I often describe Crate Pros as “a crating and shipping company focused on connecting people and companies with their difficult to ship freight all across the world”, but that usually is followed with the question, “What types of difficult to ship freight?” So, this article will be used to describe the categories of difficult to ship freight along with example projects to help illustrate how we’ve solved our customers’ challenges. If you would rather watch the video version of this blog article, click here to see a recent presentation I did at a conference about this topic.
Heavy
FedEx and UPS parcel usually have limits around 150 lbs. per piece while many less than truckload (LTL) carriers limit items to 5,000 lbs. Crate Pros can assist with much heavier freight than this, even if it is shipping internationally. One of the heavier loads we’ve transported was a 25,000 lb. Peterbilt Wrecker that a customer in Germany needed us to ship to him from West Tennessee. Crate Pros coordinated the transport to the port of Norfolk, the customs clearance, and then this ocean transport to the Port of Hamburg.
Oversized
Depending on the mode of transport, oversized freight can have different meanings. For Less Than Truckload (LTL) freight, items are generally considered oversized if they are longer than 96-inches. Often times our customers’ needs are well beyond this criteria. One of the best examples is a customer that manufactures specialty extruded aluminum components. They asked Crate Pros to build several custom 22-foot crates that were used to protect and transport their product to a customer in Belgium.
Fragile
Whether it be artwork, antiques, or one of a kind family heirlooms, customers put great trust in us to care for and protect their most sentimental and prized possessions. Likely our most fragile items have been not only glass but thin glass tubes making up custom neon signs we’ve shipped for a sign company in the Nashville area.
High-Value
A shipment I get asked about frequently is Taylor Swift’s Throne of Snakes valued at $120,000, but we frequently handle, package, and ship high-value items. Our most recent high-value shipment was two manufacturing robots valued at over $300,000. With our excellent track record, Crate Pros can also provide affordable but comprehensive cargo insurance on items like these to give owners peace of mind when shipping with Crate Pros.
Export
With our status as a certified provider of ISPM-15 compliant wood packaging material for export shipments, a large part of our business is helping businesses and individuals navigate international export shipping. Most of the examples thus far have been focused on commercial shipments, so I thought it would to provide an example of how we helped connect an individual with his family clear across the world. Mohammad, a Kenyan immigrant living in Nashville, had hoped for many months to give back to his family in a remote village, and in early 2019 finally gained the means to purchase some items to send back home – a tiller, a winch, and a motor. These items are things we consider fairly primitive, but for his family in Kenya they were life-changing.
As you can see by these examples, we can ship just about anything – anywhere! How can we help connect you and your business to friends, customers, colleagues, and others?