Customisation is key when it comes to crating

The future of logistics is the box. Containers, reefers, crates – even breakbulk must be enclosed by some portable conveyance with right-angled edges. New generation durable cardboards may prove a future material, but for now sturdy pine reigns, according to a firm that uses the wood for off the shelf and custom-made packing boxes. “We deal with logistics companies, all kinds of firms actually. We’ve been called upon for some unusual and elaborate special orders,” said Coleen Watson, general manager of Crate Logic in Boksburg. Watson is frank about the trickle down effect a recessionera shipping environment has had on shipping industry suppliers like hers. “Business has not been good, and doesn’t compare to last year at all. It’s a struggle every month to just hang in there but we really can’t complain compared to other companies – we haven’t had downsizing or short weeks. Now we are seeing some orders, some nice big ones coming in,” Watson said. The orders would have to be monumental to compare with a recent job at Richards Bay. “We had an assignment for a chemical company, to dismantle and pack up a 45-tonne gas plant. We broke it all down and crated it. They rebuilt it elsewhere,” Watson recalled. On the opposite end of the spectrum, an artist required a crate to transport an unframed oil painting to accompany him on a plane trip. “It was so weird we won’t even call it a crate. It was a strange box. But it did the job,” Watson said. The era of “one size fits all” crates seems to be over. “They’re never ready made. We get the data for the shipment from the logistics company and we make it in the factory. The crate is assembled on site in kit form, or arrives fully assembled for packing,” said Watson.