How to Pack Line in a 20 Foot Shipping Container

Coiled line is too heavy to lift by hand.

Line is transported coiled on pallets due to its weight: 3 inch, three-strand nylon mooring line weighs almost 1 1/2 pounds per foot. A single coil is made of 600 feet of line. This means that the palletized rope weighs 855 pounds, plus the weight of the pallet. These coils are stacked two high and two across. Depending on the size of the pallet, the size of the line and the method of coiling a 20-foot container can carry between twenty-eight and thirty coils.

Things You'll Need

• Forklift

Instructions

1. Move the forks of the fork lift into the slots of the pallet on which the coiled line came from the shipper. Lift the pallet with the forklift.

2. Move the forklift into the container and set the pallet in place. Repeat until you have one row of pallets of line across the front of the trailer. Set a 4-by-8 foot sheet of plywood on top of the coils of line.

3. Stack the next pallet of line on top of the plywood, directly over the first pallet loaded. Repeat until you have a second row of pallets of line across the front of the container. Continue stacking the pallets of line, one row at a time, working from the front of the container to the rear, until the container is filled.

Tips & Warnings

• Forklifts should only be used by trained operators.

References

• "The American Merchant Seaman's Manual"; W. Hayler; 1981