Wood under the cargo
needs a legible mark.
ISPM 15 is the wood-packaging rule. The carton can be fibreboard. The pallet under it is the question. Plastic pallets sit outside the wood rule.
International shipments that use solid wood packaging need that wood treated and marked under ISPM 15, the international plant-protection standard for wood packaging. Pakistan’s national plant protection organisation is the Department of Plant Protection. Zarkaar requires a legible mark on any wooden pallet that goes under an export container or an air pallet.
Mango cartons and rice bags are fibreboard, jute, or polypropylene. Those materials are not the wood rule. The pallet, the dunnage, and any wooden brace are the wood rule. Plastic pallets are outside it. Unmarked used wood does not go under a Zarkaar export lot.
What we check on the loading day
Someone on our side reads the mark before the pallet enters the container. The mark has to be legible. A smeared stamp, a pallet repaired with unmarked boards, or a mark that belongs to a different piece of wood is sent back. We photograph the mark with the stuffing set when you have asked for a loading survey.
We do not publish a heat schedule, a chemical dose, or a method for producing a mark. Treatment is the pallet supplier’s regulated process. Grain and cotton fumigation is a different certificate, done by an approved contractor on the cargo, and it is not a substitute for a pallet mark.
Where this bites, by cargo
The cargo changes. The wood rule does not.
Mango and onion
Cartons or mesh on pallets, inside a reefer. The temperature program is separate: mango at 8–12°C after pre-cool, onion at 0–4°C after cure. A correct temperature does not repair an unmarked pallet.
Rice, corn, and cotton
Bags and bales are often floor-loaded or palletised depending on the booking. If wood is in the container, it is marked. If we floor-load with no wood, we say so on the packing list so your broker does not hunt a mark that was never there.
Air lots
A 500-carton mango air lot still cannot sit on scrap wood. USA and Canada air paths do not waive the wood rule. Canada via Dubai is not the USA irradiation step, and neither path is a reason to skip the mark.
What this is not
ISPM 15 is not a phytosanitary certificate for the fruit or the grain. The crop still needs its own phyto. It is not hot-water treatment. It is not a licence to ship wheat grain. It is not a document we can backdate after a destination inspector has already photographed the pallet.
If your country asks for a declaration that no solid wood was used, tell us before we book the empty container. Switching from wood to plastic on the loading morning is how cut-offs are missed.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Are mango cartons ISPM 15 wood?
Can you explain how to stamp a pallet?
Does cargo fumigation replace the pallet mark?
What if my country bans wood entirely?
Get in touch
Say if your port refuses wood.
We will plan the pallet before the empty container is picked up.
Mon–Sat 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM PKT · Shesha Basti Talab, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan