Export packing and crating standards

Short answer: export packing has to survive mechanical handling, stacking, vibration and humidity for weeks. Double-wall cartons, palletisation, ISPM-15 treated wood for crates, and moisture protection are the baseline for sea freight from Dubai to the UK.

Cartons

Use double-wall corrugated cartons for sea freight. Keep individual cartons under about 30 kg so they can be handled safely, fill void space so contents cannot shift, and tape the top and bottom seams. Reused supermarket boxes fail routinely.

Pallets

Palletise anything with more than a handful of cartons. Keep the load inside the pallet footprint — overhang is the single most common cause of crush damage — stack the heavy items low, strap the load, and shrink-wrap it to the pallet base.

ISPM-15 and wooden packaging

Any solid wood packaging entering the UK must be heat treated and marked to ISPM-15. Untreated or unmarked wood can be refused, treated at your cost, or destroyed. Plywood and processed board are exempt, but the safe route is treated and stamped timber for anything wooden.

Crates for high-value and fragile cargo

Machinery, glass, marble, artwork and instruments should be crated: a timber frame with panels, internal bracing, foam or air-cushion suspension, and bolt-down for heavy items. Crates should be forkliftable from all four sides.

Moisture

Containers sweat. Going from Gulf humidity through cooler seas produces condensation inside the box. Use desiccant bags sized to the container volume, keep cargo off the floor on pallets, and wrap moisture-sensitive goods in VCI film or poly sheeting rather than leaving bare metal exposed.

Labelling

• Consignee name and full delivery address on at least two faces
• Piece number in the format "3 of 12", matched to the packing list
• Gross weight and dimensions
• Handling marks: fragile, this way up, keep dry, sling here
• Waterproof labels or a marker pen — inkjet labels smear

Furniture and household goods

Disassemble what comes apart and bag the fittings to the item. Use mattress and sofa covers, wrap corners and edges, blanket-wrap polished surfaces before shrink-wrap so the plastic never touches the finish, and pack mirrors and glass in dedicated flat cartons on edge, never flat.

Our Dubai team can pack and crate everything on your shipment to these standards TO CONFIRM: packing service rates.