Wooden Racking is Outmoded

A highly informative article featuring great cars and how to protect them in transit can be found here. Many would be surprised and concerned about the use of outmoded wooden racking – from the point of view of those troublesome nails posing a threat to the paintwork; not to mention the issue of sustainability and simple economics.

The likes of BMW, Tesla and others would never dream of allowing their vehicles to be transported using wooden racking and here are some of the reasons why.

Unlike steel constructed racking, wooden racks cannot be re-used so have destroyed and thrown away after one use. They also have to be coated with some highly toxic chemicals and this is another complication environmentally speaking especially as the usual disposal method is by burning.

Logistically wooden racks don’t make sense. It’s understandable if you only need to transport one or two cars in a container and cost is not an issue, but if you want to get more cars into a container, steel racks are far superior, making space for 4 or even 6 cars, depending on the size of the vehicles. Plus, wooden racks are a less secure and more time consuming way of loading and transporting cars.

Finally, in our experience wooden wheel chocks are not approved for use on the US rail system so ultimately steel racks are the most reliable option. But don’t just take our word for it, ask the world’s leading automotive OEMs or read about a recent study on the sustainability of wooden racks versus steel racks here.