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Businesses large and small benefit from extending to the international market. With online stores, shipping overseas is not just for the biggest companies anymore. Even small companies can effectively sell and ship to overseas clients. But for small businesses, the world of international shipping and fulfillment might be a completely new place. One of the best ways to protect any shipment (domestic or foreign) is with custom packing and crating. And in fact, if you are beginning to ship overseas, you should work with a company that specializes in creating crates that meet international standards. Here at Crate This, we provide international packing/shipping solutions. In this article, we will cover what you need to ship internationally.
First things first, there are a lot of paperwork requirements for shipping overseas. Documents and labels are highly important for international shipping. While it is important to get that right domestically, often when a domestic shipment has issues it can easily be resent to you or even fixed quite quickly. But if there are issues with your documentation and labeling that are discovered overseas it can lead to a lot of headaches. Whether a shipment is withheld at customs or is shipped back to you, this causes a large waste of time, money, and resources in general. It is imperative that you get your forms and labels done correctly. If you have not shipped internationally before, consider working with a freight forwarder or another company that can help you through this process. Important documents to consider include:
Aside from documentation you also need to make sure that what you are shipping is properly labeled in instances where you are shipping potentially restricted goods or materials. Additionally, your packing materials are also subject to international regulations.
Wood used for crates or pallets has to be treated before it can be used for international shipping. This is because local pests that can burrow into wood (like termites) are a large environmental concern internationally. Any trade of organisms is highly regulated to protect local ecosystems. For example shipping, any animals, seeds, or other plants usually involves a lot of specialized forms and permissions to ensure it will not have a negative effect on the environment. While those shipments are intentional, international regulation also focuses on unintentional environmental impact. Untreated wood could lead to the accidental shipment of insects, fungus, and other bugs. Wood has to be treated and then marked with the “bug stamp” proving that the wood was treated before it was used to fashion a crate or wooden pallet. Wood is often subject to pests, mosses, and other plant life growing on it. This can have huge impacts on different ecosystems, so the wood has to be heat treated before it can be shipped.
Crate This provides international shipping crates and packing services to clients throughout New England. If you need a shipping crate for an upcoming shipping project, please contact us. We would be happy to discuss the design and manufacturing process for crating. We also provide many other shipping services including storage, shipping solutions, and more.
