Bhavnagar sits at one of the most unusual material-flow crossroads in India. On one side of the district is Alang — the world's largest ship-breaking yard — where steel, machinery and salvaged equipment are cut down, sorted and trucked out for re-sale or export. On the other side are GIDC plastic, brass and engineering estates feeding containers into Pipavav and Mundra. Both streams need one thing in common: timber-based packaging that survives long road hauls, marine humidity and rough mechanical handling. That is the gap the Cochin Wood group has been filling for buyers in Saurashtra — packing-grade plywood, ISPM-15 crates, pallets and container flooring board, shipped up the West Coast from Kochi.
Why Bhavnagar's industrial belt drives unusual packaging demand
Bhavnagar is not a single-cluster city. Three distinct demand pools sit inside a 50 km radius, and each one buys plywood for very different reasons.
Alang-Sosiya ship-recycling yard
The Alang-Sosiya belt stretches roughly 10 km along the Gulf of Khambhat and processes a large share of the world's end-of-life merchant vessels. Once a ship is beached and cut, the recoverable items — marine engines, gearboxes, generators, propellers, navigation electronics, copper coils, valves, pumps, machine tools — move out of the yard by road. Most of these items are heavy, irregular, oily and headed for re-sale buyers in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Ludhiana and the GCC. They need custom timber crates, edge-protected pallets and dunnage boards. The packaging spec is dictated by the salvaged item, not a standard SKU, which is why bulk packing-grade plywood in mixed thicknesses is the workhorse material here.
GIDC plastic, brass and engineering estates
Bhavnagar GIDC, Chitra GIDC and the nearby Sihor and Vartej clusters host a large plastic-processing base — pipes, fittings, woven sacks, household moulded goods — plus brass parts machined for export and a strong base of engineering job-shops. Container exports out of these estates run through Pipavav and Mundra ports, and exporters need pallets, crates and container flooring board that meets ISPM-15 fumigation standards. Plywood is the preferred case wall material because it does not need the same heat-treatment paperwork as solid sawn timber.
Salt, soda-ash and chemical movements
The coastal stretch up to Bhavnagar is one of India's largest salt and soda-ash producing regions. While bulk salt itself does not ride on plywood, the machinery, spare parts and process equipment moving in and out of these plants do — and they typically arrive crated.
The industrial picture: where the plywood actually lands
- Alang-Sosiya yard plots — packing-grade plywood for ship-salvaged machinery crates, sized to the item
- Bhavnagar GIDC and Chitra GIDC — pallets and container flooring board for plastic and brass exporters
- Sihor and Vartej job-shop clusters — small to mid-volume engineering crates
- Bhavnagar port and Pipavav APM Terminals — feeder volumes for general export packing
- Mundra port (driveable in around 4 hours) — high-volume container exports that some Bhavnagar exporters route through
This mix is what makes Bhavnagar a "packing materials" town rather than a furniture or interior plywood town. The grade conversation is almost always about strength, moisture tolerance and ISPM-15, not about face polish.
What the Cochin Wood group ships to Bhavnagar
Packing-grade plywood
Our standard packing range covers commercial and rubberwood plywood from 6 mm to 18 mm. The thicknesses Bhavnagar buyers move most often are 8 mm and 10 mm for case walls on lighter exports, 12 mm as the all-purpose crate skin, and 16-18 mm for heavy machinery crates coming out of Alang. Sheets are MR-bonded for normal packing and BWR-bonded where the consignment sees rain or sea-side staging. We can also dispatch Okoume-faced sheets where the receiving buyer (typically an overseas brass or auto-component importer) specifies a uniform light-coloured face for the case.
Finished crates and packing cases
For exporters who do not run an in-house carpentry shop, we supply assembled crates and knock-down case sets. Construction is plywood walls on a sawn-timber frame, with internal cleats, corner pieces and floor runners specified to the load. Standard sizes are quoted to your container plan; non-standard sizes are built to drawing.
Pallets
The two most common pallets we ship into Saurashtra are the 1200 x 800 mm Euro pallet and the 1100 x 1100 mm standard export pallet. We supply both block and stringer constructions, with heat-treated stamps where the buyer is exporting under ISPM-15.
Container flooring board
For 20 ft and 40 ft container floor lining — common with brass scrap, plastic granule and machinery exporters — we supply 18 mm and 21 mm full-sheet plywood, BWR-bonded, sized to the container floor.
Sawn timber for crate frames
Where the buyer prefers to build crates in-house, we also ship jackwood and rubberwood runners cut to standard frame sections.
Kochi to Bhavnagar: the logistics view
Bhavnagar sits roughly 1,900 km from Kochi by road. The typical haul is via NH-66 along the West Coast through Mangalore, Karwar, Goa, the Konkan, into Maharashtra, across to Gujarat through Vapi and Surat, and then onto Bhavnagar via Vadodara or the coastal road. Transit time on dedicated trailers is normally 5 to 7 days door-to-door, depending on monsoon conditions on the Konkan stretch.
For full-truck-load orders we dispatch on 20-ft or 32-ft trailers from our Perumbavoor yard. Mixed-thickness loads are common — a single trailer might carry 6 mm packing sheets, 18 mm flooring board and a stack of pallets, all on one delivery note, which is far more efficient than booking three partial shipments. For exporters running tight cycles, container-direct dispatch via Cochin Port to a nearby West Coast port is also possible, and the comparison is worth running on bulk orders.
Choosing the right grade for the load
| Load type | Thickness | Grade | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light brass parts, plastic moulded goods | 8 to 10 mm | MR packing-grade plywood | Cost-controlled, dry-shed staging |
| Engineering goods, exporting via Pipavav | 12 mm | BWR packing grade | Tolerates port-side humidity |
| Alang-salvaged marine engines, gearboxes | 16 to 18 mm | BWR packing or shuttering ply | Mechanical load, sharp corners |
| 20 ft and 40 ft container flooring | 18 to 21 mm | BWR full sheet | Forklift point loads |
| Premium-face export cases | 10 to 12 mm | Okoume-faced plywood | Uniform light face, GCC buyer spec |
| Construction site shuttering | 12 mm | Shuttering ply (film-faced) | Repeat-pour, not for packing |
Shuttering ply is occasionally requested by Bhavnagar buyers, but it is engineered for concrete formwork and is not the right product for export crates — the film face is a cost without a function in packaging.
FAQ for Bhavnagar buyers
Do you supply ISPM-15 heat-treated material?
Plywood by manufacturing process is exempt from ISPM-15 fumigation requirements. For the solid sawn timber components in crates and pallets — frames, runners, cleats — we supply heat-treated and stamped material where the buyer is exporting under ISPM-15. Confirm the requirement on the enquiry so the right stamping is arranged.
Can you handle Alang yard delivery and gate-pass paperwork?
Yes. We dispatch to the yard plot or to your nominated godown in the Alang-Sosiya belt and our transporter coordinates the local gate-pass and unloading. Lead time from order confirmation is typically 7 to 10 days for stock thicknesses.
What is the minimum order to make Bhavnagar dispatch viable?
A single trailer load is the most economical unit. Below that, freight-per-sheet rises sharply because the West Coast haul is fixed cost. Mixed-thickness loads on one trailer are encouraged.
Request a quote for Bhavnagar
If you are running a crating or pallet operation in Bhavnagar GIDC, Chitra, Sihor, or any of the Alang yard plots, share your typical thickness mix, monthly volume and delivery point — request a quote and we will come back with a rate-card and a sample dispatch plan. For thickness guides, ISPM-15 background and other technical references, see our resource hub. The Cochin Wood group has been manufacturing in Perumbavoor since 1986, and packaging is the part of the catalogue we know best.