Load securing, also known as cargo securing, is the securing of cargo

Cargo

Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...

 for transportation. According to the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 Transportation Department “it has been estimated that up to 25% of accidents involving trucks can be attributable to inadequate cargo securing”. Cargo that is improperly secured can cause severe accidents and lead to the loss of cargo, the loss of lives, the loss of vehicles, or cause environmental hazards.

Background

Because of globalization

Globalization

Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...

, the subsequent flow of goods that are transported over greater distances, containerization

Containerization

Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...

 and new regulatory measures will lead to a greater demand for efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly cargo restraint products.

Many types of cargo such as corrugated fiberboard boxes are often formed into a unit load

Unit load

A unit load combines individual items or items in shipping containers into a single "unit" that can be moved easily with pallet jack or forklift truck...

. This often consists of items on a pallet

Pallet

A pallet , sometimes called a skid, is a flat transport structure that supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, pallet jack, front loader or other jacking device. A pallet is the structural foundation of a unit load which allows handling and storage efficiencies...

 unitized by stretch wrap

Stretch wrap

Stretch wrap or stretch film is a highly stretchable plastic film that is wrapped around items. The elastic recovery keeps the items tightly bound...

, shrink wrap

Shrink wrap

Shrink wrap, also shrinkwrap or shrink film, is a material made up of polymer plastic film. When heat is applied it shrinks tightly over whatever it is covering. Heat can be applied with a hand held heat gun or the product and film can pass through a heat tunnel on a conveyor.-Composition:The...

, pressure sensitive tape

Pressure sensitive tape

Pressure-sensitive tape, known also in various countries as PSA tape, adhesive tape, self-stick tape, sticky tape, or just tape, is an adhesive tape that will stick with application pressure, without the need for solvent, heat, or water for activation...

, or strapping

Strapping

Strapping, also known as bundling and banding, is the process of applying a strap to an item to combine, hold, reinforce, or fasten it. The strap may also be referred to as strapping...

. Larger shipping container

Shipping container

A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes...

s such as crate

Crate

A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport large, heavy or awkward items. A crate has a self-supporting structure, with or without sheathing. For a wooden container to be a crate, all six of its sides must be put in place to result in the rated strength...

s are often on skids and are ready for loading. These unit loads are placed in intermodal container

Intermodal container

An intermodal container is a standardized reusable steel box used for the safe, efficient and secure storage and movement of materials and products within a global containerized intermodal freight transport system...

s, truck

Truck

A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...

s, or railroad car

Railroad car

A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...

s for shipment. Some large bundled items or large machinery are placed directly into or onto the transport vehicle for shipment.

Load securing functions to hold the unit pallet loads, crates, or other items immobile and secure. An unsecured load can shift in transit and create dangerous dynamics, damaging the cargo and the structure of the vehicle or intermodal container

Intermodal container

An intermodal container is a standardized reusable steel box used for the safe, efficient and secure storage and movement of materials and products within a global containerized intermodal freight transport system...

.

Methods

There are many different ways and materials available to stabilize and secure cargo in vehicles and intermodal containers.

Fasteners

Depending on the type of load and the particular vehicle, large bolts and nails may be used. These may be on the load itself or on wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

 blocks used to brace the load.

Dunnage

Dunnage for securing cargo has included scrap wood to fill voids in cargo, wooden boards forming "cribs", blocking and bracing, and modern mechanical, spring-loaded post-and-socket systems, Dunnage segregates cargo in the hold and prevents shifting of the cargo in response to ship or vehicle motions.

Strapping

Strapping is used to create a transportable unit. Types of strapping include steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

, polyester

Polyester

Polyester is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term "polyester" as a specific material most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate...

, polypropylene

Polypropylene

Polypropylene , also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications including packaging, textiles , stationery, plastic parts and reusable containers of various types, laboratory equipment, loudspeakers, automotive components, and polymer banknotes...

, nylon

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...

, paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

, and composites. The type of strap used depends on the requirements, for example, strength, elasticity, ability to withstand various environments, easy of use, safety, and cost.

All types of tensioned strapping, particularly steel, need to be handled carefully because of potential injury.

Lashing

Lashing is the securing of cargo for transportation with the goal of minimizing shifting. Items used for lashing include rope

Rope

A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...

s, cable

Cable

A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...

s, wire

Wire

A wire is a single, usually cylindrical, flexible strand or rod of metal. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads and to carry electricity and telecommunications signals. Wire is commonly formed by drawing the metal through a hole in a die or draw plate. Standard sizes are determined by various...

s, chain

Chain

A chain is a sequence of connected links.Chain may also refer to:Chain may refer to:* Necklace - a jewelry which is worn around the neck* Mail , a type of armor made of interlocking chain links...

s, strapping, and net

Net (device)

A net, in its primary meaning, comprises fibers woven in a grid-like structure, and is very infrequently mentioned in discussions of philosophy. It blocks the passage of large items, while letting small items and fluids pass...

s. These items are anchored to the container and tensioned against the cargo. Another form of lashing used four devices attached to the top of each corner of a container. Lashing is products and methods are governed by various authorities such as the Association of American Railroads (AAR) for rail transportation in North America, the international Maritime Organization (IMO) for ocean transportation and the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA).

Dunnage bags

Whereas strapping and lashing is often used to secure odd-shaped cargo such as machinery, structures, and vehicles. Dunnage bags are mostly used for homogeneous shaped cargo such as food & beverage products, electronics and appliances and roll paper. Often, strapping/lashing and dunnage bags are used in combination to secure chemical products. Dunnage Bags are not approved for rail transportation of hazardous materials in the United States.

Dunnage bags, also known as air bags, were introduced some 40 years ago as a convenient, fast and cost effective alternative to secure and stabilize cargo in ISO sea-containers, closed railcars, trucks and (ocean going-) vessels.The purpose of dunnage bags is often misunderstood when they are considered as a void filler only to prevent lateral movement of cargo. When properly applied however, dunnage bags form a 3-dimensional bulkhead of the cargo itself preventing both lateral and longitudinal movement.

Tie downs

Heavy loads are sometimes secured to vehicles with tie down straps

Tie down straps

Tie down straps are fasteners used to hold down cargo or equipment during transport. Tie down straps are essentially webbing that is outfitted with tie down hardware. This hardware allows the tie down strap to attach to the area surrounding the cargo or equipment, loop over the cargo or...

 or tensioned chains.

See also

• Break bulk cargo
  Break bulk cargo
  In shipping, break bulk cargo or general cargo is a term that covers a great variety of goods that must be loaded individually, and not in intermodal containers nor in bulk as with oil or grain. Ships that carry this sort of cargo are often called general cargo ships...
  
  
• Haulage
  Haulage
  Haulage may refer to:* The business of being a haulier or hauler , also called haulage contractor, common carrier, contract carrier, or private carrier, in other words of transporting goods by road or rail for other companies or one's own company.* The horizontal transport of ore, coal, supplies,...
  
  
• Stevedore
  Stevedore
  Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
  
  
• Unit Load Device
  Unit Load Device
  A unit load device , is a pallet or container used to load luggage, freight, and mail on wide-body aircraft and specific narrow-body aircraft. It allows a large quantity of cargo to be bundled into a single unit. Since this leads to fewer units to load, it saves ground crews time and effort and...
  
  
• Intermodal freight transport
  Intermodal freight transport
  Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation , without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damages and...
  
  

Standards

• ASTM D3953 Standard Specification for Strapping, Flat Steel and Seals
• ASTM D3950 Standard Specification for Strapping, Nonmetallic (and Joining Methods)
• ASTM D4649 Guide for Selection and Use of Stretch Wrap Films
• ASTM D4675 Standard Guide for Selection and Use of Flat Strapping Materials
• ASTM D5728 Standard Practices for Securement of Cargo in Intermodal and Unimodal Surface Transport