The reference number, and what moves it
The planning figure most panel programs start from: a 40-foot high-cube container typically carries 800-1,200 sq m of panel. It is a reference, not a promise - the fill moves with panel thickness, with the packaging regime, and with how much of the load is not panel at all. Thick acoustic slats with PET felt backing consume cube faster than flat veneer sheets packed face to face; crated project stacks fill differently from palletized retail cartons; WPC profiles bundle tighter than boxed modules. And a real program rarely ships only panels: trims ordered by the thousand, mounting rails, spare cartons per color and sample stock all ride the same box, and every one of them takes space the panel area gives up. The figure is useful precisely because it is honest about its range - it tells a program whether the color ladder fits one container or must phase into two, which is a planning decision, not a freight detail. It sits alongside the other reference ranges on the MOQ and lead time page, confirmed in writing per program.
Why the crate plan is part of the order
A container of panels is loaded in an order that mirrors the job at the other end. The crate list is built from the wall drawings and the program sheet: which colors ship together, how many trims and rails each wall needs, where the spares sit. Loading follows rules that read like common sense and are occasionally ignored at cost: heavy pallets and boards low, boxed lengths braced so they cannot walk, mosaic and small cartons protected from crushing, nothing loose left to travel - a loose offcut becomes a projectile on a cross-swell. Crate order mirrors install order where the program allows, so the first panels off the container are the ones the crew needs first. The packaging builds behind the plan - corner-protected cartons, interleaved stacks, crated units - are specified on the packaging sheet described in the packaging note, and the regime decision feeds this one: cartons and crates fill a container differently, which is why packaging is fixed before the loading plan is drawn.
Mixed programs: one container, several lines
Ranges rarely stay on one line - a slat feature wall with veneer-clad joinery, trims to match both, perhaps felt and rails as line items. Minimums do not pool across lines: three colors spread across two lines is five production runs, whatever the container does. But one container can carry several lines, and planning it as one shipment is where the desk earns its keep: each line keeps its own lot, its own retained-swatch match and its own documents, while the loading plan treats the box as a single program rather than as leftover space around the panels. Production is phased so a delay in one line never holds the whole container hostage - lots that are ready load, and the plan says which. The container arithmetic also argues for the color ladder: concentrating area on core colors fills a box with depth, while a ladder spread thin hits per-color minimums and leaves a half-empty container doing full-container work.
FCL or LCL
| Mode | Fits | Handling | Packaging response |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCL - full container load | Ranges covering wall area; mixed lines in one box | One loading plan, one handling chain, sealed at stuffing | Standard cartons and crates as specified |
| LCL - shared container | First fills, top-ups, off-season restocks | Extra moves at consolidation and deconsolidation | Stepped-up cartons, edge boards, tighter crating |
The mode follows the program shape, not the other way round. LCL wins space economics at small volumes and pays for it in handling - for fragile-faced goods that is a risk cost even when it wins on freight, so packaging steps up to survive the extra moves. A range that lands under a container either runs smaller batches per color, consolidates more lines into one box, or waits for the next window - each choice has a lead-time consequence, which is why the mode is decided at the brief rather than at the booking. The mode table and the document set around it are on the logistics page.
Transit, samples and the calendar
Sea transit references the desk plans with: roughly 15-25 days to United States West Coast ports and 30-45 days to Europe, moving with season, routing and the port pair - planning figures, not arrival promises. Samples ride a different lane entirely: color cards and panel samples go by express, typically 5-8 days door to door, so the sample stage costs production days and almost no freight days. That separation is what makes backward planning work: from an in-warehouse date, subtract transit for the lane, subtract batch lead of 25-45 days for catalog colors or 45-60 for a first custom color, subtract the sampling stages of 5-15 working days and any custom proofing of 15-25 days - and the brief date appears. Programs anchored to a launch book this way on purpose; programs that plan forward from the brief usually discover the gap at the port. Press calendars also compress around holidays on both ends of the trade, which the seasonality note maps.
Documents, and who confirms what
The container ships with its paperwork: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, the program's certificates per lot - emission documents naming the mills and boards, fire report copies where a rating is quoted, chain-of-custody papers where origin is claimed - and the inspection record from the pre-shipment check. Documents are collected before production closes so every certificate matches a lot, never reconstructed after sailing. Classification is the broker's word: wood panels commonly sit in the HS 4411/4412 family, but the exact code follows the product construction and decides duty and entry paperwork, so the importing broker confirms it against the final specification and invoice - mixed programs classify line by line. Freight terms are fixed on the program sheet before booking, never improvised at the port. When the areas, the ladder and the destination are settled, the quote form captures them in one pass, and the container plan comes back with the quotation instead of trailing it - with panel formats and their effect on fill already covered in the sizing note.