Standard packing is built for a short trip by truck to a nearby dealer. Export packing is built for weeks in a container and several rounds of handling: stronger cartons, edge protection, treated pallets, strapping and wrapping. The tiles are the same; the protection around them is not.
When you ask for a quote, say clearly that you need export packing and describe what you mean. "Export packing" alone can mean different things to different factories.
What standard packing looks like
For domestic sales, tiles are often packed in lighter cartons and moved in stacks or on simple pallets. The trip is short, the truck is handled by people who know tiles, and the dealer is close by. Breakage is easy to replace.
That packing does not survive an export journey. A container is lifted, stacked, shaken at sea and unloaded at a port and warehouse you do not control. Weak cartons crush, unprotected corners chip, and loose stacks shift.
What export packing should include
- Cartons made of stronger corrugated board, sized closely to the tiles so they cannot move.
- Separators or protective sheets between polished or glossy faces, where the product needs them.
- Corner or edge protectors on cartons for larger formats.
- Pallets built for the load, made of ISPM 15 treated and marked wood, or of plastic or other non-wood material.
- Cardboard or wooden edge boards on the pallet corners, with strapping holding cartons to the pallet.
- Stretch wrap or shrink wrap to keep the stack tight and dust and moisture out.
- A pallet label with design, grade, shade, calibre, batch, box count and gross weight.
Large slabs
Large slabs are a special case and travel in A-frames or wooden crates. Our article on how large slabs are packed covers them.
Pallets or loose
Export packing usually means pallets, but some markets and buyers still load tiles loose, with cartons stacked directly in the container. Each choice has trade-offs for weight, unloading and breakage, explained in pallets versus loose loading. If you choose pallets, your market's rules on wood packaging apply. See ISPM 15 pallets for tiles.
How to specify it
Write the packing requirement into your purchase order. Name the carton board, the pallet type and treatment, the strapping and wrapping, the edge protection and the labels. Ask the factory for a photo of a sample pallet built to your specification before production.
Export packing adds weight. Pallets and edge boards count against the container's payload limit, so ask for the loading plan with the packed weight per pallet. At packing and loading, check that what was agreed is what is being used. Packing is one of the first things to slip on later orders.
Next step
We agree packing specifications with the factory and check them during packing and loading. To set the right packing for your route, book a free sourcing review.