structures utilized in cargo transportation to support goods or containers. Cargo is arranged or piled on these structures, and this process is referred to as palletizing.
Palletizing as the name applies is regarded as a sure and safe way of dispatching cargo. In the same way, palletized cargo is considered in the shipping sector across all continents of the world. The process creates ease in handling and storage of goods on transportation vehicles. Cargoes are placed on a pallet and secured with straps or wraps to stabilize it and also to prevent any unwanted movement.
Transporting of goods or items overseas needs proper containerization, which is a vital need in Cargo Shipping and Freight Services. The purpose of this is to support good and cargo consignments and also to keep them safe during transportation. The use of Pallet as an option for this purpose has become so popular and vital in shipping and cargo transport. As a fact, millions of pallets are used all over the world. Pallets travel to the various part of the world.
The dilemma of transporting heavy loads often faces international shipping and freight services. But today, it is straightforward to move tons of goods across borders by the use of pallets. Load that is palletized is easily lifted and transferred to delivery vessels or delivery trucks. This is why Pallets are regularly seen in warehouses especially containing products placed on top of one another.
Pallets are essential tools in both commercial and industrial establishments because of the economic advantage they possess. They make transport of load easier than even the forklift. In the United States and Canada, Spain, and Portugal, there is a standard size for pallets so that they can fit into typical entrances. The standard size for pallets is 120x80 centimetres.
The majority of businesses sending out heavy loads or large cargoes abroad employ palletized transport within their grounds. Indeed, there are exceptions to this since there are businesses that won’t need pallets or those that don't deal with a massive amount of stuff. For example, you can't see cars being transported using pallets or jewelry being placed on pallets for transport. But spare parts can be moved inside the warehouse through pallets.
Palletized transportation - ways to make transport of products safer and easier
Palletized transportation and distribution as a way of making Transportation of Products safer and more accessible, requires international standardization of pallets which is even more pressing today as global trade expands. There is no one fit all possible standard, considering pallets transportation as it involves transporting a full range of goods and materials of various container sizes and different doorway measurements. The more insightful issue is the already existing tremendous number of pallets that are in circulation and utilization. For example, many companies who already have the old style pallets cannot throw away or lose old pallets because there exist new standards.
Palletized distribution has grown to be a unique system of transporting cargo, goods and other loads in so many countries across all countries and continents of the world. Many modern Industries have witnessed the considerable savings in cost through the use of palletized transport as it has helped to reduce the damage to goods drastically, not to mention, pallets are less expensive than using other means of moving goods. The use of palletized transport started after the Second World War 11 when manufacturers started placing their products on pallets before transportation. One primary reason why palletized transportation became so popular and customary was the establishment of the supermarket. This period witnessed mass transportation by suppliers to regional distributors consolidated and grouped into delivery to different stores.
In the 1980s, pallets transportation in the United States and the United Kingdom featured standardized pallets that measure 100x120 cm and the rest of Europe measured 80x120 cm dimensions. These two sizes are still maintained today. Commercial and industrial packaging is usually palletized. For instance, carton boxes are already in sizes that will fit perfectly into pallets to minimize transport cost. Shippers and distributors are most concerned with the nature of the material that pallets are made of. For example, wooden pallets are common materials for palletized transportation of goods while plastic, steel, and aluminum pallets are used widely nowadays. Wooden pallets are cheap, but they are not a suitable alternative for long-term storage purposes.
What is pallet delivery and how does a pallet distribution network work?
In the present day’s fast-moving distribution world, thousands of items are shipped on pallets yearly. Pallets transportation is a safe method for all products whether fragile or robust, and it will be vital that you are abreast with how this works.
Pallet shipping – a well-liked distribution method
To put it straight, pallet delivery is the practice of moving goods from one location to another, using a pallet. Pallet shipping is today the most common method of distribution all over the world. Each pallet is designed to accommodate goods of weight not above 1000kg. It is extortionate to use this single 1000kg pallet for a single customer since the cost of sending single pallets to individual end customers could be too expensive. It is much better to use a specific pallet distribution network which will help in grouping your pallets and save you from unnecessary spending. Many pallet transport companies offer warehousing services to their clients. They will help you store the goods at a location for some time and later distribute them to the destination company.
Step by step process
Using pallet transportation is simplicity itself, from the moment the owner of the business books a pallet collection online.
When you want to send a pallet, the individuals or business owners will contact the pallet transport specialist and inform them of a pallet collection and delivery that needs to be picked up. Usually, they do this by email, telephone, or through the shipper’s online portal. They do this scheduled collection on a daily basis, depending on the volume.
The pallet shipping experts will now collect the order at the stipulated time, place, and date required by the client. Some shippers will charge more for getting the collections during weekends and evenings. So, it is advisable for the customer to always check and ensure they know the rates before placing orders.
The pallet is now set to go to a distribution warehouse where it will be consolidated into various delivery drivers. The warehouse staff will now forklift them with their trucks to load the pallets into trucks carefully. At this stage, the distribution vehicle will soon leave the warehouse on schedule to make sure that all pallets get to their various destination within the scheduled time.
Before the departure of the truck from the transport hub, the driver or warehouse staff will secure the pallets in place to ensure they don’t move around or get damaged during transit.
Many pallet delivery companies offer a tracking service to their clients. Most often, the tracking comes in the form of a web link which people can click to monitor the progress of their order. Some companies will permit the client to know that the item is out for delivery. Most shippers aim to make deliveries within 24 or 48 hours depending on the requirements of their clients and the service level paid for. However, it can take a longer time to ship pallets oversea, mainly if air, ocean, and rail transport is part of the equation.
The Pallet Network Hub
For a clearer picture, it is a difficult task for a company with just one distribution center to make pallet deliveries all over the country within only 24-hours. This means that this single firm alone would need hundreds of trucks and drivers to do this. So, it’s not reasonable for pallet delivery companies to make standing promises of fast deliveries of pallets without working with other companies. A comparatively cheap pallet delivery can only be achieved through the use of a network setup.
A pallet distribution network consists on grouping some companies that work together to provide efficient, cost-effective, safe and comprehensive solutions to their customers’ needs. Each of this group, firm or company has a designated postcode area where they deliver and collect goods. If you are a customer from another part of the country and you need to ship pallets to those locations, your orders will be passed to that particular team in that location.
Transport hubs are located in a strategic part of the countries to make things easier and faster. In most cases, pallet transport experts open network hubs in the main cities of the country for ease of contact.
Shipping Pallets
There are various ways of shipping pallets to their final destination. Since they make up an essential component in the shipping industry, several measures and norms have been set up by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Through such means, it has been possible to bring the whole freight and shipping operations with palletized cargo consignments to become a more comprehensive and universal field.
The usual standards of pallets have been regulated in their sizing. The sizes of pallets matter greatly while loading palletized cargo and this also depends on the nature of the cargo. You can find below some commonly employed sizes used by some countries of the world.
- The generally utilized pallet size is 48 inches x 40 inches (length by breadth) Pallets of this nature structures, and sizes are used mostly in ships in the Northern America shipping zone.
- European comprises of Spain and Portugal shipping sectors have their individually regulated pallet sizes .The regularly used pallets in Europe are ones of sizes 40 inches x 47 inches approx. (length by breadth)
- In Australia, pallets measuring sizes 42 inches x 42 inches (length x breadth) are used.
Apart from the sizing and structure of the pallet, the kind of material used in building the structures also is vital. Utilization or use of substandard materials could also result in damaging shipping, which is a negative rating on the integrity of the shipper and the consignor, thereby affecting his/ her business credibility.
Ordinarily, wood is the most common component used for shipping pallets. However, it has to meet up with specific regulatory requirements before it can be approved for utilization.
It should be of high quality, it has to be of a softer variance and it should be impervious. Wooden pallets’ structures are often disinfected and coated with the needed varnishes to prevent contamination.
Aside from wood, paper, steel, and even plastic are also utilized as viable structures for palletizing cargo consignments.
There are certain aspects you need to take proper note of when trying to palletize your goods.
- Spread the piling of the consignments on the pallet board evenly. This will make it easy during loading and unloading of the batches from the take off to the delivery destination.
- Ensure you tag pallet cargo vehicles to enable easy identification and marking.
- Make sure you wrap up the whole palletized consignment using the suitable wrapping material on completion of the palletizing process.
In comparison to the use of non-palletized shipping of cargo, palletized transportation is the best and also cost-effective. In addition to this, it helps in minimizing the probable risks and damages to goods or items, making the pallet cargo vehicles a must-have in the cargo shipping dispatching domain. The utilization of pallets wholly depends on the type and nature of cargo that needs to be transported.
If you would like to hear more about palletized transportation and the various ways to make the transport of products safer and easier, ask us a quote or contact us at www.mubcargo.com - we have maximum flexibility to cope with all your cargo requests!