Machinery:
Machinery can be classified as a single unit or the parts of a machine collectively. Machinery is used to make anything from boxes to bottles or they can be used on a farm to harvest and pick the food that we find at our local supermarket. Machinery can be used to assemble finished goods or can be used in the production line of a factory to bend a piece of metal to a certain shape. Regardless of the type of machine, machinery of all kinds makes our daily lives easier, more efficient and in many cases safer. Many of us interact on a daily basis with all different types of machines and some of us need them in order to make our businesses more efficient and or safer. Technology in the field of robotics and machinery is always in perpetual motion and manufacturers are always seeking the next best thing. As older machines are replaced with state of the art machinery the older or less efficient machinery finds it way to the used secondary market. This is where many people seeking to buy a machine at a lower cost find themselves with the need to educate themselves about the cost of shipping a machine from one point to another.
How to calculate density for machinery shipping?
Shipping machinery can be confusing, to say the least for many people. The reason shipping machinery is confusing is that freight companies consider machinery to be a density-based item. What is a density-based item you may ask? A density-based item is rated using the dimensions of the pallet or crate, it is not like other products that fall into one of the 18 categories for freight classification. Machinery is just one of many products that are classified as density based. Density-based shipments are calculating using the overall volume of the shipment.
How to figure out your density to prepare for shipping?
In order to calculate your density you must first multiply the length x width x height and divide your answer by 1728, this will give you your cubic feet. For example if you have a machine that is 48 x 40 x 50 and weighs 1100 pounds if you apply the previous mathematics you can surmise that the example machinery is 55.55 cubic feet. Now once you have your cubic feet you have to take the weight and divide it into the cubic feet (1100 / 55.55) this will finally give you your density. In this case the density would be 19.80 now if your machinery is on a pallet the freight class would be freight class 70 but if it were in a crate the freight class would be 60. There are 3 freight classes that your particular shipment can fall into if it is palletized and 3 other freight classes for crated shipments. If you want to save money on your shipping charges have you machinery crated and this will lower your freight class and also provide you with a safer transit.
