Before you start thinking about solutions to prevent condensation in shipping containers, it helps to understand what causes condensation in the first place.
Air humidity is linked to air temperatures, however changes in air pressure, often experienced by freight ships travelling long distances, can cause relatively rapid changes, leaving cargo exposed to severe moisture damage.
Condensation is typically found to spread across container ceilings and the first six inches on the sidewalls when a container is sealed.
Shipping out! How do I protect the goods?
Shipping goods by container? Don’t despair: you can ship your shipping container without any harmful moisture damage with the help of desiccant bags. These allow you to protect your sensitive goods from exposure to the detriments of container moisture. You can use anti-humidity bags to effectively protect products during long-distance transit.
Here is a guide to choosing the best desiccant for different types of shipping. With a range of fixture types available, it has never been easier to capture unwated container moisture before it can get in and ruin precious goods.
What is ‘Container Rain?’
Containers travelling long journeys to their destination can be on the water, in container yards or other storage for months on end, meaning any moisture trapped inside the container when it was shipped, will have a long time to degrade and destroy cargo. Container rain refers to when these build ups create droplets, which drip onto cargo, causing severe dampness and more often than not, significant damage.
The damage risk posed by container rain
The damage caused by container rain is, in fact, easy to imagine. Labels come unstuck, boxes become moist, metal rusts, and wood deteriorates.
When packaging sustains damage, it can render a product unsellable or unusable and can also cause logistical problems, where units become less structurally integral than the similar products its stacked or stored with. Additionally, the products inside are at risk at this point. A container sitting for days in a container yard may have the same problems as those traveling through bad weather at sea. The problem is caused by internal moisture, rather than external humidity.
The solution: highly absorbent dehydrating chains
When the temperature rises, the humidity in the air, on packaging, and the contents of the container evaporate naturally. When the temperature drops, it thickens along the walls and ceiling of the container, causing rain to fall inside the container.
That is why it is crucial to protect the goods from the “container rain”. The dehydrating chain prevents the parcels from getting seriously wet and even the cargo inside the container. Labels damaged by moisture likely become usless and can prevent the goods from getting to the right recipient.
Container moisure is a signficant threat to cargo and the capital invested in it, making it important to invest in container desiccants to protect vulnerable goods.
Benefits of using container desiccants
These are “chains” of absorbent bags, containing a mixture of calcium chloride and other extracts, a substance thathas a high absorption capacity – more than 2x it’s weight.
These desiccants can absorb enormous amounts of moisture compared to ordinary silica gel or other absorbent material. However, this is not its only advantage. Indeed, it also provides the following benefits:
- They absorb moisture but only activate when the humidity level exceeds 40%. (Rising similar to those found on a beautiful spring day.) A variety of unfriendly phenomena can occur at this threshold, such as for mold, corrosion, bad odours, and severe condensation leading to further damage.
- They do not take up too much space: Thanks to their minimal thickness, they can easily attach to the high mounting slots on the sides of the container. It gives you countless benefits without taking up valuable space in the container itself.
Finally, remember that this is a disposable product. Using new chains for each shipment means making sure you always have maximum protection inside the container.
How do desiccants work?
Our anti-humidity desiccants, in a nutshell, consist of:
Calcium chloride can absorb much more than silica gel (unlike silica gel, it releases irritating leaching because it absorbs water).
Absorbent substances, often gels or substances from plants, primarily absorb rinsing water and prevent damage to containers or cargo.
The packages must, in any case, be well secured (even ordinary sheets of nylon or polyethylene will suffice) to prevent them from being damaged by a few drops of rinsing water from the desiccants, especially if the journey is too long.
Temperature changes between day and night create additional air moisture and spoil goods. Put unique products (silica gel bags) in specific containers or quantities inside the container, depending on the type of use.
Protect your Container product with Britwrap Moisture Absorber
At Britwrap, we offer high-performing moisture-absorbing desiccants. They are perfect for storage and long-distance removals.
Our desiccants lower air humidity by absorbing up to 200% of its weight in moisture. This prevents mold, mildew, odors, and corrosion from damaging your valuables.
There are a range of desiccant sizes, strips, and poles to suit different requirements.
- Blanket = 12 bags in the form of a blanket with adhesive pads at the bottom. Its absorption capacity is 3 liters.
- Hook = 5 consecutive bags with hooks for extra-strong hanging with 1.2-liters absorption capacity.
- Pole = 12 bags of 100 grams wrapped in protective cardboard and hooks for hanging. It can absorb 2.4-liter moisture.
- Strip = 6 packs of 125 grams with a robust adhesive application on the back. Its absorption capacity is 1.5 liters.
- Single = single desiccant packages with 0.25 liters absorption capacity.
