A 40HQ container holds about 68 cubic metres. A 1,000 L trailed sprayer with a 12 m boom occupies roughly 11 cubic metres when the boom is folded and the drawbar is dropped. That is six machines per container on paper, and four in practice unless the packing was planned at the quotation stage.
Where the space goes
Folded boom width is the first constraint. A boom that folds to 2.4 m allows two machines side by side; one that folds to 3 m does not, and the difference costs a container. The second constraint is height: a machine on 10.0/75-15.3 tyres usually clears the door with the tank cap removed, but a machine on taller row-crop tyres does not.
- Confirm folded boom width, overall height on the shipping tyres and dry weight at the order stage.
- Ship with wheels on, axles blocked, and the drawbar removed where the model allows it.
- Strap to the container floor rings, not to the side walls.
What goes in the gaps
The space above a trailed machine's tank takes cartons of nozzles, filters, hose sets and manuals. Filling those gaps is what turns a four-machine load into a five-machine load without changing the freight rate. The parts are also the ones the dealer will need first, so they arrive with the machines rather than three weeks later.
Documentation travels with the container: commercial invoice, packing list with engine and chassis numbers, CE declaration where applicable, and a loading photo set taken after the doors are closed.
Freight is charged per container. Packing is charged per decision.
Loading sequence
Heaviest machine first, facing the door, with the drawbar toward the front wall. Reverse each following unit in. Leave a 400 mm walkway down one side so the surveyor can inspect the load without climbing over a machine.
Documents and port handling
The documents that travel with a sprayer container are the commercial invoice, the packing list with serial numbers, the bill of lading, the certificate of origin and, for Europe, the declaration of conformity. One missing serial number can hold a container at destination for a week, and the storage cost usually exceeds the value of the missing page.
Photograph the load after the doors are closed, with the seal number visible. If damage is found at destination, the photo set and the seal number are the two pieces of evidence that decide who pays.
Finally, confirm the container's internal height with the forwarder before loading. A 40HQ is nominally 2.69 m, but a machine built to 2.7 m will not enter, and rebuilding a boom on the dock is more expensive than any freight saving. If two models share a container, load the shorter machine first and the taller one at the door, so the boom of the second does not sit over the cab of the first.
Tell us the models and the destination port, and we will return a loading plan with the number of units per container before you place the order. See the 700 L trailed sprayer and the 1,000 L model.
