Heavy, Large or Unusually Shaped Item Shipping

Understand the factors you need to consider when shipping big items like pallets or importing inventory as freight

If you have a single large item or even a pallet, your regular parcel shipper may be capable of handling that type of shipment for an additional cost. 

However, if you are using your local postal service you may be more limited. For some postal services an oversized shipment is more than 108 in./275 cm combined length and girth and they cannot take a shipment over 130 in./330 cm. Heavy shipping is often considered to be more than 70 lbs./31.5 kg. 

If your current shipper can't handle your heavy, large or unusually shaped items, you may want to first explore a similar parcel shipper with a wider range of capabilities, before you venture into contacting a freight forwarder. 

Within the shipping industry, any shipment of more than 150 lbs. or 68 kg is considered freight. Freight can be a single large item, or many items collected and packaged as part of a pallet.  

When it comes to preparing your large freight shipment, you'll want to consider: stackability, forkability, and tilt, shock and vibration prevention. Your shipment may be able to be boxed, crated or palletized. But if you're stacking items on a pallet, you'll want to consider stacking design and edge protection as well as shrink wrapping or banding. 

If your large shipment is too large or heavy for a parcel shipper or you need additional collection services like dock pickup, you may need to consider a freight forwarder. 

A freight forwarding company works as an intermediary between you and the company with the planes, ships, trucks or rail cars that will move your freight. Because these companies aggregate shipments from many customers, they can negotiate better rates with the owners and operators of the mode of transport. 

Most freight forwarding companies move things in pallets or large shipping containers. But that doesn’t mean you need to have a full shipping container before you can use a freight forwarder. Freight forwarding companies offer services like Full Container Loads (FCL) or Full Truck Load (FTL), as well as Less than Container Load (LCL) or Partial Truck Load (PTL) for your heavy freight shipment. 

Many freight forwarders also offer shipment consolidation services, so multiple orders can be bundled from various customers or suppliers in single or multi-country origin locations, and loaded into dedicated Full-Container-Load (FCL) containers. So there are lots of options to consider when you are working with a freight forwarder. 

Since freight shipping is a complicated subject with lots to learn about, our team of experts from DHL Global Forwarding developed a Freight Forwarding Education Centre to teach you all about it. So your small or medium-sized company can benefit from a cost-effective and safe large freight shipment. You will find all the needed information in there: from the size of containers and vessels to the ins and outs of Freight Liability, explore the DHL Global Forwarding Education Center.

Let’s hear from some customers who have used DHL for a large Freight and Oversized Shipment.