Plywood Supply to Surat

08.06.26 12:39 PM - By Cochin Wood Industries

Surat · Gujarat

Packing-grade plywood, export crates, pallets and container flooring for Surat industry

We manufacture the packing-grade plywood, crates and pallets that Surat's mixed industrial base runs on, from heavy Hazira fabrication to the Sachin and Pandesara textile belt. Manufactured in Perumbavoor, where our group has operated since 1986. Full-truck loads delivered to the Surat industrial area in 4 to 5 days.

Packing-grade & Okoume-faced ply 6–18mm·Crates & pallets to drawing·Kochi → Surat ~1,700 km · 4–5 days

The industrial picture

Surat does not run on a single industry

Surat is one of the densest industrial cities in western India, and the plywood demand that flows out of it is unusually varied. On one shift, a packer in Sachin is building a crate for a synthetic-fabric loom heading to Africa. On the next, a fabricator in Hazira is bracing a 12-tonne pressure vessel for ocean freight out of Hazira Port. A few kilometres away, a textile-machinery exporter in Pandesara needs pallets stacked four-high inside a 40-foot container. Three large clusters drive packing-plywood consumption, and each one buys a slightly different specification.

Hazira industrial area

Hazira is the heavy end of the city. Large petrochemical, heavy-engineering, steel and oil-and-gas plants run along the Hazira coast, and the supporting ecosystem of fabricators, valve makers, structural shops and shipyard contractors is where most of Surat's export-crate volume originates. Loads here are heavy and dimensionally awkward, including reactors, heat exchangers, distillation columns, large skid packages and drilling equipment. Plywood for this segment has to take fastener pull-out, survive monsoon staging at the port, and not delaminate when the crate is repositioned three or four times before stuffing.

Sachin and Pandesara GIDC

South of the city, the Sachin and Pandesara GIDC estates are dominated by synthetic textile mills, dyeing and processing units, and the textile-machinery and chemical units that supply them. Crating here is lighter in mass but high in count, covering loom parts, jacquard heads, rapier assemblies and spare modules. The buyers want consistent thickness and clean edges because crates are stacked and rolled inside the container.

The diamond belt — Mahidharpura, Varachha, Katargam, SDB

Surat polishes roughly 90% of the world's diamonds, and the cluster around Mahidharpura, Varachha, Katargam and the Surat Diamond Bourse runs a parallel demand for cleanroom-grade pallets, machinery crates for laser cutters and planning equipment, and secure containerised flooring for high-value transit. Volumes per crate are small, but specification discipline is tight.

Hazira Port and the export gateway

The terminals along the Hazira coast handle a meaningful share of western India's project cargo and break-bulk. Anything moving through these gates touches a wooden crate, a pallet, or a piece of dunnage at some point. That is where most of our Surat freight ends up.

What we ship

Three product families, plus sawn timber for in-house runners

We manufacture three product families for the city, plus sawn timber where the fabricator wants to build runners and skids in-house.

Packing-grade plywood

This is the workhorse for Sachin, Pandesara and the lighter Hazira loads. We make it across the standard range on 8x4 sheets, with rubberwood and commercial hardwood cores. Density and glue line are tuned for crate building: the sheet has to hold a 50mm nail without splitting, take a screw at the edge, and survive a Mumbai monsoon transit without the face veneer lifting.

ThicknessSheet sizeTypical use
6 – 8mm8x4Light box panels, internal partitions
10 – 12mm8x4Textile-machinery and diamond-belt crate walls
14 – 16mm8x4Heavier case walls and bracing
18mm8x4Structural decks, container flooring, cases above 5 tonnes

Okoume-faced plywood

Okoume is a face-veneer option on our packing and BWR grades, and it earns its place on the high-end Surat loads, including pharmaceutical machinery from the chemical-zone clients, precision textile heads, and any consignment where the crate itself will be photographed for the consignee. The face is smooth enough to stencil cleanly, and it ages better in tropical port staging than commercial faces.

Crates and packing cases

For fabricators who would rather buy a finished crate than build one, we manufacture knock-down and assembled cases sized to the load. Typical Surat sizes start at 1200x800 for textile-machinery sub-assemblies and run to custom 6000x2400 cases for Hazira project cargo. Sawn-timber runners, jackwood for the heavier loads and rubberwood for the lighter, are dimensioned to the truck and the container floor.

Pallets and container flooring

Standard four-way entry pallets at 1200x1000 and 1100x1100 are the default for textile machinery and diamond-belt transit. For project cargo through Hazira Port, we ship 18mm packing-grade sheets cut to container-floor dimensions for one-trip dunnage, a common spec for skids that need to slide cleanly during stuffing.

Logistics

Kochi to Surat in 4 to 5 days

Surat sits about 1,700 km from Kochi by road via Mumbai, and the trucking lane is one of the better-developed corridors on the west coast. A 32-foot single-axle covered truck typically clears Kochi to Surat in 4 to 5 days door-to-door, depending on the Mumbai bypass and the monsoon. A 22-foot truck moves faster on smaller orders. For larger, recurring volumes such as full-container parcels destined for re-export, we also route via Cochin Port and the Mundra/Hazira coastal shipping leg, which can be more economical for 20-tonne-plus consignments and removes road handling.

RouteModeTypical transitBest for
Kochi – Surat direct32-ft road truck4 – 5 daysFull truck, single drop
Kochi – Mumbai – Surat22-ft / part-load5 – 7 daysSmaller orders, multi-drop
Cochin Port – Hazira PortCoastal shipping7 – 10 daysHeavy recurring volumes

For export through Hazira Port, pallets and crates can be heat-treated and ISPM-15 stamped at our packing partners; we need the consignee country and dimensions at the quotation stage so the stamp is valid for the destination. All rates we quote are ex-factory; GST and transport are billed separately so the buyer keeps visibility on the freight line.

Choosing a grade

Which grade for which Surat load

The choice between packing grade, Okoume-faced and shuttering ply is a question of load weight, journey length and what the crate is signalling to the consignee.

  • Packing grade, commercial face, 8 – 12mm — default for Sachin and Pandesara textile-machinery crates, diamond-belt machinery transit, and any sub-3-tonne load with a short ocean leg.
  • Packing grade, 15 – 18mm — Hazira project cargo, heavy fabrication, anything that needs a structural deck or container floor. 18mm is the workhorse for cases above 5 tonnes.
  • Okoume-faced — pharmaceutical and precision-machinery exports from the chemical zone, premium textile heads, anything where the crate face will be inspected at destination.
  • Shuttering ply — not a crating product. We supply it to Surat construction projects where the customer also runs a packing line and wants one vendor for both.

For most first-time Surat buyers, we recommend starting with a trial truck of 12mm and 18mm packing grade and adjusting from there once your line foreman sees how it nails and edges.

FAQ

Common questions from Surat buyers

What is the minimum order you ship to Surat?

We prefer full-truck loads, since a 32-foot truck holds roughly 28 to 30 tonnes of mixed plywood and the freight economics are clean. For trial orders and smaller buyers, we consolidate with other Gujarat parcels on a 22-foot truck. Single-pallet orders are not our model.

Can you supply ISPM-15 stamped pallets and crates?

Yes. Pallets and crates for export through Hazira Port can be heat-treated and ISPM-15 stamped at our packing partners. We need the consignee country and dimensions at the quotation stage so the stamp is valid for the destination.

How do you handle thickness tolerance for fabricators who CNC-cut their crates?

Our packing grade is dimensioned at face value above 12mm and the trade-standard "11+" and "17+" tolerance below. Fabricators in Pandesara who run CNC nesting lines usually ask for a fixed-thickness batch. We accommodate that on order sizes of one truck or more, and it gets noted on the PI.

Get a quote

Get a delivered price for Surat

If you are running a packing line in Hazira, Sachin, Pandesara, the diamond belt, or anywhere else in the Surat industrial area, we can quote a delivered price within a working day. As a manufacturer whose group has operated in Perumbavoor since 1986, we control the spec from the core up. Share your thickness, sheet size, monthly volume and delivery PIN code and we will come back with an ex-factory rate, the freight estimate to Surat, and a transit window. Request a quote or browse the resource hub for spec sheets, grade comparisons, and crating guides used by our Surat buyers.

Cochin Wood Industries