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How to Make Floor Loading An Efficient Shipping Option
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FLOOR LOADING BY INDUSTRY
Few things are more costly than having empty space in your shipments. Floor-loading can help make each load more efficient compared to pallet loads, deflating the amount of air in each trailer.
The majority of container imports are floor- loaded to maximize each expensive shipment. While palletized loads are more common in domestic shipments, floor loading is the favored option for ocean moves with suitable cargo and packaging. Many shippers are attracted to the advantages of floor-loading compared to palletized loads, or if they already floor-load, are looking for automated systems to make it more labor efficient and reduce product damage. Palletized loads are naturally less space efficient. A standard 53-ft. trailer can hold 26 to 30 standard-sized pallets. If the pallets are loaded to 8 ft. high or double stacked, they will, at best, use only about 80% of the trailer volume. Floor-loaded trailer pallets can get closer to 100% utilization, with multiple SKUs in one load. Given the 20% difference in loading capacity, every fifth floor-loaded trailer is essentially free compared to a pallet configuration. That reduces shipping costs and greenhouse gas emissions for the supply chain. Palletized loads have the advantage when it comes to the ease of unloading. A single fork truck can offload 26 pallets in about 30 minutes. A floor-loaded trailer that is unloaded manually can take considerably longer, with more resources required. However, a portable ergonomic conveyor system changes the equation for floor-loaded cargo. A portable conveyor places a platform and a conveyor at the box wall. Rather than lifting each box, workers slide it onto the conveyor without lifting, twisting, or carrying it. There’s less chance of product damage from the box wall collapsing, workers dropping packages to a conveyor belt, or manually carrying them off the truck. With an assist from a portable conveyor, a dock door may handle four trucks per shift instead of one. A warehouse with 40 doors could be downsized to 10, with improved ergonomics for employees limiting injuries and fatigue. Among the key benefits of using an ergonomic conveyor for floor- loads are worker retention, productivity, and safety, especially in competitive labor markets. Any shipper using floor-loading can dramatically improve efficiency with a portable economic conveyor. While shifting from palletized loads could be a significant undertaking, there are benefits with lower transportation and packaging costs and improved sustainability.
Portable ergonomic conveyors offer benefits for users across industries. Implementing floor loading starts with mapping the flow of products through the entire network from receiving to customer delivery. Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies where a portable ergonomic conveyor could add value through improved efficiency and lower labor requirements. O ● Retail. Floor-loading improves speed and efficiency, but receiving locations could benefit from portable ergonomic conveyors. More product delivered to store floors more quickly improves cash flow. O ● Ecommerce. Portable conveyors allow multiple package types to be handled efficiently. O ● Third-party logistics (3PL). 3PLs focus on optimizing inventory with floor-loading, whether a facility serves one client or multiple shippers. O ● Cross docking. Cross docks typically don’t have palletizing capabilities, so portable conveyors to unload and load trailers dramatically improve efficiency for floor-loads. O ● Parcels. Complex services with different divisions handle express, freight, and non- conveyable items, and portable conveyors can be configured to help handlers manage multiple packaging types. O ● Manufacturing. Companies that ship internationally can take advantage of portable conveyors to floor-load to serve their global customer base. O ● Tires. Entirely floor-loaded distribution with predominantly manual unloading. Portable conveyors address the ergonomic and safety challenges of heavy, oddly shaped products.
18 Inbound Logistics • May 2025
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