Small Packing Cases
In the last 40 years the market for small to medium timber packing cases has taken a battering from the huge increase in the use of pallets and freight containers. It is now a very small part of the international goods freighting industry which is now dominated by unit loads made up on pallets shipped in freight containers.
The larger end of the industry which is often classified as cases weighing over 1500 kg (covered in the next page LARGE EXPORT PACKING CASES) is relatively healthy due to the size and weight restrictions of freight containers and the necessity of adequate protection for many large exported manufactured items.
Small battened timber case
Precision manufactured and moisture sensitive goods needing a higher level of physical protection may still be packed in small timber cases made from sawn timber (as illustration), or plywood, waferboard or multi-wall fibreboard supported by a timber frame. High value items such as antiques are often also packed in sawn timber or plywood cases even if shipped in a freight container.
There are many styles of small case in the developed world, each with its adherents and often covered by a National standard with detailed design information and information on strength of materials such as the BS 1133: Section 8: 2011: Packaging Code - Wooden boxes cases and crates. Overseas examples of design guides are published by the German Pallet and Packaging Association HPE (Bundesverband Holzpackmittel Paletten Exportverpackung) and the design guide in English by Japanese National Standards Association JIS Z 1402: 1995: Wooden boxes for packing up to 1.5 tons.
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16e Military UK packaging information sources. (PDF 10kb)21g Field, Load & Proof testing. (PDF 46kb)21m Testing of boxes crates and packing cases (PDF 113kb)31e Weathering of pallets stored outside. (PDF 140kb)41a Wooden box, crate and export wood case terminology (PDF 38kb)41i Index of Wood Packaging Case Design - Standards and Related. (PDF 58kb)42a Moisture Protection in export packing. (PDF 32kb)47b SEILA French Association for Industrial Packaging. (PDF 127kb)48d Hydraulic grab load lifters (PDF 208kb)49a Package testing - International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) (PDF 11kb)77e Introduction to wood moisture meters. (PDF 69kb)85f ISPM 15 treated wood packing imported into the EU to be resused in Europe. (PDF 11kb)97c IMO Codes - Classification of Dangerous Goods - IMDG Code. (PDF 54kb)97d Abbreviation of IMO Codes - International Marine Organisation. (PDF 42kb)97g UN Approved Transportation Crates. (PDF 51kb)97h UN Packit Wood Packing Manual. (PDF 1141kb)