Logistics by product

Beer Logistics & Export Shipping

Beer is the format-driven lane. What limits a beer shipment usually has less to do with the beer than with what it has been packed into.

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Warehouse racking holding shrink-wrapped pallets of cased goods

The three export formats fail their container in three different ways. Bottled beer carries the heaviest packaging weight per litre, so a bottled load reaches the payload limit long before it fills the floor — planning it is a weight calculation first. Cans invert that: they are light enough that the load runs out of cube before it runs out of tonnes. Kegs are a third case again, because returnable steel brings deposit and pool obligations that follow the container rather than ending at delivery.

Temperature is the quality variable. Beer holds condition best between +10 °C and +20 °C, and sustained exposure above +30 °C measurably increases the risk of accelerated ageing, flavour change and stress on the packaging itself over a long sea leg. The damage is rarely done by a single peak; it is done by the day-and-night cycling a dry container goes through week after week on an equatorial routing.

The risk that surprises first-time shippers is water. Moisture carried in the cargo and in the cartons condenses on a cold container roof overnight and rains back down onto the load — it ruins cartons, labels and pallet integrity long before it ever reaches the liquid. An insulated liner is the cost-effective mitigation, damping thermal shock and, in the versions with a breathable membrane ceiling, stabilising humidity; a reefer is the answer when the route or the value of the load justifies active control. Excise duty, documentation and labelling rules then vary market by market and are confirmed per destination.

Planning reference

Logistics reference figures for Beer
Working temperature band	+10 °C to +20 °C
Elevated-risk threshold	Sustained exposure above +30 °C
Reefer control range	-30 °C to +30 °C
Bulk option	Flexitank, non-carbonated formats only
Binding container constraint	Bottled: payload weight. Canned: cube.

Planning figures, not commitments; the quotation is what binds. Industry reference data published by Hillebrand Gori.

Shipping questions

Does beer need a refrigerated container?

Often not. A dry container with an insulated liner handles most northern-hemisphere routings, because the liner limits heat ingress and damps the day-night cycling that does the cumulative damage. A reefer earns its cost on long equatorial legs, in summer sailings, or where the consignee specifies active control — it holds a set point across the whole voyage rather than merely slowing the swings. We recommend against the route and season rather than by default.

What is container rain, and how is it prevented?

Moisture held in the cargo, the pallets and the cartons evaporates as the container warms, then condenses on the steel roof as it cools overnight and drips back onto the load. It damages cartons, labels and pallet stability well before it affects the beer. It is controlled by managing moisture at loading, by desiccants, and by liners with a breathable membrane ceiling that lets vapour out instead of letting it collect.

Can beer be shipped in bulk?

Only non-carbonated formats. A flexitank is an unpressurised bladder, so anything that has to hold carbonation must stay in packaging built for pressure — bottles, cans or kegs. For standard carbonated lager the practical export formats remain cased goods and kegs.

Product availability is subject to stock, destination, packaging specification, applicable trademark rights and territorial distribution restrictions.