01Why this one keeps happening
Everybody knows pallets need treating. Most people know crates do. Almost nobody thinks of the loose wood used to stop a load moving as packaging at all — it is just offcuts, cut on the dock, five minutes before the doors close.
ISPM-15 does not share that view. The standard covers solid wood packaging material over 6 mm thick used in international trade, and blocking, bracing, chocks, skids, spacers and load-securing timber are all squarely inside that definition.
02What counts as dunnage
- Blocking and bracing timber wedged against a load
- Chocks under drums, coils and reels
- Spacers between tiers or between product and container wall
- Load bars' wooden components and improvised gates
- Skids and runners under machinery
- Internal bracing inside a plywood crate — the plywood is exempt, this is not
- Any offcut used structurally, however small, if over 6 mm thick
03The fix, which is genuinely simple
- Hold a stock of treated, marked dunnage lumber on the dock. Buy it treated and marked; do not cut it from whatever is lying around.
- Mark the rack. Physically separate treated lumber from general timber so the two cannot be confused under time pressure.
- Brief the people who cut it. This usually takes one conversation because the rule is simple once stated.
- Write it into the export checklist, alongside the pallet check.
- Check cut ends. A treated board cut in half remains treated — the treatment went through the wood, not onto it — but the mark may now be on only one piece. Mark both, or keep the marked end.
We supply pre-treated, pre-marked dunnage lumber in standard lengths for exactly this reason. It costs marginally more than untreated and it removes an entire category of risk.
04What it costs when it goes wrong
| Outcome | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| On-arrival fumigation | $400–$2,500 per container |
| Re-export of packaging | Full freight both ways |
| Destruction of packaging | Packaging cost plus handling |
| Delay and demurrage | Days to weeks |
| Loss of the delivery window | Whatever you sold that window for |
Against a rack of treated 2x4. The full scope of the standard is in ISPM-15 explained, and if you want to check a mark you already have, the stamp decoder will read it.
