What can go wrong when transporting goods?

What can go wrong when transporting goods?

The moment your shipment leaves your fulfilment centre, it is vulnerable to various environmental hazards resulting from vehicle vibration, handling problems, temperature fluctuations and moisture. The best way to mitigate these risks is to employ the many packing solutions at your disposal, such as those supplied by NPP – from wraps to handling and wrapping machines. Protection starts with the design of the primary packaging and then extends to tertiary packaging. We explore some of the most common transport problems and look at the solutions you can use to mitigate them.

Transportation hazards discussed

Once your shipment goes out on the back of a truck, in a container or in the cargo hold of a plane, you have little, if any, control over it. Your handlers and transport crews will naturally do all they can to ensure its safety, but things can go wrong during the journey. Some of the risks include:

• Damage due to load shifting, mishandling or accidents
• Loss and theft
• Fire
• Water damage
• Chemical burns or stains

Knowing that such things might happen, it is best to prepare by protecting your goods as well as you possibly can. The most common problems are load shifting and moisture problems. These can easily be dealt with using something as simple as pallet wrap, together with a few other actions you can take to secure the load. 

Minimise transportation risks effectively

To minimise the various transportation risks, you can do the following:

• Choose the most appropriate, safest, most efficient form of transport for your goods.
• Ensure that loads are secured, and that weight is distributed evenly. 
• Get the proper insurance coverage for your shipments, such as goods-in-transit or marine insurance. This could be paid for either by the seller or the buyer, depending on the terms of the sale.
• Make sure you use all the right packaging for your goods. Speak to your packaging supplier about the appropriate boxes, void-filler and wraps for your products.
• Use pallet wrap on your pallets. Pallet wrap secures full pallets so that their contents will not shift, fall or break while in transit. Cases are held securely in place so that the routine movements of road, air, and sea transport will not cause any damage. Pallet wrap is one of the most important parts of any packing and shipping solution for companies that move their product in bulk. 

Available pallet wraps

NPP supplies many different types of pallet wrap:

• Machine pallet wrap: Our machine pallet wrap is a cast co-extruded film. Our standard wrap is designed for use on core brake and simple pre-stretch rotary stretch wrap machines with up to 150% stretch. Our power wrap is for use on pre-stretch rotary stretch wrap machines with up to 250% stretch.

• Hand pallet wrap: NPP offers a range of pallet wrap films designed to be manually applied to pallets. Our high-quality hand wraps increase load stability while reducing cost and volumes.

• Fiber Film is a unique high-efficiency stretch film with reinforcement elements (fibres) that increase tear resistance. This reinforced stretch film combines high elongation, exceptional puncture resistance and excellent pallet stability.

• Eco Fiber Film is a unique eco-friendly (30% recycled raw materials and 100% recyclable) & innovative stretch film with reinforcement elements (fibres) that increase tear resistance. Eco Fiber Film is designed for machine use with a stretching ratio of up to 270% and is suitable for heavy pallet loads.
• Air-O-Film® is a pre-stretched specially formulated film, combining maximum elongation with performance. The ventilated design allows airflow through the pallet, which reduces spoilage that conventional pallet wrap can cause, by preventing condensation build-up.

We also supply a variety of wrapping machines to make the process of pallet wrapping, easier, more precise and more effective. NPP is a provider of packaging solutions to various industries throughout Ireland. Contact us for information on our pallet wraps, wrapping machines and more.