Detect and avoid transport damage
4min read
03/12/2024
Sometimes the use of filling and cushioning materials is not enough. When shipping particularly sensitive products, such as delicate medical equipment, rough handling can cause transport damage despite shock-protective packaging. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon, as one of our customers had to discover: The three pallets with electronic measuring equipment left the factory in perfect condition, meticulously checked and properly packed. Somewhere along the transport route, the consignment must have suffered damage.
Indicators for transport monitoring
It may be a long time and a long distance that products spend “in someone else’s hands”. In addition to good packaging with cushioning protection and the careful selection of suitable service providers, a Transport and shipping labelling packaging can make a difference here: Warning stickers and labels provide information about the contents and proper handling.
Who is liable for transport damage?
If a shipment is damaged during transport by truck, air or sea freight, this often means additional expense for all parties involved: for the shipper, recipient and carrier. Who is liable for transport damage? In this context, it must be clarified whether and under whose responsibility the damage occurred during transport.
Transport monitoring
If a package arrives damaged on the outside, it is obvious that something went wrong during transport. The question of liability is also relatively easy to answer. However, improper handling is not always obvious at first glance. Apparently undamaged parcels are no guarantee for a flawless delivery. Those who do not want to open every parcel directly upon receipt and check the condition of the delivery should resort to indicators.
Shockwatch ® Shock indicator shows transport damage
Our customer, for example, now relies on a little helper for handling their products beyond the factory gates: Using the Shockwatch ® sticker on the package, it can be logged along the transport chain whether and when improper handling has taken place. This is because the shock indicator contains a small precision glass tube with red liquid. Due to surface tension, the liquid is held in the tube at a point that is covered with plastic and therefore not visible.
If a previously defined acceleration is exceeded (when the package is thrown, tilted or dropped), the surface tension breaks and the red liquid becomes visible throughout the tube. In this way, it is immediately verifiable that the package was subjected to a shock.
Which shock indicator do I need?
To ensure that the Shockwatch ® does not trigger too early or too late, you need to know the size of the package as well as the total weight of your package. In addition to the Shockwatch ® (suitable for smaller and rather light packages), the Shockwatch ® 2 is now also available as a variant for very heavy and large packages weighing up to 14t and a size of 305 m³. This variant offers a further advantage:
Compared to the Shockwatch ® shock indicators, which are always “active”, the Shockwatch ® 2 is only activated before it is attached to the package. This allows an uncomplicated transport to the place of use and a simplified handling of the indicators before use.
Tiltwatch ® tilt indicator shows transport damage
There are many reasons why a package should not be turned or tilted. If TOP should really stay TOP at any time during transport, this special indicator is the right one. It triggers at a tilt angle of more than 83°.
Avoid damage due to humidity and temperature fluctuations
But it is not only “rough loading” and the associated damage such as knocks, falls or the tipping of sensitive goods that can lead to problems during transport. For many products, humidity and temperature fluctuations are a real danger. On the basis of Humidity indicators can be used to display the humidity level in the package in increments of 10. Monitoring temperature ranges during transport works in a similar way: the Temperature indicator WarmMark indicates not only whether the optimum temperature range has been exceeded, but also for how long. Also the Temperature indicator ColdMark “forgives” short-term temperature fluctuations and only triggers when the temperature exceeds 30 minutes or more.
Top priority: Avoiding transport damage
Since our customer has been using the Shockwatch ®, none of the labels have ever been triggered, the goods have always survived the transport without any problems. And that is basically the whole point: A very visibly and extensively marked package (with the help of the supplied warning label) is treated with greater caution. Thus, these indicators are not only suitable for damage detection, but also particularly for damage prevention, especially for the shipment of electronic equipment, medical devices, precision equipment, glass or ceramic products, as well as products from the mechanical engineering or automotive industries.
