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Packing & Loading

Packaging usually refers to wrapping products for display etc., e.g. packets of biscuits, boxes of matches, boxes of candy and chocolate etc.

Packing refers to larger quantities packed for transport
(crates, chests, barrels).

Break-bulk, meaning goods packed separately, not in bulk quantities, is not as common as it once was and this of course is due to the enormous proportions of goods put into containers today.

Bulk, meaning cargo or goods not packed (= not in packages, boxes, bags etc.) and in large quantities e.g. coal, grain, sand, gravel.

Ships used to come into port, were tied up alongside one of the long warehouses, stevedores came aboard removing the hatches (hatch-covers) stacking them on deck, then men were both on deck and in the holds (holes) assisting the crane lifting or lowering bales, crates containing machinery, bags of cement and other cargo often in big nets.
Still this is common practice in a majority of ports all over the world, and still many ships are designated for this sort of shipping and transport.

Not very long ago, loading and unloading a traditional ship took three to four weeks and about one hundred (100!) men (stevedores).
Today the same size container ship will need three to four days and about fourteen men to do the same job.

Things have changed drastically through the last thirty-or-so years. Major ports have been developed and built throughout the world these last thirty years, and especially so in Europe, Japan and North America. The cost of containerizing ports is enormous.

Both docks and ships look a lot different from what they used to, in a container port that is. Instead of all these tall thin cranes lowering and lifting goods into, onto or off/from ships we have got these huge transporter cranes lifting and moving metal containers of all sizes. Men are hardly seen at all today alongside ships, not in any numbers and not in any way at all like, or even similar to, what we saw in the 60s, 50s and before that.

Some people say there's been a revolution in handling cargo but that's really an understatement as it has actually changed completely.
There has been a tremendous change throughout the whole chain of transporting and delivering goods.

No cranes, no warehouses, no visible labor in the holds (holes), on deck or on the quay. There is wide open space, stacks and stacks of metal containers all over large areas next to the loading facilities, and also the ships are not so many in numbers. As ships have become much more efficient cargo-wise and maintenance-wise, they don't need as much time in ports as they once did. In addition to this they have expanded both in size and capacity. Time spent alongside quay in port have been greatly reduced.

There are several standard sizes of containers but probably most common are the 8 x 8 x 20 feet and the 8 x 8 x 40 feet
( ca 2.4 m x 6 m & 2.4 m x 12 m). Note that all containers must be the same width and height. This makes the container system really into a transport revolution of sorts.

Imagine this:
A General Cargo Ship departing/leaving Europe (e.g. Southampton, the UK or Le Havre, France) - the US (the East Coast, e.g. NYC) 10 - 12 days with 2+ weeks spent in port at both ends makes a round trip of more than 1½ mo., occasionally even 8 weeks, right? -Sum it up!

Now imagine this:
A Container Cargo Ship departing/leaving Europe (e.g. Southampton, the UK or Le Havre, France) - the US (the East Coast, e.g. NYC) 8 - 10 days with 3 days spent in port at both ends makes a round trip of less than one month, perhaps not even 4 weeks, right? -Sum it up!

As if this was not enough in favor of container cargo and container ships, remember that suppliers/producers can easily have containers stacked up at their plants, on the premises and in their own back yard, where packing can be done gradually and along with production plans, sales etc. These containers, packed at production site, needn't be opened other than for Customs inspection, and will reach the buyer/importer or distributor exactly as was planned at the production or sales department.

Packaging

NMFTA's Packaging Engineer, along with other staff members, assists the transportation community in various packaging matters. The packaging staff keeps apprised of new packaging materials and methods and, when requested, works with carriers, shippers, packaging manufacturers and other packaging professionals to develop improved packaging designs and techniques. The Packaging Engineer also provides technical expertise to the NCC and its Classification Panels on docketed classification proposals involving packaging.

The National Motor Freight Classification contains a list of general packaging definitions and specifications for commonly used packages, such as fibreboard boxes, crates, drums, bags and pails. These general provisions set basic requirements for size, strength and materials used in the construction of packages. For example, NMFC Item 222 enumerates various requirements for fibreboard boxes, including the type of fibreboard used, the strength of the fibreboard, and the tests used to determine the box's strength in transportation.

In addition, the NMFC publishes hundreds of exceptions to these basic specifications. In general, these exceptions are established for package designs which deviate from the basic specifications but have proven to be successful for hauling certain commodities. In the past, the NCC through its packaging staff has issued temporary permits for such new designs and monitored the packages over a period of time to assess their adequacy in the trucking environment. However, in 1995 a new rule (Item 180) was added to the NMFC's packaging provisions which now allows new package designs to be used in transit immediately following successful completion of specified performance tests. This rule allows new package designs to be put into service more quickly, and allows shippers to develop packages specifically tailored to the needs of their products.

Item 180 also establishes a procedure whereby damage claims involving new package designs may be resolved: package testing laboratories registered with the NCC may conduct retests when requested by one of the involved parties.