Freight transportation of paper, choosing the right way to transport paper products

Despite the fact that mail and journalism have largely moved online, the demand for paper, paper products, cardboard, and raw materials for their production — cellulose — remains high among consumers. The capacities for paper production are generally located far from the main consumption areas, so the transportation of cellulose-paper products constitutes an important part of freight flows.

Features of cellulose, paper, paper products, and cardboard as cargo

There are many types of paper products. These include writing paper, photographic paper, drawing paper, cardboard, etc. In transportation, when referring to paper, rolls and stacks of this material are meant. Paper products refer to any items made from cut paper, including packs of paper (writing paper, etc.).

A distinctive feature of all paper products is their ability to actively absorb moisture and change their properties under its influence. Wet paper and cardboard warp, curl, lose gloss, change color, that is, they lose their consumer properties, in other words — they spoil. The main task of preserving the quality of paper and cardboard during transportation is to protect the cargo from the effects of atmospheric and other moisture. Additionally, paper can be soiled or torn by protruding elements of the vehicle, and it needs to be protected from this.

The second distinctive quality of paper products is their flammability. In the cargo compartment during the transportation of paper products not by road transport, but by other means, or during storage, open flames and heat-generating devices should not be used.

Rules for transporting cardboard and paper

Freight transportation of paper products is subject to the following rules:

• The cargo compartment must be thoroughly washed and dried before transporting paper.
• If paper is transported in the form of sheets, it must be wrapped in 5-6 layers of packaging paper, placed between two wooden boards, secured with steel straps. Ideally, sheets packed in this way should be placed in wooden boxes, but stacks can also be transported.
• If paper is transported in rolls, they must have tight packaging consisting of intermediate and 5-6 layers of outer packaging paper. If the paper in the roll is intended for printing, the roll must be packed in waterproof film or paper.
• The weight of one box or roll of paper must not exceed 1 ton.
• Usually, rolls of paper are placed in transport on their ends. The height of the stack of rolls of paper must not exceed 2.5 m. The stacking height is no more than 2 tiers. If the paper is in stacks, stacking of no more than 2 tiers is allowed, with a stack height of 1.8 m. Paper rolls are sometimes transported on their sides by road transport, in which case the outer rolls of the bottom row are secured with special wedges sharpened at 40°.
• Transportation of paper is carried out using covered types of transport that exclude the impact of atmospheric precipitation on the cargo. When transporting paper by sea, it is necessary to monitor the humidity level in the cargo compartment.

Transportation of paper, cardboard, paper and cardboard products by various types of transport

Paper products, as cargo, can be transported by all types of modern transport: air, road, water, rail.

For transporting paper and cardboard by road, tarpaulin or all-metal vans, trailers, and semi-trailers are used. For transporting paper products by rail, covered wagons are used. For transporting paper by sea, there are specialized cargo compartments on the ship. Air transport is rarely used for paper cargo due to high delivery costs, or as finished products. Within multimodal transport, all types of modern freight transport are capable of transporting paper and cardboard products packed in ISO containers.

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