2,200 lb (1,000 kg) SWL bulk bags

A metric rating with a pound label

Much of the world rates bags in kilograms, and 1,000 kg is the round number. Convert it and you get 1,000 x 2.20462 = 2,204.6 lb, which labels and quotes usually show as 2,200 lb. Going the other way, 2,200 / 2.20462 = 998 kg. The 4.6 lb gap is rounding on paper; the bag is made and tested to its metric rating.

When a quote shows only pounds for a metric job, ask which unit the maker rated the bag in. The test records follow that unit, and so does the label you will be reading on the dock.

The sourced figure to keep in mind: multi-trip standard-duty FIBCs must reach 6 x SWL in the final destruction test, 6,000 kg for a 1,000 kg bag, and pass a 4,000 kg, 6-hour compression test. In pounds, 6,000 kg is 13,228 lb. Single-trip bags at 5:1 are tested to 5,000 kg, or 11,023 lb, and the maker recommends they not be re-used. On the pound label the sums read 2,200 x 5 = 11,000 lb and 2,200 x 6 = 13,200 lb.

Never round a safety factor. A bag is 5:1 or 6:1, and the label says which.

Who asks for 1,000 kg bags

Exporters filling bags that go into a container, importers whose product arrives in metric-rated bags, chemical and resin plants whose specs are written in kilograms, and anyone whose customer prices per tonne. On the Gulf Coast, Port Houston owns and operates eight public facilities along the 52-mile Houston Ship Channel, including the Bayport and Barbours Cut container terminals; bags that leave through container terminals like those travel on metric paperwork.

Containers bring their own handling. Bags go in through the doors by forklift and are braced so they cannot shift at sea; the shipping line and the forwarder set the rules for weight and securing, and the fill plant follows them.

It also suits domestic product that runs a little over a ton in its bag. Granular fertilizer at an assumed 60 lb per cubic foot fills a 35 x 35 x 50 at 2,124 lb and a 36 x 36 x 48 at 2,160 lb. Sugar at 50 lb fills a 35 x 35 x 60 at 2,125 lb and a 39 x 39 x 50 at exactly 2,200 lb. A 2,000 lb bag would stop each of those short of the top; a 2,200 lb bag lets it fill.

Space a 2,200 lb fill takes

2,200 lb divided by our assumed densities: pellets at 34 lb per cubic foot, 64.7 cubic feet; flour at 36 lb, 61.1; seed corn at 45 lb, 48.9; sugar at 50 lb, 44.0; fertilizer at 60 lb, 36.7; cement at 90 lb, 24.4; gravel at 95 lb, 23.2; sand at 100 lb, 22.0.

A pellet fill at this weight needs more than the 41 x 41 x 60's 58.4 cubic feet, so it goes in a 41 x 41 x 72 or a 45 x 45 x 60 at about 70. Seed at 48.9 fits a 35 x 35 x 70 at 49.6 on paper only, since a real bag holds less than its box. Sugar at 44.0 is the 39 x 39 x 50 exactly. Fertilizer at 36.7 is a little more than the 35 x 35 x 50 or the 36 x 36 x 48 holds, which is why those fill under the label; a 37 x 37 x 52 at 41.2 reaches it. Sand at 22.0 fits the 35 in cube.

Lifting and loading at 1,000 kg

Same rules as any full bag: tines or crane gear through every loop, loops upright, no dragging, nobody below. A forklift's capacity is rated at a load centre, and a wide bag moves the weight forward on the tines, so check the plate against the bag you are lifting.

Per trailer, 44,000 / 2,200 = 20 bags on the assumed payload. For container loads, the box's own limits and the carrier's rules govern, and we check them per booking rather than assume a number.

Imported bags deserve the same inspection as domestic ones. Check the label, the date, the loops and the fabric before filling, and if a bale arrives wet, torn or faded from a long spell on an open dock, set it aside.