8 January 2016

Great risk of corrosion during container shipping

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sea container avoid rust during container shipping

Corrosion problems caused by the harsh environment at sea are well known.

The most critical point for components and machines is when products are to be transported. Most of the time, the transports take a long time and you lose control over your goods.

The container environment, especially in sea freight, is probably the worst environment that the product will be exposed to during its entire life, and all too often you get corrosion problems.

Most companies lose control as soon as the container leaves the company and the following factors then affect the components in the container:

  • Weather impact (rain, salt, air, sandstorms)
  • Customs (packaging/packages are opened and do not reseal)
  • Forwarding agent (goods remain on the quay in extreme cold/heat for a long time)
  • Murphy's Law (things happen that you could never count on)

Carry out a risk analysis - avoid corrosion during container shipping

Tribotec therefore recommends that a risk analysis be carried out well in advance in order to be able to prevent as many negative factors as possible to the greatest extent possible. Our experience says that you can reduce corrosion problems in sea transport with up to 98%, which means enormous cost savings. Rust not only attacks the products, but ultimately also the relationship with the end customer.

Risk analysis implementation

  1. Present situation/future (How does it look today and what do we want to achieve with the corrosion protection)
  2. Test proposals (Based on the current situation analysis, we provide test proposals)
  3. Implementation (Test/ sample packing)
  4. Follow-up (Documentation of test / cancellation / goods value)
  5. Decision ( Choice of protection method)
  6. Implementation (Training / packing instructions / cooperation agreement / continuous improvement)

Depending on the goods to be sent and the final destination, there are many different corrosion protection solutions available. A contact protection is often needed in combination with a barrier protection. In some cases in combination with some form of absorbent material. The most important thing is to design the packaging protection according to the destination and the material to be protected. The costs of creating a good corrosion protection are not as high as many people think, but relatively low. If you put the costs of the corrosion protection in relation to the value of the goods, the decision becomes quite easy to make.

The technology is tried and tested and is already used by the leading export companies in the Nordics. Below you see an example of a completed job.

The corrosion protection group at Tribotec produces risk analyzes and packing instructions. You can read about all of them vci corrosion protection solutions which is available here.

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