For buyers
Packaging & shipping
Every product carries its own carton quantity, carton dimensions and CBM. This is how those numbers are put together, and what they mean when you load a container.
How a carton is built
Glass ships in a master carton, usually with an inner box or a divider set inside it. The product page states pieces per inner box, pieces per carton, the carton’s outer dimensions in centimetres, and its net and gross weight.
CBM is the carton’s outer volume: length x width x height in centimetres, divided by a million. It is derived, not declared — the catalogue calculates it from the dimensions so the two can never disagree.
Loading a container
Glass almost always fills a container by volume before it reaches the weight limit, which is the opposite of most cargo. That is why we plan loads in CBM and treat the payload as a ceiling rather than a target.
| Container | Usable CBM | Max payload |
|---|---|---|
| 20 ft | 33 m³ | 28,000 kg |
| 40 ft | 67 m³ | 26,500 kg |
| 40 ft HQ | 76 m³ | 26,500 kg |
These are usable figures, not geometric ones — pallets, dunnage and the door frame eat the difference. We plan to about 85% of them, because cartons of glass do not stack to the ceiling without crushing. A declared, real-world loading figure on a product always beats this calculation.
Breakage
Ask for the export carton when you take samples. It is the only honest test of whether the packing survives your last mile, and it is a cheaper thing to discover on one parcel than on a container.
If your route includes a long inland leg or repeated handling, say so before we quote. Heavier cartons and different inner packing are a costed change, not a favour, and they are far less expensive than the alternative.
Documentation
Commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading and certificate of origin go with every consignment, along with the HS code each product is classified under. Anything your market additionally requires is agreed in the quote.