Crating and export crates in Salt Lake City

Where I-15 meets I-80

Salt Lake City sits where I-15, running from Montana and Idaho down to Las Vegas and Southern California, crosses I-80, which runs from the Bay Area through Wyoming and on east. I-215 circles the valley. Union Pacific operates a major yard here, and the state has designated an inland port area on the west side of the city for logistics. Salt Lake City International is the cargo airport.

All of that means freight moves in two directions at once. A truck headed to Oakland shares the road with one headed to Chicago, and a crate built here may leave on either.

Aerospace, mining and medical manufacturing

The region is known for aerospace and defense work, much of it around Hill Air Force Base and the rocket-motor and composite plants north and west of the city. It also builds mining and mineral-processing equipment, medical devices, outdoor and sporting equipment, and data center hardware.

Mining machinery brings the heaviest crates: wear parts, pump housings, crusher components. Medical devices bring the lightest and most contamination-sensitive.

• Mining wear parts: heavy solid-lumber crates, bolted skid
• Pump and crusher components: skid-base crates, VCI
• Device assemblies: sheathed crates, indicators
• Composite and motor hardware: long, cleated crates with foam cradles

Long composite parts and cradles

Composite cases and structural parts can be long, thin and expensive. The crate has to support them at planned points, not along the whole length, and those points are normally shown on the customer's drawing. We build cradles from shaped lumber, line them with foam, and tie the part down with straps that do not cut into the surface.

A long crate needs more than a long skid. We add intermediate runners and a strongback so the base does not flex between forks.

Cold-weather handling

Winter brings cold docks and rapid temperature swings. When a cold crate is brought into a warm building, moisture condenses on whatever is inside. Pack with desiccant and a barrier bag, and let the closed crate warm up before it is opened. We mark the crate with a note to that effect when asked.

Snow and road salt are hard on bare lumber and fasteners. Sheathing the crate and using coated screws extends their life.

To the coast by truck or by rail

Export boxes from the valley usually head to Oakland or Southern California ports, loaded at the plant or at a rail ramp. Both routes are long enough that the crate spends days in transit. Blocking keeps it from sliding in the container, and a roof keeps rain from reaching the load at the terminal.

For air, the Salt Lake City airport handles cargo and connects to hubs. Air cargo is priced by dimensional weight, so we keep the crate tight.

Delivery along the Wasatch Front

Crates are built to order and delivered to the shipper's dock throughout Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front, from Ogden to Provo. We keep no facility or yard in Utah. For narrow docks, a knockdown kit is shipped with numbered panels and the hardware bag.

Tell us when the dock is staffed and whether you have a forklift rated for the crate's gross weight.

Mine-site spares and heavy wear parts

Utah mines run large equipment, and the spares for it are heavy: liners, rolls, shafts, bearing housings, hydraulic assemblies. A wear part that weighs a ton or more is crated on a skid with full-length runners and a top that can hold tarps and straps. The wood spec is heavy and the walls are minimal; the crate is a base with protection and not a box.

We ask for the gross weight and the lifting points. A crate with the heavy end unmarked is how a forklift driver ends up lifting at the wrong place.

What a Salt Lake City request should list

List the inside dimensions in inches, the gross weight in pounds and the destination country. Add the quantity and the date needed, and the lane the load takes, whether by truck to a West Coast port, by rail or by air.

If the part comes from a customer's drawing, send the drawing. If you reuse crates, say so; a returnable build costs more to make and saves money across repeat trips.