An HVAC manufacturer shipped overlength freight on two straps. Then the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) changed its rules to require three, and the carrier could not honor a $16,000 claim. That is the story as Geoff Stephany, director of cargo claims and security at Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL), tells it in a post on the carrier’s site. He puts it bluntly: “First and foremost, improperly packaged freight is our number one issue.”
What a carrier’s claims desk points to
Stephany ties denials to a written standard. “If the shipper packages their freight in accordance with NMFC recommendations, typically, there’s no issue.” Crates are a frequent offender: “Item 245 of the NMFC outlines exactly how a crate should be built,” he says, and a crate that falls short of it, even slightly, may not qualify as a crate, which alone can get a claim denied. ODFL now puts the NMFC item number and the failed packaging details into the denial itself.
NMFC is the rulebook ODFL names for less-than-truckload freight, and the shipping packaging requirements in it are what a claims desk checks first. For containers and other cargo transport units, the reference is the IMO/ILO/UNECE CTU Code. A 2017 TT Club news item quotes Captain Richard Brough of ICHCA calling it a non-mandatory code of practice that is, as of 2017, thoroughly referenced in the IMDG Code. The same item says TT Club’s own claims analysis suggests that 65% of cargo damage results from poorly packed, blocked or secured cargo in cargo transport units, particularly freight containers. The walkthrough on how to pack the container to the CTU Code goes through it.
The carrier says bad packing. Now prove it.
A denial letter is only one side. Take the cigar shipment in American National Fire Insurance v. Yellow Freight Systems (7th Cir., April 10, 2003): 200,000 cigars, Miami to Wisconsin, 118 cardboard boxes. The driver noticed crunched box tops and still signed a clean bill of lading. At delivery the top and bottom boxes were wet and many were crushed. Yellow Freight blamed the packing: used cardboard boxes, not crates.
Under the Carmack Amendment, once the shipper shows a prima facie case, “the burden shifts to the carrier to show both that it was free from negligence and that the damage to the cargo was due to one of the excepted causes relieving the carrier of liability.” The Seventh Circuit held that Yellow Freight had not carried it. The importer had received millions of cigars packed the same way without damage, and testimony placed the water coming in “through one of the seams on the left side” of the truck.
In Cariati Developers v. XPO Logistics Freight (D. Conn., January 9, 2025), pallets of meal boxes bound for New York City were shrink-wrapped and trucked. The carrier, VZ United (XPO is the defendant named in the case title), asked for summary judgment and the judge denied it. That was a ruling on whether the case could go to trial, not a verdict. Four loading photographs were in evidence. One showed a tilting pallet and another bent boxes, but the court pointed to two others, plus testimony that the carrier’s drivers routinely took pictures before leaving, as enough for a reasonable fact-finder to find the cargo was handed over in good condition.
ODFL’s HVAC claim fits neither ruling, because the carrier’s account ends at the denial. Yellow Freight lost on negligence and on earlier undamaged shipments of the same cigars. In Connecticut the plaintiff had loading photographs and testimony about the carrier’s loading practices, and the court let a trier of fact decide whether the cargo left in good condition.
Three habits come out of this, whatever the shipping packaging requirements say on paper. Photograph the load as strapped and wrapped. Read the driver’s remarks before you sign the bill of lading. Pull the current NMFC item and the carrier’s packaging guide, not last year’s copy.
Deadlines and the UPS rules
The statute sets the floor for the shipper’s deadlines. A US interstate motor carrier’s contract may not give less than 9 months to file a claim or less than 2 years to sue, and the 2 years run from the carrier’s written notice of disallowance (49 U.S.C. § 14706(e)). The carrier’s own clock is 30 days to acknowledge a written claim (unless it has paid or declined it in writing within that time), 120 days to pay, decline or offer a firm settlement, and a status report in writing every 60 days after that, under the federal rules on motor carrier claims. Ocean and air legs run on their own conventions and are not covered here.
On the packing side, UPS puts its shipping packaging requirements for parcels into numbers. At least two inches of cushioning on every side. Three strips of reinforced tape across the top and across the bottom of a regular slotted box. The Packaging Guidelines describe themselves as general guidelines, not the full extent of UPS packaging rules, and the sender carries the risk: “It is the responsibility of the Shipper to ensure that proper packaging is used and that contents are adequately and securely packed in a container, wrapped, and cushioned for transportation.” Reused boxes need the old label and hazardous materials indicator removed or concealed, and a new label should not sit on a seam, edge, closure or sealing tape.
At the border: the wood stamp
ISPM 15 covers solid-wood pallets and crates going abroad. Inspectors look for one mark on the wood. It combines the IPPC symbol, the ISO country code of the origin, the producer’s or treatment provider’s code and a treatment code, which in the 2018 text is HT, DH, MB or SF (heat, dielectric heating, methyl bromide, sulphuryl fluoride). Heat treatment means a minimum of 56 °C at the core for at least 30 continuous minutes. The wood also has to be debarked.
Annex 2 of the 2018 text of ISPM 15 wants the mark “legible, durable and not transferable,” visible while the packaging is in use, preferably on at least two opposite sides. No hand drawing. Red and orange are best avoided, since dangerous goods labels use them. Packaging made entirely of wood 6 mm thick or less, or wholly of processed wood such as plywood, particle board, oriented strand board or veneer, is exempt.
Does the stamp matter? That depends on the destination. APHIS tells US importers that shipments containing noncompliant wood packaging “will not be allowed to enter the country,” and advises writing ISPM 15 compliance into the contract. For US exporters the same agency puts the burden on the exporter whenever the importing country requires ISPM 15. Wood grown in the US or Canada is exempt between the two, provided the import documents state that the packaging originated in the Continental US or Canada.
ODFL’s post is dated 19 October 2025. NMFC changes, so check the current text before you pack. ODFL says shippers can write to [email protected] for clarification or use the labs and universities that test freight packaging.
Frequently asked questions
Does dunnage inside a container need the ISPM 15 mark?
ISPM 15 tells shippers to make sure all dunnage used to secure or support commodities is treated and displays the mark. Small pieces of wood that do not carry all the required elements of the mark should not be used for dunnage.
Can I reuse an old shipping box for a parcel?
UPS says to avoid re-using boxes. Its general guidelines allow your own packaging if the boxes are new or almost new.
Does a package over 50 pounds need anything on the outside?
UPS requires its Heavy Package sticker on anything over 50 pounds. It goes to the right of the address label, with the weight written in the white box. UPS suggests highlighting every side with Heavy Package tape, and an Additional Handling charge will apply.