Photo: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, 2005

Pallets waiting to be loaded in a container, Shenzhen, China

Factory output, particularly in the light manufacturing sector, is commonly stacked on pallets that can be handled with minimal capital investment (fork lift, loading bays). These pallets are then loaded on trucks and delivered to customers. If long distance trade and intermodal transportation is involved, pallets are commonly loaded into containers after being consolidated into load units. This process can take place right at the factory or at a distribution center such as the one depicted above; the APL Logistics Freight Distribution Center, located in Shenzhen, China. APL (American President Lines; the term is always used as an acronym since the company is of foreign ownership) is owned by a Singapore maritime shipper (Neptune Orient Lines; NOL) which is the world's 6th largest container shipping company. This distribution center is at the intermediate stage of global commodity chains after manufacturing has taken place, but only early in the distribution process and well before retailing to the final consumer. A wide variety of locally produced goods are consolidated in the DC into container batches bound for the nearby port (Yantian). The warehouse is organized as a cross-docking DC where freight on pallets is delivered on one side, sorted, assembled and shipped on the other side into containers (commonly 40 footers). The goods stay in the warehouse for a few days at most and often for less than 24 hours.