Ventilated container loading is where most onion arrival complaints are actually created. The bulbs leave the store dry and cured, and they arrive soft, sprouted or mouldy because the air could not move through the stack. Onions and garlic are the two Egyptian crops most sensitive to how they are stowed, and unlike fruit they get no help from a reefer machine on a short lane. This is the loading practice Nile Prime works to.
Bag formats and what each one is for
| Format | Net weight | Typical buyer | Stow note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mesh bag | 25 kg | Wholesale, repacker | Best airflow, most manual handling |
| Mesh bag | 10 kg | Wholesale, food service | Palletises well, more bags to count |
| Big bag with vent panels | 1,000 to 1,250 kg | Processor, large wholesaler | Fast loading, needs a forklift at both ends |
| Retail net inside master | 1, 2 or 5 kg in a 10 kg master | Retail | Lowest airflow, keep transit short |
| Garlic carton | 10 kg | Retail and wholesale | Needs vent holes on all four faces |
Stow pattern: leave the air a route
A ventilated container works by pressure difference between the intake vents at the front and the exhaust vents at the rear. If the cargo is packed as one solid block, that airflow stops at the first bag. Four rules do most of the work.
- Keep a gap of roughly 5 to 10 cm between the stack and both side walls, so air can run the length of the box.
- Do not block the vent openings at either end. The first 30 cm behind the doors and in front of the intake stays clear.
- Build vertical chimneys every second or third row on a floor-loaded stow, or leave the pallet gaps open on a palletised one.
- Use dunnage or slip sheets so bags never sit directly on the steel floor, where condensation collects.
Payload is the second constraint. A ventilated 40 ft box typically takes 24 to 26 tonnes of onions depending on the tare and the road limit at destination, which is more weight than a reefer of the same size carries. Confirm the axle limit on your side before the packing list is finalised, and read the container type matrix if you are still choosing between ventilated and reefer.
When a ventilated box stops being enough
Ventilated containers rely on ambient air. That is fine on a short Gulf or Mediterranean lane in a cool month and it is not fine on a long lane, in a hot month, or into a market that will hold the cargo before selling it. As a working rule, transits beyond about two weeks, or any sailing that crosses the Red Sea in high summer, move to a reefer at 0 to 2 degrees Celsius with the fresh air vents open and a target humidity around 65 to 70 percent. Garlic takes the same treatment. Both crops sprout in warm, humid air and neither recovers once it starts.
The checks that belong before the doors close
- Necks dry and skins tight. Curing that was cut short shows up as neck rot two weeks later, never at loading.
- No soil clods or loose skin in the bags, both of which hold moisture against the bulb.
- Container floor dry, no residual smell, vents physically open and not painted shut.
- A photo set of the empty box, the first row, the mid stow and the closed doors, filed with the seal number.
Season and price context for the crop sits in the Egyptian onion price curve. Nile Prime is an exporter of this cargo and not an independent surveyor.
Book a load
Tell us the bag format, the destination port and the Incoterms 2020 basis, and we will confirm the container type, the payload and the loading week. WhatsApp +20 10 9911 1918.