Freight waves states that ”One out of four containers that pass through US ports gets damaged at some interchange points”. Damage could be the result of natural disasters, human error, or machine malfunctions. The first human error usually is the wrong choice of container for your cargo. Something that can also impact how well you can stuff your cargo and avoid freight damages. Once you have the right container, it needs to be surveyed for previous damages, odors, holes, ventilation, cleanliness, temperature control, proper flooring. When the surveyor has given the green light to the container, it can be stowed, which brings us to the next issue which is stowing.

Bad stowing is one of the biggest reasons to cause physical damage to the container. Overloading the container, uneven distribution of the weight, tying up the cargo in a loose manner, or insufficient use of dunnage can cause the cargo to sway during the transport. This results from the lack of supervision of the shippers, lack of knowledge in cargo stowing, and trying to save costs without understanding the consequences.

The next influential factor in container damage is the weather. Weather is unpredictable and causes internal and external damage. The air near the ocean has high levels of moisture and when they get trapped in the container, they settle in the colder areas. When the container goes to a hotter region, the moisture condenses into water and climbs on to the walls and the ceiling and starts to drip down causing Container Rain. This results in rusting and corrosion of the container walls.

Containers can be deemed unworthy to use because of contamination. They could be contaminated with pests or sometimes odor. For instance, a container that previously carried food items can pass on the odor to the next cargo item such as clothing.

Container damages also happen while loading and unloading. Inexperienced fork lifters can cause punctures, dents, stack them unevenly, or drop containers. If the dents or punctures haven’t caused extensive damage they can be patched up. Because of the damage, containers sustain during transit and shipping, the boxes have to be inspected on a regular basis. One of the things that are checked, is the maximum load stacking capacity before it starts warping. That’s also called the Container racking Test.