Slomo said:
Don't forget to calculate the coefficient of friction on the surface of each cardboard case too. There has to be at least some gap between the boxes or they'd never be able to get the cases in/out of the shipping container.
story time!
I know several people that drive over the road and they often have fun tales to tell. One friend of mine got to haul giant rolls of paper. These are the big rolls somewhat like you'd see at a newspaper press. These rolls were loaded in his truck on their side (so the tube in the middle was vertical) and they were just shy of fitting in side-by-side in the trailer, so the rolls he got (several) were staggered a bit o°o°o°o° (overhead view) like that in the trailer
Well, dumb cars being dumb cars, he had some driver cut in front of him and immediately slam on the brakes as he was just starting to approach a light, and he had to jam on the brakes. (this happens a lot, and is
extremely dangerous for the driver, the car, and all the cars around you at the time, do NOT do this! you're risking more than just YOUR life!)
He immediately and predictably feels the *WHUMP* as his load shifts (cargo in the trailer moves) but managed to slow enough not to rear-end the car. "Guess we'll see what happened to the load when we get there.... it's just paper, nothing fragile?" (nothing he can do about it now)
After he gets to the dock and gets backed in, he steps out to watch them open the trailer. But it looks... odd... somehow. Wait.. is it
bulging?
They break the seal and open the doors, and for a moment he thinks half the paper's gone missing. No it's not missing. All the rolls are up front in the trailer and arranged like this now: 888
Clearly the rolls forced their way side-by-side and pressed out the sides of the trailer a few inches on each side.
He explains what happened at the light and says "Have fun getting THAT out of the trailer!"
The hauler just smiles and leaves on his forklift, and returns with what kind of looks like a forklift but with a big smooth, curved front on it, that obviously is meant to fit those rolls from the side like they are. He just drives up,
somehow snatches a roll, and pulls it free and drives into the warehouse with it. All the rolls came out without a problem.
Apparently those roll-grabbers somehow can get a VERY good grip on a very heavy roll of smooth paper from just one round side and yank it out even when it's been wedged into a spot it doesn't exactly fit into.
So I'd bet they don't mind stacking those boxes right on top of each other, to within a quarter inch of the ceiling and clear out to both sides, if the case dimensions allow for it. Cargo space is valuable, and they try to use as much of it as possible in a shipment like this. (I'd imagine you pay for the container to be shipped, regardless of how full or empty it is, one flat rate?)