Service / Export packing
The Midwest’s fixed yard for machinery export packing — Albion, Iowa, 1 hour from Des Moines.
Meridian Freight disassembles and loads farm and heavy equipment into ocean containers at our own yard in Albion, Iowa — teardown, blocking and bracing, export wash, and full photo documentation. One flat price per machine, quoted before we start.
Or call +1 (641) 516-1616. Quotes in one business day.
40HC
Standard container class
Yard: Albion, Iowa
Storage: short-term available
Quotes: 1 business day
2013
Since
1,000+
Machines exported from the USA
10-Acre
Own yard, Albion, Iowa
1 DAY
Business day to a written quote
The problem
The auction house won’t load your container. We will.
Won equipment at a US auction? Pickup deadlines run out fast, and the auction company only helps load trucks — containers are your problem. Hauling a combine to a coastal packing warehouse adds thousands of dollars in oversize-permit trucking before it ever sees a container.
Our yard is in central Iowa, an hour from Des Moines — close to the machine you just bought. We collect it, tear it down without cutting, load and secure it, and hand your forwarder a container that’s ready to sail.
Process
Four steps from yard to port.
Send us the listing.
Machine model and destination port. We quote a flat rate within one business day.
We collect or receive.
Our trucks or yours — short-term yard storage while your booking is arranged.
Teardown and load.
No-cut disassembly, every bolt bagged and labeled, blocking and bracing to carrier standards, export wash if required.
You get the documentation pack.
Timestamped photos and video of every stage, a packing list, and a reassembly map — before the container leaves the yard.
Scope
What a packing job includes.
One scope, agreed in writing before the machine arrives. Anything outside it is quoted before it happens, not discovered on the invoice.
No-cut teardown
Combines, tractors, headers, sprayers, planters and construction equipment taken down to container dimensions. Every bolt bagged and labeled to the assembly it came off.
Blocking and bracing
Loaded and secured to carrier standards, so the machine arrives in the condition it left the yard in.
Flat rack and open top
When a machine doesn’t fit disassembled, we quote a flat rack or an open top with lashing instead of cutting it.
Export wash
Pressure-washed to export standard in-house and photographed, where the destination requires it.
Yard storage
Short-term storage while your forwarder books the sailing — terms confirmed with your quote.
Drayage and container
Trucking from anywhere in the Midwest and one-way container procurement, arranged on your behalf and billed at cost.
The constraint
What fits in a 40-foot container.
The box is what everything else is measured against. A combine-class machine goes in fully disassembled; wide headers and large sprayers travel on a flat rack or an open top when they don’t. Which one your machine needs is settled in the quote, before anything is touched.
Documentation
Your buyer never sees the machine in person. Full documentation stands in for it.
Every teardown is photographed and filmed stage by stage: as-received condition, each removed assembly, hardware bagging, container loading, and final securing. You get the full pack the day loading finishes. Buyers reassemble with our labeled hardware map — nothing is cut, torched, or “made to fit.”
Documentation log — every job
- As-received condition
- Each removed assembly
- Hardware bagging
- Container loading
- Final securing
Packing list and reassembly map included with every job.
Guarantee
Nothing is cut, torched, or made to fit.
The quick way to get a combine into a container is to cut it. We don’t, because somebody at the other end has to run the machine. Every assembly comes off at its fasteners, and every fastener is bagged and labeled to the assembly it came from.
The pack you receive includes a reassembly map keyed to those labels. That answers the question the trade asks first — who puts it back together — before your buyer has to ask it.
Biosecurity
Export wash, and why a hold at the border is expensive.
Soil is what agricultural and customs inspectors look for. A machine that lands dirty can sit at the destination port while it is inspected, washed again, or refused — after the freight is paid, in a yard you don’t control, on a clock you can’t influence.
We pressure-wash to export standard in-house and photograph the result, so the condition of the machine when it was sealed is on record before it sails. For strict-biosecurity destinations such as Australia and New Zealand, ask us first: those need a deep-clean teardown wash, and we quote it as its own line.
Price certainty
Flat price per machine, quoted in writing before work starts.
No hourly billing and no surprises at invoice. Short-term yard storage is available while your forwarder books the sailing — terms confirmed with your quote. Drayage and the container itself are arranged on your behalf and billed at cost, not marked up.
Nobody in this trade quotes predictably, which is exactly why we do. The flat price you approve for the job before we start is the price you are invoiced for that job — there is no “we found more once we opened it up.” Drayage and the container are a separate, at-cost line you see before you approve anything — never a mark-up sprung on the invoice.
What determines your price
- Machine type and size — a drive-in tractor and a combine-class teardown are not the same job.
- How far it has to come apart — duals and a header off, or down to container dimensions.
- Container type — a standard box, or a flat rack with lashing for a wide header.
- Export wash — whether the destination requires one, and how deep it has to go.
- How long it sits — the storage period included, and anything beyond it.
- Drayage and the container itself — arranged on your behalf and billed at cost, never marked up.
Segments
Who we work with
Auction buyers
You won the machine; we handle everything between the auction yard and the port. We work inside auction pickup windows and store your machine while your forwarder books the sailing.
You bought at auction — now whatEquipment dealers
Sold a machine overseas? Don’t tie up your shop and techs tearing it down. Ship it to Albion; we containerize under your name if you want — your customer sees your brand on the documentation pack.
You sold it; we containerize itFreight forwarders
A fixed Midwest yard for your machinery moves: rates quoted in writing, coverage and certificates confirmed per engagement, drayage coordination to the Des Moines and Chicago ramps, and photos your overseas client can trust.
Capacity, lead times and liabilityDelivering a machine to the yard yourself? Address, directions and drop-off
Questions
Frequently asked questions
- Who files the export documents (EEI/AES)?
- Your freight forwarder files as usual — we supply weights, dimensions, photos, and the packing list. Need a forwarder? We'll refer one for your lane.
- Can you make it pass agricultural inspection at destination?
- We pressure-wash to export standard and photograph the result. For strict-biosecurity destinations (Australia, New Zealand), ask us first — we'll quote a deep-clean teardown wash.
- Do you cut machines to fit?
- No. If it doesn't fit disassembled, we quote a flat rack or open-top instead.
- How fast can you load?
- We're a fixed yard with a full-time crew — no waiting on a traveling team. Turnaround depends on the machine and the current yard schedule; we confirm a firm loading date when we quote your job.
- Can you pick the machine up?
- Yes — we arrange trucking from anywhere in the Midwest and bill it at cost.
- Whose container?
- Yours or your forwarder's booking, or we can arrange one-way container procurement.
Get your flat-rate quote today.
Send the machine model and destination — we reply within one business day with a flat price and the next available yard slot.
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