Crating control panels and switchgear

Tall, narrow and top-heavy

A floor-standing cabinet has a small footprint for its height, and its weight sits high when it carries drives, busbars or transformers. A hard brake or a pothole will tip it if it is only strapped to a pallet. The crate has to be wider at the base than the cabinet, and the cabinet has to be held at the bottom and at the top.

We build on a skid with side rails and a rigid top frame, so the cabinet is trapped in all directions. A tip indicator on the crate wall shows if it was laid over at any point.

Wiring harnesses, terminal strips and relay sockets lie behind the doors. Ask the panel builder whether internal shipping restraints are required, such as foam blocks wedged under heavy contactors, or cable ties around swing-out sub-panels. Remove them only at commissioning, and keep them for the return trip.

Bolting the cabinet down

Most cabinets have base channels or floor holes meant for anchoring. We bolt through those into the skid with lag bolts or through-bolts and fender washers. If the cabinet has lifting eyes at the top, they are not used for hold-down; instead the top is braced to the walls with timber blocking and bracing.

A lineup of several panels is shipped as split sections where the maker allows it, each with its own base bolting. The shipping split is a joint decision: tell us where the maker separates the busbars and we draw the crate sections around it.

• Base bolted to skid at every anchor hole
• Top braced to the crate frame with timber
• Doors closed and latched; loose hardware bagged inside
• Breakers racked out or held with shipping braces, per maker
• Lifting eyes capped or left clear for the crane

Doors, screens and instruments

The front of a panel carries the delicate parts: touchscreens, meters, indicator lamps, selector switches and glass windows. We lay foam over the whole face and add a rigid board that stands off the doors, so a shifted timber can never touch the screen. Door handles are turned to the shut position and taped or fitted with shipping clips.

Rear access panels and ventilation louvres are covered. Anything that projects from the cabinet, such as a handle, antenna or beacon, is removed and packed in a separate box strapped inside the crate.

Condensation is the quiet killer

Switchgear and control gear fail from damp more often than from bumps. Moisture condenses on busbars and on circuit boards as a container cools at night. We wrap the cabinet in a barrier bag with desiccant sized to its cube, and add VCI emitters for the bare copper and plated parts. Read the [desiccant sizing guide](/guides/desiccant-sizing) to see how the amount is worked out.

A humidity indicator card goes where the receiver can read it without cutting the bag open. If the card turns, the unit is dried before it is energised.

Marks and handling

The crate shows the centre-of-gravity mark on two sides, sling points matching the cabinet's lifting eyes, and fork entry on the skid. This-way-up arrows are on every side. A tilt warning, a keep-dry symbol and a do-not-stack mark finish the set. The [tip and impact indicators guide](/guides/tip-and-impact-indicators) explains the devices.

Never stack on top of a panel crate. The [sheathed crate](/crates/types/sheathed) page describes how the plywood skin carries side loads while the frame takes the lift.

Splitting a lineup for the dock and the door

Plant rooms have narrow doors, tight corridors and sometimes a staircase. A lineup that is perfect on a drawing can jam on site, so we plan the shipping splits with the installer's route in mind. Measure doorways, lift cars and turning spaces, and send the smallest clear opening with the quote request.

Each section gets its own tag and a drawing reference so the lineup can be reassembled in order. Joining hardware, busbar links and gaskets travel in a labelled box fixed inside the matching crate, never inside the cabinet where it can rattle against a breaker. Anything the electrician needs on day one is listed on the crate wall.