How a Roaster Is Loaded: LCL, FCL and Container Planning

A crated roaster is a heavy, awkward object that will be lifted at least four times between our plant and your floor. Whether it arrives as it left depends on the crate — covered on the export packing page — and on how it is loaded and secured for the voyage. This page covers the second part, and the decision that comes before it: how much container you actually need.

Where this step sits

Loading follows export packing and precedes the issue of shipping documents. It is the point where the machine leaves our control and enters the forwarder’s.

LCL or FCL?

LCL (less than container load) means your crate shares a container with other shippers’ cargo. You pay for the volume and weight you use. It is the normal choice for a single small or mid-size roaster — an SD-1.5 crate of 1300 × 490 × 960 mm at around 180 kg does not justify a container of its own.

FCL (full container load) means the container is yours. A 20-foot container is the usual choice for a larger roaster with its accessories, for a roaster plus destoner, loader, smoke filter and packaging equipment, or for a distributor’s multi-machine order. FCL costs more in absolute terms but less per machine when the container is reasonably full, and the cargo is not handled at a consolidation warehouse on the way.

The choice is made on the crate dimensions and weights on your spec sheet, which is why they are published per model. We will recommend LCL or FCL with the freight estimate on your quotation, and you can take the same figures to your own forwarder.

How the crate is loaded and secured

Crates are loaded by forklift from the long side of the base. Inside the container, a crate is positioned against the container wall or floor fittings and secured so it cannot move in any direction during the voyage: blocked and braced with timber, strapped to the lashing points, and — for LCL — positioned by the consolidator against other cargo with the same care. Heavy crates go on the floor; nothing is stacked on a roaster crate.

Before the container doors close, the load is photographed. Those photographs, together with the packing photographs taken before the crate was sealed, are what document the machine’s condition at dispatch.

Combining a roaster with other equipment

Many orders are a line, not a machine: roaster plus destoner — the accessory most often added to a roaster order in our records — loader, ESP filter or afterburner, and filling and sealing equipment — see roastery equipment. Shipping them together in one container is cheaper than shipping them separately and keeps the whole project on one document set. Tell us the full list when you enquire and the freight estimate will cover the combined load and the container size it needs.

What this means for you

• You know before you order whether you are paying for a share of a container or a whole one, and why.
• The machine does not move inside the container; it arrives as photographed at dispatch.
• Adding a destoner or a spares kit to the same shipment costs freight only for the extra volume, not a second shipment.

How to verify this on any roaster

Ask the supplier for the crate dimensions and gross weight of the model you are buying, in writing, and for photographs of a loaded container from a previous shipment. If the dimensions are not available before you order, you cannot get a real freight quote — and neither can they.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use my own freight forwarder?

Yes. We give your forwarder the crate list, dimensions and weights and hand the cargo over at the agreed point — EXW at our plant or FOB at Shenzhen port. See shipping documents for the terms.

Can a crate be loaded into a 20-foot container through the doors?

Standard 20-foot container doors are about 2.28 m wide and 2.26 m high. All our single-machine crates fit; industrial machines ship as multiple crates or on open-top or flat-rack equipment where required, which is confirmed at quotation.

Is air freight possible for a small roaster?

Yes, for the smallest machines — an EC-500G or a DY-1 — where speed matters more than cost. Our shipping from China guide compares sea and air.

Do you ship to a port or to my door?

Either, as agreed on the quotation: to your port with customs clearance handled by you or your broker, or door delivery arranged through our forwarder where the destination allows it.

Final thoughts

Container planning is arithmetic on numbers we publish, and loading is craft we photograph. Together with the crate itself, they are why a machine inspected on video in our factory is the machine you unbox. Next: the documents that travel with the container. Or return to the full build sequence.

Last updated: September 17, 2026