Packing and labelling hotel FF&E for export from Turkey

A hotel order from Turkey can be several thousand boxes for one building. Packing decides two things: whether the pieces arrive undamaged, and whether the site team can find them. Rovers inspects each piece before packing, packs to the room schedule, and loads to the order the site installs.

Crates or cartons

Upholstery is wrapped in film over a breathable layer, then boxed, so fabric doesn’t mark and moisture can escape.

ISPM 15 in one paragraph

ISPM 15 is the international standard for wood packaging. Solid wood packaging over 6 mm thick must be treated (for example, heat treated to 56 °C for 30 continuous minutes through the wood) and marked with the IPPC symbol, the two-letter country code, the producer’s code and the treatment code (HT or MB). Packaging made only from plywood, OSB or fibreboard is excluded (IPPC). An untreated or unmarked crate can be held, treated or sent back at the border, with the furniture inside it.

Moisture

A container at sea heats by day and cools by night. When the air inside drops to its dew point, water condenses on the roof and drips onto the cargo. The CTU Code (IMO/ILO/UNECE) puts the moisture content of dry pallets, dunnage and packing at about 12% to 15%, and says desiccants generally fail when the cargo itself is not dry when packed.

What that means for furniture:

• Board and solid timber are dried before machining, and packing timber is dry when the crate is built.
• Pieces are packed after the finish has cured, not on the day they are lacquered.
• Film goes over a breathable layer, and boxes stand off the container floor on pallets or bearers.
• Upholstery and mattresses sit away from the container doors and walls.

Labels: one box, one room, one piece count

Every box carries the same label layout, in English and, where useful, the site’s language:

A piece that ships in several boxes (a wardrobe, a headboard with its panels) shows “box n of m” on each, so the installer knows when a piece is complete. Hardware bags are taped inside the box of the piece they belong to, labelled with the same item code.

Crate list and load plan

The crate list is the packing list sorted the way the site works: by floor, then room, then item. Each line carries the crate or box number, the item code from the FF&E schedule and the piece count. Totals per item reconcile to the schedule before the container is closed.

The load plan sets which floor goes in which container and in what order. The first floor to be installed goes in the first container, loaded so the boxes for the first rooms come out of the door first. Heavy crates go low and over the axle; nothing heavy sits on a carton. On a hotel renovation, the same plan runs per room block.

What to check on arrival

1. Seal number on the container against the bill of lading.
2. Photos of the doors and the load before unloading starts.
3. Crate and box count against the crate list, floor by floor.
4. Any crushed, wet or open box noted on the delivery note before it is signed.
5. Damaged boxes opened within the period the cargo insurance sets, with photos of the piece in its packing.
6. ISPM 15 marks present if the crates go on across another border.

What to send us

Send the FF&E schedule with room numbers, the site’s install sequence by floor, the delivery address and access limits (lift size, unloading hours, storage), and the Incoterm. The crate list and load plan come back with the production plan.