Jeddah · Saudi Arabia
Packing-grade and Okoume plywood, crates and pallets for Jeddah's Red Sea export trade
We manufacture the packing-grade plywood, crates, pallets and container flooring that Jeddah's industrial belts ship across the GCC, East Africa and Europe. Built in Perumbavoor, where our group has run plywood operations since 1986, and loaded west out of Cochin Port on the direct Red Sea lane.
The industrial picture
Jeddah is the trade lung of the Red Sea
Jeddah Islamic Port handles the majority of Saudi Arabia's non-oil container traffic, the new economic city up the coast at Rabigh is pulling light-manufacturing and logistics tenants north, and the older industrial zones inside the city are still where most of the machinery, electrical and consumer-goods packing actually happens. For a plywood manufacturer that mix means a steady, year-round pull for export-grade packing material: crates for re-export machinery, pallets for cross-dock warehousing, and dunnage and container flooring for the long voyages onward to East Africa, the Levant and Europe. Kochi sits roughly 2,200 nautical miles from Jeddah on a direct east–west route, with no Suez transit and no Cape detour.
Buyers in Jeddah do not all sit in one zone. When we scope a quote we segment the city into four belts, because each one prefers a slightly different specification.
Jeddah Industrial City (Phases 1 to 4)
The industrial city south-east of the airport — Phases 1, 2, 3 and the newer Phase 4 — is the dense cluster: plastics, food processing, light electrical, building materials and a lot of contract-packing units. Demand here is mostly 12 mm and 18 mm packing-grade plywood for crate walls, plus EUR-footprint pallets for warehouse turn.
The economic city and Rabigh corridor
About 100 km north of Jeddah, the Industrial Valley tenants — automotive parts, food, and pharma and building-product packaging — typically want heat-treated ISPM-15 crates because their finished goods re-export across the GCC and to Europe. Spec creep is real here: buyers ask for IPPC-stamped lumber, sealed crate seams, and sometimes Okoume-faced panels for higher-end consumer goods.
Jeddah Islamic Port re-export sheds
Inside and around the port, freight forwarders and consolidators run shed-level packing: stuffing, re-crating and container load-out of transit cargo. The pull is fast — pallets and crate blanks off the shelf, not built to order.
The Makkah construction corridor
Up the Haramain corridor toward Makkah, project sites pull shuttering plywood for concrete work: film-faced 18 mm sheets rated for multiple re-use cycles. We quote film-faced shuttering ply with a hardwood core for this segment, not packing grade.
What we ship
Four product families for the Jeddah lane
The bulk of our Jeddah-bound volume falls into four families. Specifications below are typical; the final quote depends on the container plan, load weight and ISPM-15 status.
Packing-grade plywood (the workhorse)
BWR-bonded commercial and rubberwood plywood, 6 mm to 18 mm, in 8x4 sheets. The most common Jeddah ask is 12 mm for crate walls and 18 mm for top and bottom panels and skid boards. We supply in mill-pack bundles for container stuffing and can pre-cut to crate-blank sizes if the buyer's line is set up for it. The panel is moisture-tolerant for the Red Sea voyage and the Jeddah summer.
Okoume-faced panels
Okoume is a face-veneer option on the packing and BWR grades, not a separate grade. It goes out to the economic-city tenants and a handful of premium consumer-goods packers in Jeddah Industrial for the smoother face, the lighter weight (roughly 480–520 kg/m³ against 600+ for hardwood) and the cleaner stencil and branding surface. We quote the Okoume face on request — it sits at a different price point and is not interchangeable with standard packing grade.
Wooden crates, cases and pallets
Built to drawing in ISPM-15 (HT-stamped) form, sized to either standard EUR (1200x800) or ISO (1200x1000) footprints. We can ship them as flat-pack crate kits to save freight if the buyer runs a re-assembly bench; container loading for flat-pack kits is roughly 2.5x to 3x the assembled-crate equivalent.
Container flooring and dunnage
Heavy-duty 18 mm and 21 mm hardwood-core plywood for re-flooring reefer and dry containers, and as load-spreading dunnage under heavy machinery. Same lane, same lead time, usually bundled into a mixed container with packing-grade sheets.
Logistics
The Kochi to Jeddah lane
From Cochin Port (ICTT Vallarpadam) to Jeddah Islamic Port is approximately 2,200 nautical miles. Direct west-bound mainline services and a handful of feeder routings via Salalah or Jebel Ali run weekly. Sailing time is typically 9 to 14 days port to port depending on the service and any transhipment leg. No Suez transit is involved, which keeps both the cost and the risk profile below the Mediterranean routes.
On our side, inland trucking from Perumbavoor to Vallarpadam runs about 30 km — one of the shorter factory-to-gate hauls in India for an export lane this size. That short pre-carriage shrinks demurrage exposure and makes it practical to load on the same day the bill-of-lading date is confirmed. For full-container loads we coordinate stuffing at the factory or at a Cochin Port CFS, depending on whether the cargo needs to be palletised or stuffed loose.
ISPM-15 heat-treated and IPPC-stamped crates and pallets are the standard for the economic-city and re-export segments. We supply the certification copy with the shipping documents so customs and the phytosanitary check at Jeddah Islamic Port clear without flags.
Choosing a grade
Which grade for which Jeddah load
A short decision rule we apply when scoping a Jeddah quote.
| Use case | Recommended grade | Typical thickness |
|---|---|---|
| Re-export crates for machinery (economic city, Industrial City) | BWR packing-grade, ISPM-15 lumber | 12 mm walls, 18 mm base |
| Consumer-goods crates needing a clean branding face | Okoume-faced panels | 9 mm or 12 mm |
| Warehouse pallets, port re-stuff | BWR packing-grade or hardwood block pallets | 15 mm to 18 mm deck |
| Container re-flooring | Heavy-duty hardwood-core ply | 18 mm or 21 mm |
| Makkah corridor shuttering / concrete formwork | Film-faced shuttering plywood | 18 mm |
| Dunnage and load-spreading | BWR packing-grade off-cuts or 18 mm sheet | 12 mm to 18 mm |
FAQ
Questions from Jeddah buyers
Do you ship ISPM-15 / HT-stamped material?
Yes. ISPM-15 heat-treated and IPPC-stamped crates and pallets are the standard for the economic-city and re-export segments. We supply the certification copy with the shipping documents so customs and the phytosanitary check at Jeddah Islamic Port move without flags.
What is the minimum order for a Jeddah-bound container?
The economics start to make sense at about 12 to 15 tonnes of plywood — roughly a 20-foot container of 12 mm sheets, or about 700 to 800 sheets depending on the mix. Below that, LCL via the Cochin–Jeddah groupage services is workable but loses the freight advantage.
Can you palletise and shrink-wrap before stuffing?
Yes. Standard EUR or ISO pallets, strapped and shrink-wrapped at the factory, with a cargo manifest matched to the bill of lading. Useful for buyers who run an automated unloading line at the Jeddah end.
Get a quote
Price the full landed picture into Jeddah
If you are sourcing packing-grade plywood, crates, pallets or container flooring into Jeddah, the economic-city corridor or the Makkah belt, send the specifications across and we will price the full landed picture — material, ISPM-15 where needed, stuffing at Cochin Port, and the lane. Our group has manufactured plywood in Perumbavoor since 1986, and the Cochin to Jeddah route is one we have been working for several years.
You can request a quote directly, or browse the resource hub for grade comparisons, the BWP vs BWR explainer and the ISPM-15 crate cost guide before you send the enquiry. We typically come back with a working quote within one business day for standard specs, and within two for Okoume-faced or film-faced shuttering ply, where the panel stock has to be confirmed against the order.