Crating and export crates in Cincinnati

An air hub on the Ohio River

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, known as CVG, sits across the river in Hebron, Kentucky, and is a large cargo hub for express and freight carriers. The Ohio River carries barge traffic past the city, with terminals on both banks. I-71 runs northeast to Cleveland and southwest to Louisville, I-75 north to Dayton and Detroit and south to Lexington and Atlanta, and I-74 and I-275 handle the cross traffic. CSX and Norfolk Southern both serve the metro.

That mix makes air the lead mode for urgent crates and barge or rail the choice for heavy, patient ones.

Jet engines, machine tools and process equipment

Cincinnati is known for aerospace propulsion, with a major jet-engine manufacturer on the north side and a supplier base around it, along with machine tools, industrial controls, food and consumer-goods processing equipment and a regional strength in fabricated metal.

Engine parts are expensive and often ship by air; machine tools and process lines are heavier and go by truck, rail or barge. The crate follows the mode.

• Engine components: cleated plywood crates, foam blocking, air-ready skids
• Machine tools: skid-base crates, strongback, lag-bolted
• Process lines: modular crates, labelled by section
• Spares kits: standard-size cleated crates

Building for CVG

Air carriers load freight on unit load devices and pallets, and the crate base must work with a pallet loader and a forklift. A tight crate saves money, since cargo is charged by dimensional weight. We keep wall thickness to what the load needs and keep the tare low.

Dangerous goods get packed to their own rules, outside the scope of what we build. If your engine part includes a sealed battery or a fuel residue, tell us before we close the crate.

Express carriers sort freight fast and by machine. A crate with sharp protruding hardware or loose banding catches on belts, so we countersink fasteners, and keep the exterior clean, with labels on flat panels.

Barge freight on the Ohio

Heavy machinery moving by barge is lifted on and off by crane. Slings go under the skid or through lifting eyes on the strongback. We mark the sling points on the crate, build the roof to resist crushing from straps and fit a drip edge, since open barges get rain.

A crate for barge service is a work of practical simplicity: runners, a bolted load, a few cross-members and a roof.

Locks and low water can stretch a river schedule. A shipper who needs a delivery on a fixed date should plan the barge leg with slack, or ship by truck and keep the barge for loads that can wait. The crate is the same either way, but its roof and drip edge matter more on the slow route.

Delivery across the tri-state

Crates are built to order and delivered to the shipper's dock in Cincinnati, northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana, from Blue Ash and West Chester to Florence and Hebron. We keep no yard or facility in the region. A knockdown kit suits shippers who crate in an assembly bay with a narrow door.

Share your carrier's pickup time at CVG and we plan around it.

Export notes for Cincinnati loads

Export crates need HT lumber and the IPPC stamp where the destination applies ISPM 15; plywood is exempt per NELMA. Your forwarder or the receiving plant-protection authority sets what applies.

For repeat shipments, such as a monthly run of engine parts to the same customer, we keep the crate spec on file.

Machine tools bound overseas are commonly crated with the table and spindle locked, loose accessories boxed separately and a packing list on the lid. Tool manufacturers publish lifting diagrams, and we follow them for fork pockets and sling points. Where a tool has a crated electrical cabinet, the cabinet travels upright and shows tip indicators on two sides.

Crating sensitive jet-engine parts

Engine parts are made to tight tolerances and often have coatings that must not be marked. A blade set or case section sits in a cavity cut from foam, and the foam sits inside a cleated plywood shell so that no wood touches the part. Fasteners and small hardware travel in a labelled bag fastened inside the crate.

We build to the drawing provided and note the revision on file. When the part changes, the crate follows.

What a Cincinnati request should include

Give us the inside dimensions in inches, the gross weight in pounds and the destination country. State the quantity, the date and the mode: air through CVG, truck, rail or barge.

For repeat shipments, mention the cadence, such as weekly or monthly. The crate spec stays on file, and each new order ships in the same build.