Roller & Compactor Container Shipping

Rollers packed by machinery specialists

Rollers look simple to ship until you consider what a padfoot steel drum does to a wooden container floor. Without proper floor protection or loading technique, the drum can punch holes straight through the floor, leading to a costly repair bill at the other end. This is why we typically ship most rollers from Australia as RoRo cargo: their low volume and decent weight make them ideal cargo.

However, when moving multiple units (10–14 t size) to locations like Vietnam, where container freight is negligible, it makes complete sense to pack them inside containers. The issue is that most rollers in Australia have enclosed cabs, which typically need to be removed from the chassis. This makes loading two complete units per 40’ HC very difficult, as the detached cab takes up considerable space in the container. That’s why we recommend consolidating three rollers per shipment, so the detached cabs fill the vacant space in the second container.

To make things more difficult, brands like Dynapac have cabs welded into the chassis, making cab removal impractical. In those instances, the rear wheels and roller drum need to be removed, and packing these units becomes more complicated as they are then non-runners.