Securing glider trailers in shipping containers

On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 10:00:16 PM UTC-5, wrote:
There goes our U.S. fleet of gliders! I shipped my 24 to Israel from Michigan in an ocean container over road, rail and boat successfully. You may not know, but the container will have a oak floor just like a house. This makes securing things easy with screws, and is not frowned upon. As mentioned by others, and suggested by a soaring buddy formerly in the shipping business, everybody shipping cars uses 4x4s screwed to the floor to block the wheels. I secured 4x4s in front, back and outside each tire using long expensive hardened hex screws from Home Depot used for Deck Beams (about #12?). Pre-drill the 4x4s. When I screwed the 4x4s down, I placed ratchet straps underneath them to run over the top of the tires per my friend's suggestion. This worked great, but I didn't consider Mark's warning about a flat tire, luckily mine were new and survived the trip.

Not many shipping containers have tie down hoops along the sides, but some do. I told the shipping company that it must have these or I'd refuse it's delivery. It came with steel loops every two feet and was brand new, so straps were easy to attach. Made me feel bad about the screw holes in the floor.

The other thing I did in case the straps broke, was to use short lag bolts to screw the safety chains to the floor in a "Y" shape leading away from the tongue. I placed the tongue hard against the back wall of the box so the chains held the front of the trailer firmly down and forward against the wall.

Your requirement to remove the road gear makes some of the above challenging, and was also a requirement in Israel (can't import a trailer). My buyer removed the road gear at the port in Haifa before Israel customs did their inspection. This way he had the complete trailer eventually.

Hope it works out for you.

Virtually all our new and used glider purchases from Europe arrive here on Roll-on-Roll-off ships meaning the trailer is pulled onto a vessel that normally transports new cars to this country. Don't know how the trailer is secured on the ship but I have not heard of damage when the new owner goes to Baltimore for example to pick up the trailer. Obviously, the forces on trailer and glider en route are minimal and well managed by that configuration. Can't imaging that "trailer in container" would impose magnitudes of higher damage risks. Nailed chocks and proper tie-downs to secure the trailer relative to the container (no flex, SOF)should do the trick.

On Wednesday, August 13, 2014 11:00:30 AM UTC-4, wrote:

Virtually all our new and used glider purchases from Europe arrive here on Roll-on-Roll-off ships meaning the trailer is pulled onto a vessel that normally transports new cars to this country. Don't know how the trailer is secured on the ship but I have not heard of damage when the new owner goes to Baltimore for example to pick up the trailer. Obviously, the forces on trailer and glider en route are minimal and well managed by that configuration. Can't imaging that "trailer in container" would impose magnitudes of higher damage risks. Nailed chocks and proper tie-downs to secure the trailer relative to the container (no flex, SOF)should do the trick.

The problem with containers isn't so much the ride once the trailer is safely tucked aboard the ship (leaving aside heavy seas and being dropped overboard). It's what happens when the crane operators and truck drivers get hold of it. I did a small project for one of the top logistics companies two years ago, and as part of that I got a chance to watch how containers move between point A (i.e. where they are loaded onto a truck at your pickup point) and point B(i.e. when they are unloaded at the other end). Along the way, they may be loaded and unloaded several times, including being stored in intermediate locations in the port. Each one of those stops and starts can induce significant vertical and longitudinal decelerations. Here's a video of an operator being very careful, and you can still see some significant bumps. I have a video somewhere of containers routinely dropping from almost a full meter...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F55Zcvo0F8k