There are always concerns when shipping packages or moving freight. You might worry that they will not arrive on time, or that they might get damaged in the process. You may think about packing them correctly or just how the weather can affect them. These are all valid concerns that need to be addressed. Doing so prior to shipping your items will help solve most of your problems – and stop the damages from happening. However, thinking about the weather can often be hard. It is a pretty unpredictable factor, so you will basically need to prepare for everything. A safe bet, though, would be to examine all the risks and solutions that come with cold weather shipping. Luckily for you, Four Winds Saudi Arabia is here! Today, we give you the basic things to remember when shipping items during winter.
Examine the items you have for cold weather shipping
The first thing you will want to do is start planning ahead. The sooner you start – the better! Moving in bad weather can be hard, and you might need special packing supplies which you cannot really get in a rush. So, think about your items. Examine the shipment carefully, as well as its properties. The main question you want to be asking is whether the cold can damage what you need to send. There are certain items that are cold-resistant, but there are some unexpected candidates that cold can basically render unusable:
- electronics and appliances can cause a lot of trouble during cold weather shipping,
- wooden furniture needs proper care,
- fragile items like glass, dishware, and mirrors can break with ease,
- musical instruments are expensive to replace and
- plants cannot stand the cold.
The problem with electronics and appliances
Cold weather shipping of electronics and appliances always come with risks. This is because these can often be tough or expensive to replace, and they have a ton of little bits and pieces that can get damaged easily. Electronics like your TV and stereo sets, computers and laptops, office supplies and video game equipment are all prone to these damages. What happens is that, as the air in the shipment cools down, condensation can form within these appliances. And we all know just how dangerous water can be here.
To fix this problem, you need to use good packing materials – or call some professional cargo transportation services. The best solution is to use moving blankets – these will insulate the items more than usual. If you can, you should also use plastic bags (with seals) to pack small pieces of the equipment. That way, you can stop the water from coming inside the bag. Also, you should give your electronics at least 24 hours to thaw out a little after cold weather shipping before turning them back on.
You should also be careful with appliances that use water. If there is any residue during the move, this water can freeze and then expand. In doing so, it can cause irreparable damage to your appliances. To stop this, you should again use moving blankets. However, even before you wrap them all up, make sure you drain your appliances thoroughly and dry them the best you can.
Care for your wooden furniture and antiques
One of the biggest concerns during cold weather shipping is wooden furniture and antiques. Damages in these items often cannot be fixed even by an expert, so you will need to do anything you can to stop it from happening. What can happen is that low temperatures and humidity can crack or warp the wood. These can also ruin screws, bolts, glue or even the fabric upholstery.
To stop it, you will need to use wax. Put a layer on all your wooden furniture prior to packing everything up. The best time to do this is a few weeks before you ship them – this is why you need to start preparing for cold weather shipping in advance! This way you will stop moisture from appearing, or you can seal it off with the wax. It will also prevent any scratches, or dust and dirt to gather on your furniture and damage it even more.
Another good idea would be to disassemble anything you can. Then, you can carefully wrap everything piece by piece – which will increase the protection of the item. Use moving blankets as well as shrink wrap for this. Same goes for your instruments – the only thing to remember is to also loosen up the strings if an item has them!
Make sure fragile items don’t break
Fragile items are a hassle to take care of even when moving them during regular conditions, but cold weather shipping makes this even worse. Just like when you move and pack valuable items, you will need to take special care of fragile ones as well. They can become brittle when traveling in the cold more. After that, it’s only a matter of time before something chips or breaks off.
To stop this, again, you will need to insulate them well. Lucky for you – sets of ceramic cups and similar items can easily be disassembled. Just pack them up individually in rags, packing paper and bubble wrap – anything that will stop the cold from creeping in. Again, you can put extra blankets on top of everything to make sure they are warm during the travel.
Plants may cause problems
Plants may be the most difficult thing to work with during cold weather shipping. Usually, the house plants cannot tolerate the cold inside the truck. This is one of the reasons why movers won’t even transport them at all. The way to reduce this risk is to carefully wrap the pots in the wrapping paper to insulate the roots. If possible, try to move them in your private car.
