Guidelines help keep the dents out of paper shipments: here's a boxcar load of resources to help keep rail shipments safely on track.

No matter how good the product is when it leaves your mill or finishing line, if it gets banged up in transit, you have problems.

Secure and safe product shipment has been an ongoing concern among a broad cross-section of groups involved in paper transport. A few of the groups that have worked to develop and promote safe shipping practices include the following:

* the Association of American Railroads (AAR; www.aar.org) and its Railinc subsidiary (www.railinc.com),

* the Gravure Association of America (GAA; www.gaa.org),

* the Shipping, Receiving, and Warehousing Committee (SRWC) of TAPPI's Finishing and Converting Division.

Rick Agar, sales and logistics manager for St. Mary's Paper and one of the projects officers for the SRWC, gave an overview of paper transportation issues identified in collaboration with colleagues at GAA and TAPPI at the 2001 GAA conference. Among the top transportation issues identified by Agar in presentations coordinated by Nick Armbrust of Lydall Logistics were these:

* Cradles for jumbo rolls and methods to handle and ship them by flatbed, truck, and rail;

* Methods to minimize transit damage and waste;

* Development of uniform industry standards.

Agar also presented special reports from GAA's publication paper committee. One report concerned efforts to minimize transit damage and waste when shipping roll paper (see www.gaa.org/GCIC/proceedings/GCIC_2001/waste.pdf). It includes a short list of transit damage types (crushed cores, flat spots, edge damage, gouged rolls, etc.) and possible causes and preventive actions.

In another special report, Agar presented the case for industry standardization for jumbo roll transport and posed several questions relating to safe securement of loads. Newly standardized guidelines for securing loads in Canada and the United States should be available later this year (see www.ab.org/ccmta/guide.pdf).

Many rail companies that transport paper provide guidance and tips for loading rolls (and logs, pulp, pallet, and related commodities). Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (www.bnsf.com), for example, has posted loading diagrams and tips on its web site to help its customers prevent damage. For intermodal shipments, it provides a guide to loading paper rolls and flat stock in trailers for transport by rail at www.bnsf.com/resourceprotection/html/intermodal_loading_guide.html. The Union Pacific Railroad has posted a guide to load restraint methods at http://my.uprr.com/pub/damprev/loading/intguide/intgui2.shtml. Canadian Pacific Railway includes rolled paper loading tips in the shipping resources section of its web site (http://www8.cpr.ca/cms/English/Do+Business/How+to+Do+It/Shipping+Resources /default.htm).

Software packages to help optimize load patterns also are available from many vendors and consultants. (A few examples are found at www.ortec.nl/loaddesigner.html; www.teamlogisticscorp.com; and www.logiplan.de/english/produkte/loaddesigner/produkte_loaddesigner.html.)

In recent years, rail car design changes have resulted in a significant reduction in paper roll denting and increased load capacity. Many North American rail and leasing companies have increased the number of 60-ft., 100-ton capacity, "high-cube" box cars or "Plate F" railcars available for shipping paper. CSX Transportation spent US$ 16 million to have 220 of the "Big Blue" cars built in 1999 and received the first of those in March 2000. The new cars were designed with input from Bowater Inc., the company's largest newsprint shipper, and other paper customers. They include such features as smooth interior walls and softer-riding wheel trucks.

The "high-cube" cars can accommodate jumbo rolls and sometimes carry triple-stacked regular size rolls. Railinc (www.railinc.com) is a rich source for information about optimal intermodal and rail car loading practices. Two of its recent publications are "Best Practices for Loading Roll Paper in Rail Cars," available for US$ 40, and "The Intermodal Loading Guide for Paper Products in Closed Trailers and Containers," priced at US$ 40 for Railinc/AAR members or US$ 80 for nonmembers.

When loading rolls two or three layers high, shippers need to determine whether the combined center of gravity might exceed the safe limit for the car. Railinc's "Circular No. 42-J: General rules covering loading of carload shipments of commodities in closed cars" includes a formula for calculating combined center of gravity for roll paper.

Guidelines are only effective if they are followed, of course, so training is an essential component of efforts to reduce shipping related hazards and damage.