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.