Cheap/Free application or software to plan a container load?
I am part of a small organization, we have a product manufactured overseas and import it via container just a few times a year.
In the past we’ve used Excel spreadsheets and some franken-formulas to try to dial into the best way to pack the containers and order our production levels. We are looking to find a simple and more reliable way to calculate the best use of space.
What are some recommendations for cheap (or ideally free) solutions that would help us determine what we can fit into a container?
Ideally, something that I can load product specs into, then input expected amounts, and see how much space that would take up. Then add/remove product to get as close to capacity as possible.
But then, most importantly, some way to then communicate/illustrate how to actually pack the container? Our suppliers are often frustrated at trying to get our orders into the containers efficiently, because we’ve calculated the interior volume correctly, but the size and shape of our products might mean they cannot actually fit.
For a cheap solution, create a simple 3D layout in a spreadsheet with cells representing space, then manually arrange boxes to visualize packing. That can prevent volume miscalculations.
For planning container loads, I've been using https://www.cargo-optix.com/ and it works well. You can import your packing list from Excel, and it creates a 3D plan showing the crew exactly how to stack things. It also calculates spare capacity and gross mass for SOLAS. The free tier gives you 7 days of unlimited plans, then one per day, which might be enough for a few imports a year.