When it comes to e-commerce fulfillment, there are different ways to load and pack shipping containers with your product. Shippers are either utilizing palletized or floor loaded shipments. The shipment can either be full truck load (FTL), or less than a full truck load (LTL). Using our top-of-the-line work force, Fulco Fulfillment Inc (FFI) can handle either method efficiently, and probably save you some money. Here’s some information on what the difference is between floor loaded vs. palletized shipping, and why you should know which your product is currently using.
Palletizing Shipping Containers
Palletizing your products means to simply stack and ship your products on wooden pallets. With pallets you will find there is more ease of movement and is a safer way of transmitting items from one place to the next, but it can be quite expensive as well.
Your decision to palletize will depend on factors such as fragility of your cargo, the destination of your cargo, and the mode of transit by which your cargo is being shipped. The pallet provides a stable and load-bearing bottom for each unit, which can then easily be moved and loaded with a pallet jack, forklift, or other handling equipment. Once the products are stacked together, they are held up using straps or plastic wrapping. After this, it is ready for shipping.
Pros and Cons of Palletizing Shipping Containers
- Pro: pallets are great for shipping products both nationally and internationally.
- Pro: pallets can protect more delicate cargo. Using pallets allows the shipper to turn a bundle of smaller sized boxes into a stronger single unit that will be able to provide more support.
- Pro: pallets are faster and easier to load and unload because you can use machinery to move them.
- Pro: pallets can protect cargo from water damage. The pallets protect the shipment en route by keeping product off the floor with its elevated surface, creating a barrier for the products inside from soaking in the event of a leak from an overseas voyage.
- Pro: palletization can work for both LTL and FTL freight.
- Con: palletizing can come with significant cost implications since the pallet itself increases the weight of overseas shipping containers.
- Con: you can fit less product in each shipping container because the pallet takes up extra space.
Floor Loading Shipping Containers
In contrast, floor loaded containers are when the contents are loaded onto the floor of the container directly. This can also be known as floor stacking and it allows you to fill the entire container from the floor to the ceiling with the contents.
With floor loading, you will be able to load larger items at a significantly lower cost. Typically this would be more time consuming because manual loading and unloading is required, but with Fulco Fulfillment’s experienced team, this issue is absolutely minimal.
Pros and Cons of Floor Loading Shipping Containers
- Pro: floor loading your products significantly decreases freight costs because the entire container is being used to ship the products in question.
- Pro: you save money by not paying for pallet. You will also be less likely to need more containers when shipping out your product.
- Pro: you reduce the carbon footprint of shipping your products because each container is packed as efficiently as possible.
- Con: more delicate products can be damaged. Floor loading your products is not the most suitable option for every product that you may be offering. With floor loading comes an increase in the likelihood that the products could get damaged during transit. Because of this, floor loading is typically done with heavier and bulkier items such as construction equipment, furniture, etc.
- Pro: palletization can work for both LTL and FTL freight.
- Con: there are additional labor costs associated with loading and unloading a freight shipment off of the container. It also takes extra time to load and unload the shipment in question.
- Pro: however, experienced warehouses like FFI are efficient floor loaders. We keep these additional costs to a minimum with our top-of-the-line work force who have years of expertise handling floor loaded shipments.
FFI Can Help You Optimize How Your Shipping Containers are Packed
The most important thing to remember when choosing between the two options is to do an in depth cost-benefit analysis to see what works best for your business. With FFI as your e-commerce fulfillment partner, we can help you determine whether palletization or floor loading is the best option for getting your products quickly and safely to your customers. To get started, fill out our contact form or give us a call at 973.361.1700.