Cargo Claims and Damage Prevention

November 4, 2015

The main reason for these damages, however, is the fact that very often too heavy concentrated cargoes (not properly distributed over a wider surface area) are being loaded into the container and/or the use of forklift equipment for loading and unloading the cargo in the container that are too heavy.

This mishandling could potentially result in both the risk of damage to cargo and handling equipment but first and foremost in the threat of personal injuries on the part of the people involved in the process of (un)loading the containers.

The load/carrying capabilities of a container floor/under-structure are limited to the below:

• Limitation for concentrated Loads on regular wood floor container
• A maximum floor load is 4.5 tons per running meter for a 20’ container and 3.0 tons per running meter for a 40’ container. To check the floor load, the cargo weight is to be  divided by the cargo length.

Example: cargo weight is 10 tons, supporting length is 4m. Load per meter: 10/4 = 2.5 tons per meter. 

Limitations for use of forklift trucks on wooden container floors

In order to avoid accidents which can result in personal injuries to personnel it is recommended to strictly adhere to the above mention limits during the loading and unloading process.

** SOURCE: The above excerpted information is from the UK P&I Club.  UK P& I Loss Prevention Department addresses container floor load limits in their publications and website.