20ft Shipping Container Packing Tips

You don’t need to hire a shipping or packing expert to help you to organise your 20ft shipping container. With a few tips to put to use you can easily pack your shipping container yourself and have all your goods arrived safely at their destination.

First you need to assess what size container you need in order to transport all of your goods. A 20 foot shipping container generally has enough space for a one or two bedroom home to be packed up. Alternatively, it will fit a car and some household items.

40ft shipping containers are normally needed to fit all the items in that make up a 3-5 bedroom home or a car and the items in a two bedroom home.

What Items Never to Pack in a 20ft Shipping Container

There are certain items that you should never include in your shipping container:

Jewellery

Spray cans

Perishable food items

Flammable or hazardous substances

Plants or seeds – these are likely to die and will cause problems at customs

Important documents – family records, passports, financial records etc.

Guns or weapons

In order to pack your items safely and minimise the chance of any breakage in your 20ft shipping container, you will need to have some sturdy boxes, packing peanuts and bubble wrap. When packing breakable items stuff them and wrap them in newspaper or bubble wrap and then place packing peanuts around them to further protect them.

Boxes that have heavy items such as books in them should be placed around those that have breakable items in order to minimise the amount that they will shift around during the journey. Remember to label all boxes with permanent marker so that you know what is inside each one.

Furniture should be wrapped in moving blankets or some kind of padding and secured within the 20ft shipping container. A 20ft shipping container should also come with attachments where you can secure boxes and furniture to prevent them from shifting around during the journey.

It is very important that you secure all items inside the shipping container effectively. Remember that the journey they will be taking is not necessarily going to be a smooth one. They will be loaded and offloaded from a ship by crane and they do not always get treated gently.

Do you need help packing a shipping container? Contact the team at Gateway Container Sales and Hire for advice.