Assess
What’s best for what you’re shipping?
Quality packaging is key when it comes to preventing damage. Assessing your packing needs is an essential step to determine what’s best for the type of goods you wish to transport.
Key packing considerations includes:
- Weight
- Cost
- Regulations
- Fragility
Choose
Packaging protects your shipment
Good quality packaging is critical to protecting your shipment during transportation. DHL provides a range of packaging supplies that are tried and tested. However, if you prefer to use your own materials, the following provides some general guidelines.
Material
- Always use high quality corrugated cardboard boxes for parcels. For fragile or heavy items, double-wall or tri-wall constructions are recommended.
- Avoid reusing old boxes as they may have lost some of their rigidity.
Strength
- Look out for the manufacturer stamp which tells you information about the construction type and strength of a box. Ask your box supplier for more information as required.
- Refer to the box specifications below to select suitable packaging for the weight of your shipment.
Size
- Under-filled boxes may collapse and over-filled boxes may burst. Prevent this by choosing a box with the right size for the content being shipped.
Pack
Apply packing techniques
Here are some important principles applicable for packing your shipment contents.
Leave no empty space
- It is important to completely fill empty space within the box to avoid contents moving during transit which can cause damage to both contents and box.
6 cm Distance
- Always place items being shipped in the center of the box with at least 6cm of separation from any external walls or corners.
Wrap items individually and use dividers
- When shipping multiple items in a single package, always wrap each item individually and separate with corrugated inserts or other divider materials as appropriate.
Seal
Protect with a good seal
Both the adhesive tapes you choose and how you seal the shipment together makes a difference in protecting your shipment contents from being exposed or damaged during transit.
Use pressure sensitive tape
- Polypropylene tape (brown plastic tape)
- Vinyl adhesive tape (electrical tape)
- Fiber-reinforced paper tape (duct tape)
Avoid using
- Kraft Paper Tape
- Cellophane Tape
- String
H-Taping
Ensure all seams are sealed using the H-taping method:
- Apply 1 strip of tape along the center seam
- Apply 2 strips of tape across both edge seams
Label
Label shipment
Fix the shipment label securely on the top surface of the shipment box. This will help us keep your shipment in an upright position as much as possible during transit!
- Ensure the label is wholly visible on one surface and that the label does not cover any seams.
- Do not let other labels, tapes or paperwork cover the shipment label.
- We never recommend using an old box but if you do, ensure all outdated shipment labels are removed prior to use.
- Placing a spare label inside the package will help us identify your shipment if the original label becomes detached or damaged.
- If you need to apply other labels on your shipment, please avoid placing them on the same surface as the shipment label.
- Use a plastic self-adhesive clear window pouch to hold any loose documents that are required to be placed outside of the box.
Our sincere thanks to the DHL team for their assistance in compiling this helpful guide.