Standard dry shipping containers (TEUs) are the backbone of global commerce, but they adhere to rigid internal dimensions. For shippers dealing with specialized industrial equipment or heavy-duty machinery, a standard box simply won’t work. This is where the flat rack container becomes an indispensable tool, enabling the seamless movement of non-standard, heavy, and bulky goods across the world’s oceans.
Choosing a flat rack over a standard container is a decision driven by cargo dimensions, weight, and critical operational needs.
Defining Out-of-Gauge (OOG) Cargo
A shipment is classified as Out-of-Gauge (OOG) when it exceeds the internal dimensions of a standard 20FT or 40FT container in height, width, and sometimes length.
- Standard Envelope Limit: Cargo that is even a few inches too tall or too wide to pass through the container’s door frame or fit between the interior walls is immediately disqualified from using a dry box.
- Flat Rack Design: A flat rack consists only of a floor and two end walls (fixed or collapsible). This design completely eliminates the restrictive side and top walls, allowing cargo to stick out, or “over-gauge,” on three sides. This minimal structure allows for the transport of items that are impossible to containerize otherwise.
Typical Cargo That Requires a Flat Rack
Flat racks are the workhorses of the project cargo and heavy-lift industries. If your business deals with any of the following, a flat rack is the required solution:
- Heavy Machinery: Excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, and other earth-moving equipment.
- Large Industrial Components: Turbines, generators, transformers, large pressure vessels, and heat exchangers.
- Oversized Materials: Large timber logs, bulky metal coils, or lengthy structural steel beams and pipes.
- Construction Modules: Pre-fabricated sections for bridges, construction sites, or modular housing units.
- Transportation Equipment: Large boats, yachts, or oversized vehicle chassis.
Operational Benefits: The Ease of Loading
Beyond merely accommodating oversized dimensions, the flat rack offers crucial operational advantages that simplify logistics and reduce labor costs:
- Top and Side Access: The lack of fixed side walls or a roof allows for loading and unloading using powerful overhead cranes or specialized side-loaders. For heavy, awkward items, this top-loading capability is the only safe and efficient way to position the cargo.
- Robust Floor Structure: Flat racks are engineered with exceptionally strong steel floors capable of bearing enormous weight and concentrating that weight onto a much smaller surface area than a standard container. This makes them ideal for dense, heavy objects like steel coil or concrete blocks.
The flat rack container is the necessary link that connects the large, specialized world of industrial manufacturing and construction to the standardized logistics infrastructure of global shipping.
Ready to move your biggest, heaviest cargo with confidence? Explore our inventory of reliable Flat Racks and other special equipment options at fredemi.org.
You can find a visual explanation about different types of special containers in How to handle Over Gauge cargo? Explained the features of special containers.
