Pack n Send Blog

We are offering a few observations and suggestions about trade shows in today’s economy.

 Exposure is everything. Without business contacts and new customers most businesses will stay stagnant or decline in size. The objective here is growing your business. Trade shows are an excellent way to show interested customers what services and goods you offer and to update current clients on new products that your company is offering for sale. Trade shows also give you the chance to see what other businesses in your selling arena are offering their customers.

 We recommend sending two teams to trade shows. One team is to sell at a trade show. The other team you take should scope out your competitors and see what they are doing to attract clients. In a multi day trade show, why not have some employees to out the first day and see if there are possible business contacts that your company would like to attract. On days two and three, high level executives can zero in on these contacts and meet with their trade show representatives.  

 In a sense, you also need to be careful when sending out your best employees to trade show.  This is a great mining way for companies to hire employees from competing companies.

 There are few rules to follow when shipping booths to trade show exhibits. First and foremost when preparing for an out of town trade show, make sure that your booth is shipped in a crate or container that can be reused for shipping after the trade show.  Look for a crate builder that specializes in commercial crating. The center where you have the trade show should be able to store this container for you during the trade show.

 The trade show should provide its own outline of requirements. However, here are a few suggestions to ensure a hitch-free exhibit:

 Contact your shipping company well in advance of the trade show.  Ask for accurate shipping times. This way, you will be able to receive the most cost effective quote.

If you are going to a trade show outside of the United States. There may be special requirement for any films or DVDs that you may want to have running at your trade show. Think modesty in dress, or alcohol and cigarettes. Review these guidelines before your make your video.  For example: Singapore has its own regulations and care should be taken when planning to attend a trade show in Singapore. We recommend that you do not carry your videos with you when you travel. It may delay your customs clearance.

 Be advised while promptness is a wonderful quality for any business…usually…, it’s best to not ship your exhibit too far in advance. If you do happen to ship your exhibit early you are responsible for any freight you have sent. The receiving venue should provide you with receiving dates for the trade show that you are attending.  They have these in place for a reason, since they probably have back to back trade shows scheduled. Although some hotels may accept your freight, if you ship it to the hotel that you are staying at, you are still responsible to transport your exhibit to the trade show.

Lots of exhibits rely on giveaways containing product branding.  Again; here you will need to check the countries local laws for compliance. Some goods may be subject to duties or taxes. Prohibited items may be confiscated and not returned to your company.

Ask for the layout of the venue at least one week in advance. This will help you know if you need extra lighting or extra extension cords for your visit.

 When it comes to packing make sure your equipment and displays are packed properly. You can either do it yourself or have a packing specialist do it for you.

 We have offered only a few suggestions but they should help you have trade show that will you to focus on developing new business   and assist getting your product and information out in the public.

 For more suggestions about setting up for trade shows and trade show shipping, please feel free to contact pack n send in Houston. We not only handle domestic trade show shipping, but also international freight shipping from Houston Texas.

 While shipping artwork and equipment shipping are the norm, some customers now prefer to ship their furniture via freight.

What is the cost to ship furniture across country?  It depends on the size and weight of the furniture that is being shipped. When you freight furniture on a pallet, you can request curbside or inside delivery.

This option is often helpful to use for out of the way communities. Sometimes a small blanket wrap move is expensive when you are moving to states such as Washington, New Hampshire, or even the south part of Florida. It is best to ask for both a blanket wrap price as well as a freight price when moving a small amount of furniture.

When you freight furniture, you may be able to receive the furniture faster than if you have a blanket wrap truck move.  While  traditional moving trucks may need to wait to be filled up before leaving a city,  a pallet of furniture will be usually be  able to move within a day of being loaded onto a pallet.

We also look at freighting for businesses shipping small amounts of machinery. Businesses can look at consolidating machinery shipments onto custom made pallets. That way, the machinery can be shipped via freight. Freight companies will call a day ahead of time to schedule deliveries. That way personnel can be on hand to accept the delivery.

So what are the drawbacks to moving a small amount of furniture via freight?  None that we can think of.

We also have advice for choosing the correct company to freight your furniture or machinery. Since some items can be delicate or time sensitive delivery requirements, it is important to look for a company that has been in business for many years, has a good reputation, and has a brick and mortar location.

The company that you choose needs to be able to freight anything you need shipped. From car engines and household goods, to automobiles and furniture, the company that you choose should have experience freighting a variety of items. Ask them about custom platform and custom crate building, as well as their ability to block and brace shipments. You may not know what this entails, but they should be able to explain their freight preparation to you in terms that you will then understand.

Look for a company that offers personalize service. Each shipment should be handled individually to serve the customer's unique needs. If you are planning on shipping internationally an example would be international furniture shipping, the company should offer both palletized hipping as well as containerized loading and shipping for larger shipments. Be sure to see if containers are necessary for your shipping, or if the company can quote you by the cubic meter.

Small loads like, car doors, auto parts and furniture all can be placed on pallets, surrounded by cardboard, and then strapped with metal banding for shipping.

Computers should be packed in boxes, shrink wrapped and send out on skids. Small amounts of household goods should be packed in boxes, loaded onto pallets and then shrink wrapped. Household and business furniture are safely put on pallets as well. Once again, for international shipping, make sure the company has experience both loading and processing international paperwork.

Car engines are strapped to pallets. Large and small households are boxed and loaded into containers for overseas shipping.

Look for a company that can accept your inbound freight into their warehouse on your behalf. Make sure they can then deliver the freight to you.

If you have any questions about freighting furniture or machinery, or are looking for shipping companies in Houston or elsewhere in the United States, please feel free to call pack n send at 713 266 1450.

EUROPE – Flagship, the Pan European maritime transport project part funded by the EU, claim they have now developed software that can forecast the condition of a ship’s hull over time to help improve the efficacy of surveys and reduce the amount of time a vessel is out of service. The consortium of various stakeholders from the freight and shipping and academic sectors say their new hull condition assessment is designed to accurately predict the condition of a vessel’s structure, coating and components, enabling ship owners and operators to schedule maintenance in a more efficient manner and thereby reduce maintenance costs while improving safety at sea.

The system, known as Flagship-HCA is intended to extend the life of the existing fleet of Tankers and Bulk Carriers by up to five years, with a 10% to 20% reduction in service repair costs for ships throughout their life-cycle. One of the primary concerns for ship owners and Class societies is that of corrosion of the ship’s structure and this is the target of the new system.

Flagship-HCA includes three primary tools which enable the ship owner and classifier to exchange hull data in real time, based on crew inspections and maintenance work as well as periodic measurement campaigns. Firstly, the toolset includes the Survey Advisor Tool (SAT) which advises surveyors where individual ships are most vulnerable and therefore where they should concentrate their investigations.

Secondly, the Hull Health Programme Advisor (HHA) optimises the survey and maintenance programme taking in to consideration the vessel’s work schedule and the predicted structural integrity of the vessel. Finally, the Corrosion Parameter Prediction Tool which takes the results of a survey or set of surveys and update a database if corrosion parameters associated with every aspect of a ship’s hull – based on observed rules and results.

Designed to assist ship owners and surveyors Flagship-HCA enables ship owners to schedule vessel maintenance and ship replacement more accurately than has been possible to date. Its objectives include not only optimising existing asset lifecycle and investment decisions but can also provide the Class Societies with more robust data upon which to base their rulings.

The project was led by the BMT Group in the UK and was supported, delivered and trialled in conjunction with Marintek of Norway; Bureau Veritas and Sirehna of France, Germanischer Lloyd of Germany and Portline - Transportes Marítimos Internacionais, of Portugal. Mr Herman de Meester, Coordinator of Flagship, commented:

“Flagship has pursued the twin objectives of reducing still further both risk and the environmental impact of the world’s commercial fleet whilst generating the opportunity for real commercial benefits. Flagship-HCA is a tangible example of the maritime industry collaborating to improve performance and efficiency in everyone’s best interests.”

By extending the life of ships, we can all help our environment.  We have reprinted this article from the  Handy  Shipping  Guide as a service to our customers.

For more information about shipping from Houston, Texas and freight forwarding Houston, Texas, please feel free to contact pack n send at  713 266 1450.