A curtain-sider with 26 pallets of energy drink cans in retail cartons arrived at a distribution centre with six pallets leaning and stretch wrap torn after sudden braking. Tall beverage stacks are efficient right up until the wrap fails, then they go quickly. We rebuilt 18 pallets fully and 5 partially, and 23 pallets of the load carried on into the supermarket supply chain.
Situation
Canned drinks are stacked high to make the most of the trailer cube, which puts a heavy load on a narrow base and moves the centre of gravity up. The stretch wrap is doing most of the structural work. One emergency stop tore that wrap on several pallets, cartons slid out of line, and stacks began leaning on their neighbours. The receiving warehouse stopped the unload: a falling column of cans is a genuine injury risk, and every leaning stack was pressing on the next one.
What we did
Inspection first, mapping which of the 26 pallets were structurally gone and which just looked untidy. The failed stacks were dismantled carton by carton. Cans and multipacks from damaged cartons were assessed, dented stock was set aside for a decision against the retailer standard rather than quietly repacked, and sound cartons were rebuilt into correct patterns on fresh bases where needed. New industrial wrap finished each pallet.
Then the trailer floor was reset: even spacing, stable alignment, forklift access to every position. Photographic documentation and restack records went to the logistics provider.
Outcome
23 of 26 pallets were recovered and delivered. The unload proceeded safely, the losses stayed limited to genuinely damaged stock, and the sender had evidence of exactly what was removed and why.
What this means for shippers
High-stacked beverage pallets fail fast but recover well, because cans that have not been crushed or breached survive a shift better than glass. What decides the outcome is disciplined sorting: nothing marginal goes back in. The wider service is described in pallet re-stow and load rearrangement. Leaning drinks load? Describe it in the contact form, we answer 24/7.
