Crating services are critical for shipping large cargo packages long distances and overseas. Crating services specialize in packaging goods to protect them from damage during the shipping process. Many services offer direct pick up from your place of business.

When you are in the market for crating services, you will want to arm yourself with some basic information before choosing a provider. Consider the following as you search for crating services:

1. Ask plenty of questions to determine the best crating service.

2. Get an accurate quote from a crating service and consider getting more than one quote to find the best deal.

3. Ship hazardous materials safely with crating services.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Determine the best crating service company for your goods

Having a basic understanding of crating services and packaging products will help you to choose the best provider for your goods. Ask as many questions as possible to determine which provider you will use. Ask about on site pick up of goods, product packaging and crating materials, tracking capabilities, customs and tariffs for overseas shipping, as well as bonding and insurance for product protection.

I recommend: MagicYellow.com provides a guide to choosing crating services. It provides some important questions to ask crating service companies. American Export Packing and Crating has a guide to packing materials on its site.

Find the best deal for crating services

An accurate quote will help you to determine precise shipping and crating costs for your goods. For an accurate quote, gather the following information: The height, width, depth and weight of the item. Determine the amount of insurance you will need for each item. For domestic packages, you should also have the departure and destination city name and ZIP code, but have the entire address for overseas shipping.

I recommend: Mail Stop (M/S) Crating Services is a crating service. It has measurement guidelines on its site for help in getting accurate crating and shipping quotes. For more information to include to get an accurate crating service quote, visit the Handle With Care Packaging Store. You can get a quote from this provider or use its form as a guideline when requesting quotes from other providers.

Follow safety guidelines to ship hazardous materials (hazmat) with crating services

Shipping materials that are hazardous requires special packaging. When dealing with these types of materials, it's critical to use a crating service that is knowledgeable and experienced with hazmat.

I recommend: AllTransPack is a crating service company that handles hazardous materials. Its site contains a listing of materials that the US government considers hazardous. HAZPlus is a crating service that specializes in UN regulations for hazardous materials. It has specialists that will walk you through the crating process to make sure you properly package your hazardous materials.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When you are looking to save money on crating services for transportation, look into packaging the goods yourself and using the crating services for delivery purposes only.