Floor loading vs. palletizing is two prime methods of loading and unloading goods for transportation. The choice between them depends on various factors such as the size and weight of the goods, the transportation mode, and the desired level of safety and efficiency, etc. This article has listed comprehensive information about floor loading and palletized freight to help you select the best one suited for your business.
What is floor loading?
The loading floor is a method of picking up the goods, where the cargo is placed directly on the vehicle floor without using pallets, crates, or other materials. It also refers to as non-palletized freight. Floor loading suits heavy or bulky shipments that cannot be easily stacked on pallets or require specific positioning within the vehicle. Such as car tires, rolled-up carpets, construction materials, etc.
When using floor loaded freight, you should pay more attention to the placement and securing of the goods. It aims to prevent shifting or damage during cargo shipping. Below is some practice you can refer to:
1. It requires you to put the heavier packages at the bottom as the basic, while the lighter ones are on the top. All cargo must be close to the wall.
2. You can use straps, chains, or other restraints to hold the goods in place and require specialized loading techniques to safely and efficiently load the goods onto the vehicle.
Floor loading allows you to use the space within the vehicle more efficiently because the shipments can fill all available rooms. It generally needs more labor resources to handle floor-loaded freight.
What is palletizing?
Palletized load is a mode that loads the goods on pallets or skids, which are flat support designed to facilitate stacking and transport. It works for smaller or lighter cargo that can be ease put on the pallet. It is more efficient than floor loading shipping, as it supports leveraging forklifts or other equipment to improve the speed. In addition, a pallet as a stable base can prevent impact and extrusion during transportation.
For palletized shipping, you need to use the same principle of putting heavier items on the bottom. The shipment should be even and not skew one side or the other. What’s more, you should obey the forklift rules to ensure that the pallets and the freight are not damaged either during loading or unloading.
What’s the difference between them?
The prime difference between floor loading vs. palletizing is that floor loading involves placing goods directly on the floor, while palletizing shipping uses a pallet as a base. Another distinction is that floor-loaded services in cargo load will occupy the entire truck or container space.
However, floor loading can be more labor-intensive than palletizing, as it requires careful placement and securing of the goods without operating machines. On the other hand, palletizing freight can provide better protection for the goods during international shipping. It is better for speed and efficiency, while floor loaded shipping is geared toward cost savings and smaller freight.
Before choosing floor loading or international pallet shipping, it is better to familiarize the pros and cons of them. We have collected some key points below:
Pros and cons of floor loading
There are many different pros and cons to using floor loading shipping. If you want to save on shipping costs, consider floor loaded freight. As mentioned, floor loading can fill the container or vehicle, whereas palletized freight cannot. It signifies that you can deliver more shipments with loading floor as it can stack the goods tightly to fill every available nook and cranny.
Furthermore, you can also save the money that has to spend on pallets in palletized shipping. But shipping with non-palletized shipping, you will need to pay more labor costs. Floor loading freight requires individual warehousing workers to handle the package, which will spend more time loading and unloading. You also have to notice loading floor will take a long time to process large or heavy shipments.
Pros and cons of palletizing
Palletizing adds more security for packages because the pallets allow the goods to avoid the possibility of falling and suffering further damage. With palletized freight, you can save more time and labor energy by loading and unloading equipment like forklifts. It can efficiently move multiple packages at a time than floor loading.
Besides, pallets give extra protection for your shipments as they have slightly elevated them above the ground. For example, palletized freight can reduce the contamination risk for your cargo if there is any leakage into the shipping container.
The downside of using palletized freight is that it can not fill a cargo container efficiently as floor loading shipping. It still has unused space in the container though pallets can stack and secure multiple packages to the base. For this situation, you may need to pay for vacant space when you ship palletized freight. Moreover, you also need to pay the fees for pallets.
Which should you choose, floor loading or palletizing?
Both floor loading and palletizing have advantages and disadvantages in terms of labor, space utilization, and cargo safety. It is better for you to get the trade-offs between them depending on the specific needs of your freight.
If delivery time is urgent and you do not care about the cost, then pallet loading is the best way, as it can load and unload cargo much faster. If the timeliness is more flexible, floor loading will be a better option as it may be more cost-saving than palletized load. It is also beneficial when your goods are too small, large, or have irregular shapes to be secured by a pallet.
When shipping to Amazon, it is preferred to use palletizing over floor loading, especially for larger shipments. Because Amazon FBA has significant restrictions on the loading floor, it may reject if the cargo fails to meet the FBA warehousing requirements. For instance, you should palletize if any package is at least 50 pounds under the Amazon FBA contract. So that it can use a forklift to take the shipment.
Palletized shipping is ideal for e-commerce logistics as 3PL logistics can expeditiously handle all cargo freight. And It can help to shift from truck to rail or ship at ease during intermodal transportation. What’s more, palletizing shipping provides a stable and secure base for your freight, which can minimize the risk of damage.
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