40HQ Looks Full but Underweight: Common Mistakes on Bale Size and Density for Nigerian cardboard Exporters

Many Nigerian OCC exporters find that their 40HQ containers look completely full, yet the actual weight is still disappointing, keeping freight cost per ton stubbornly high. The root cause is often not the container, but the combination of bale size and density.

1) Mistake 1: focusing on bale size only, ignoring density

• Some yards focus solely on “how big the bale is”, assuming that bigger bales are always better;

• With insufficient baler tonnage or poor stroke settings, they end up with bales that look large but have many internal voids;

• As a result, containers are visually full, but the loaded weight remains low.

2) Mistake 2: chasing bale weight while compromising safety

• Another approach is to make bales very tall to maximize weight per bale;

• This increases forklift and stacking risks in the warehouse, and any collapse can be costly and dangerous;

• For export, if bale dimensions do not match the receiver’s storage conditions, extra issues and charges may arise.

3) Using a 125-ton horizontal baler configuration as a reference for “40HQ-friendly” bales

In practice, many exporters choose a bale footprint around 1100 × 1200 mm (L × W) to match 40HQ layouts. Using a typical 125-ton horizontal OCC baler as a reference, you can think about optimization this way:

• A main cylinder like YG250/180-4200 with roughly 125 tons of thrust allows you to reach high density at moderate bale heights, instead of endlessly increasing height;

• A feeding opening of about 2200 × 1100 × 1100 mm makes it easier to load whole and flattened cartons evenly, reducing internal voids;

• A hydraulic system working at around 25 MPa with an A7V-160 main pump plus YCY25 auxiliary pumpprovides both compaction force and reasonable cycle times;

• With such a setup, typical bale weights reach the “hundreds-of-kilograms range” (depending on paper grade, moisture and loading method), making it easy to organize rows and columns in a 40HQ container.

The key is not to memorize a single “magic weight”, but to define a target density range suitable for your material mix, and then work backwards to decide baler tonnage and parameter settings.

4) Test parameter combinations to find your own loading strategy

• On your baler, test 3–5 parameter combinations with different pressures and loading patterns, and weigh the resulting bales;

• Draw simple layouts showing how each bale size/density combination fits inside a 40HQ container and compare theoretical tons per container;

• Choose a solution that combines safe stacking and attractive tons per box, and formalize it as a standard in your operating procedures.

Summary

For Nigerian exporters, increasing the average weight per 40HQ container is not about packing “as tightly as possible”, but about reaching the right balance between bale size, density and container layout. Using a 125-ton horizontal baler configuration as a reference, first decide what tons per container you want to achieve, then choose tonnage, stroke and loading methods accordingly—this approach is far more effective than simply asking “What’s the maximum weight per bale?”