How to palletise Paper Boxes for Export Shipping?

Palletizing cartons is now standard practice in export shipping. It prevents damage to paper boxes, facilitates forklift handling, and streamlines management, thus simplifying the handling process and reducing transportation costs. The loaded pallets are typically secured together with stretch film and strapping to prevent boxes from falling, being crushed, or getting lost during complex transportation processes. This also helps prevent theft, simplifies inventory management, and optimizes warehouse space.

However, how to stack cardboard boxes is a very meticulous task. It’s not as simple as just putting the boxes on a pallet as commonly believed; if you think that, you’re making a big mistake.

What is the purpose of using pallets to pack paper boxes?

Cardboard boxes are typically the first choice for storing and transporting goods. Packing cardboard boxes onto pallets for transport is currently the most efficient way to store or transport large quantities of goods. It not only saves space and time but also saves labor and reduces handling difficulties.

If you are a company that frequently ships goods or operates in international e-commerce, you may already be using palletized shipping. Even if you have a regular carrier, you need to understand pallet placement techniques to prevent damage during transport.

Tips for palletising cardboard boxes:

1. Ensure the pallet is intact and sturdy

Pallets serve as the base for all paper boxes, therefore the most important principle is that any base supporting an object must be sturdy. Otherwise, even if the boxes are arranged well, they are prone to collapse during stacking or transportation.

Therefore, we need to ensure that the pallets are free of cracks, breaks, and any debris. Only when the pallets are intact can we use stretch film, corner protectors, and straps for reinforcement, preventing the boxes from shifting, collapsing, or breaking during transport.

2. Make sure your paper boxes are stacked well on the pallet

Generally, it’s best to place the heaviest boxes at the bottom, as this lowers the center of gravity and makes them less likely to tip over. This also increases the stability of the pallet and makes them more resistant to pressure, preventing damage to lighter items. However, stacking the heaviest boxes together isn’t ideal either. The wisest approach is to distribute them evenly across the pallet. Even weight distribution contributes to structural stability.

After placing the heaviest box at the bottom, do not stack the boxes in a pyramid shape, forming a triangle or an uneven distribution. Instead, stack them into a cube composed of multiple boxes that are interleaved. If possible, rotate each box so that each box overlaps with the boxes below it.

It’s important to note that while we fully agree that cartons on pallets should be stacked, as the interlocking mechanism provides greater stability, vertical stacking is preferable when your product is very light, soft, or fragile. This is because the carton’s compressive strength is maximized in this stacking method. However, very light products should not be stacked too high, as they are prone to tipping over.

3. Prevent the box from slipping

In international logistics, palletized transport typically uses airplanes or ships. However, seas are rough, ships rock, and airplanes inevitably experience turbulence and tilting during flight. If boxes on pallets are not secured or fastened during these processes, they are prone to slipping or shifting. This can result in minor issues like displacement and collisions, or more serious damage and breakage.

Fortunately, there are many ways to prevent boxes from slipping off pallets. For example, stretch film, high-strength straps, or even airbags can be used. Stretch film should be wrapped around the boxes on the pallet at least four times, including the bottom of the pallet. If straps are used, they need to be applied both horizontally and vertically.

4. Never leave overhangs

Regardless of the stacking method used, ensure that no cardboard boxes are suspended above the pallet edge. Do not overlap. Even the slightest gap or misalignment will reduce the compressive strength of an individual box, decreasing its weight-bearing capacity and potentially causing deformation. Therefore, when stacking boxes, place them close to the pallet edge, but not beyond it. This ensures stack stability and facilitates securing.

Placing products in a suspended position not only easily damages them but also affects the measured area of the pallet, leading to errors in the final shipping cost.

5. Paste label

Labeling is crucial in both international and international shipping. It facilitates identification of goods by the pick-up person and warehouse, and helps the recipient count and confirm the shipment. It also prevents goods from being lost or unidentified. Labels need to be affixed to each box of goods. This is naturally a critical step in palletized shipping.