Open slat crate
Spaced boards over a frame. Light, cheap, lets the contents breathe and be inspected. Right for machinery parts, castings and anything that does not need weather protection.
Product 08
Crates & Wooden Boxes
In short
When a load is heavy, fragile, oddly shaped or crossing an ocean, a crate is the right container. We build export crates, reusable returnable containers and skid-mounted boxes to your dimensions, in plywood, solid board or a hybrid, with ISPM-15 treatment where the destination requires it.
Quote: Crates & Wooden Boxes
Send the details and a named person at the Evendale yard replies within one business day with pricing, freight and a piece count — in writing.
Crate types and when each applies
Closed plywood crate
Full sheathing over a frame. Weather resistant, tamper evident, takes stencilling well. The default for export of finished goods.
Skid-mounted box
A box built onto an integral heavy skid base. Handles as one unit with a forklift, rated for point loads that would destroy a standard pallet.
Knock-down reusable
Bolted or clipped panels that disassemble flat for return. Economic on closed-loop lanes where the container returns more than about six times.
Cleated plywood
Plywood panels with solid cleat framing. The standard for military and aerospace shipping specifications.
Crate-on-collar
Standard pallet, stacked collars and a top cap. The cheapest and fastest "crate" there is, assembled in under a minute from stock parts.
What we need to quote a crate
- Internal dimensions of the contents, plus the clearance and dunnage you want around them
- Gross weight and how that weight is distributed — point loads change the base entirely
- Transport mode: truck, rail, ocean container, breakbulk or air
- Destination country, which determines treatment and marking
- Handling: forklift, crane lift points, or both
- Whether the crate returns — this decides knock-down versus one-way
- Stacking: will anything be placed on top of it in transit
Reusable crates and the return maths
A reusable knock-down crate costs roughly 1.6 to 2.2 times a one-way equivalent. It pays back once it completes about four to six round trips, assuming return freight is consolidated with an existing lane. If your return leg is empty anyway — and for most manufacturers it is — the payback arrives faster and the environmental case is overwhelming.
| Trips | One-way total cost | Reusable total cost | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | Lower | Higher | One-way wins |
| 4–6 | Comparable | Comparable | Break-even; choose on handling and damage |
| 7–15 | Higher | Lower | Reusable wins clearly |
| 15+ | Much higher | Much lower | Reusable, with a scheduled repair budget |
Designing a base for a point load
Machinery does not distribute its weight. It sits on feet, a frame or a casting and concentrates load onto small areas. A base designed for the overall footprint rather than the actual contact points will have runners in the wrong places, and the deck fails at the first rough handling.
- Get the mounting point locations and the load at each one — not just the gross weight.
- Place runners directly under the load paths, not evenly across the base.
- Double the runners and add cross-bracing above roughly 4,000 lb.
- Bolt the machine to the base wherever possible. Blocking alone shifts in transit and then the blocking is the problem.
- Design for the handling equipment at the destination, which may be a crane rather than a forklift.
- Mark the centre of gravity. It costs a stencil and it prevents the most dangerous handling error at the other end.
- Specify lift points explicitly — fork pockets, sling bands, or through-bolted lifting eyes with a rated capacity marked at each.
Moisture control on an ocean lane
A sealed container crossing an ocean goes through repeated temperature cycles, and every cycle condenses moisture on the coldest surface inside. On a machined steel surface that is corrosion, and it arrives looking like a manufacturing defect.
| Control | What it does | When to specify it |
|---|---|---|
| Dry crate timber, below 15% MC | Removes a moisture source sealed inside the box for six weeks | Always |
| Vapour barrier bag | Isolates the machine from container air | Any machined or unpainted steel surface |
| Desiccant, sized to volume and duration | Absorbs what gets in; the calculation is standard and routinely skipped | Ocean transit over about two weeks |
| Volatile corrosion inhibitor | Vapour-phase protection on machined surfaces | Precision surfaces, bearings, unpainted tooling |
| Humidity indicator card | Lets the receiver see whether the protection held | Any lane where you have had a corrosion claim |
| Ventilation instead of sealing | Opposite strategy — appropriate for some cargoes | Only where the commodity tolerates ambient humidity |
Reusable against one-way, worked through
A reusable knock-down crate costs roughly 1.6 to 2.2 times a one-way equivalent. It pays back at around four to six round trips, assuming return freight is consolidated onto an existing lane. If your return leg runs empty anyway — and for most manufacturers it does — the payback arrives sooner and the environmental case is overwhelming.
| Round trips | One-way total cost | Reusable total cost | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – 3 | Lower | Higher | One-way wins |
| 4 – 6 | Comparable | Comparable | Break-even; choose on handling and damage rates |
| 7 – 15 | Higher | Lower | Reusable wins clearly |
| 15 – 30 | Much higher | Much lower | Reusable, with a scheduled repair budget |
| 30+ | Not a serious option | Lowest by a wide margin | Reusable, and design for repair from the start |
The variable that most often breaks the model is return discipline. A reusable crate programme with no owner degrades into a one-way programme at reusable prices within about two quarters, which is the worst of both. If nobody will own the return leg, buy one-way and be honest about it.
Common questions
Do wooden crates need ISPM-15 treatment?
Yes, if they are solid wood over 6 mm and crossing an international border. Crates built entirely from plywood or OSB are exempt, because the manufacturing process already eliminates pest risk.
How fast can you build a crate?
One-off crates are typically 3 to 7 business days. Production runs from an established drawing are 10 to 15.
Can you crate on site?
For large machinery that cannot be moved to us, yes — we build around the equipment at your location. Ask when you enquire so we can schedule a crew.
What about very heavy loads?
We build skid bases rated well beyond standard pallet capacity, with doubled runners, cross-bracing and engineered lift points. Tell us the weight and the lifting method and we will design to it.