Features Breakbulk & Project Cargo
Pests are most often found in wood packaging material used to brace cargo in transit. Paullawat / Shutterstock. com
After treatment, each piece of WPM must be clearly marked to indicate that it has undergone the necessary pest control measures. This marking process includes a variety of information, such as the IPPC logo, the country code of origin, and a unique identification number, ensuring that the wood packaging meets international safety standards before shipment.
“ When they ship it, it has that stamp on it. That’ s a promise to us,” said Western of the wood stamp indicating ISPM 15 compliance.“ If we find any insects in there, if it was treated properly, they should be dead. But sometimes, we are finding a lot of insects in the wood packing material, [ even if ] the stamp is authentic... When that happens, they are subject to a penalty.”
And those penalties can be hefty— up to three times the cost of the cargo, said Western. While fumigation can provide a solution to allow some cargo to stay in the US, shipments found to contain live pests in wood must be sent back to their origin.
And several importers said they have noticed an increase in pest detections, even in WPMs that they understood to be compliant with ISPM 15 standards.
Closer to a solution
commodity or origin. For example, placing tiles on or near grass can attract snails.
“ Specific practices may include pre-treatment for shipments before export to eliminate pests,” CBP’ s Payne told the Journal of Commerce.“ Common treatments include fumigation, heat treatment, cold treatment, or irradiation, depending on the commodity.”
Knock on wood
Shipments using WPM, including items such as pallets, crates, and boxes, are particularly at risk of re-exportation.
“ One of the biggest things that we find here in Houston is usually insects being found in wood packaging material used to block and brace imported cargo,” Western told the Journal of Commerce.
Violating the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15( ISPM 15) due to the detection of certain invasive wood-boring pests in wood packaging materials can lead to substantial fines and even the immediate reexportation of an entire shipment.
To address pest risks, the USDA has outlined treatment methods for WPM. Importers can choose between heat treatment and fumigation with methyl bromide. Heat treatment requires raising the wood’ s core temperature to at least 56 ° C for a minimum of 30 minutes, while fumigation involves sealing the wood in a controlled environment with methyl bromide for at least 16 hours. Those treatments, however, are not always effective, resulting in incomplete exterminations, shippers said.
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Shippers in July moved a step closer to an alternative solution to re-exportation for live pests found in WPM when the USDA approved the so-called shredder-hammermill treatment, a new emergency phytosanitary destruction method for dunnage, pallets, WPM and other non-compliant wood products.
“ If pests are detected, CBP takes immediate action to prevent their introduction.”
According to CBP, the treatment process, which uses a wood shredder and hammermill grinder combination to destroy the WPM— and any potential pests— requires an APHIS-approved shredder-hammermill treatment facility at the port. But the actual machine to perform the task has yet to be fabricated.
“ By just pulverizing the wood, they don’ t have to export it or anything,” said Diana Davila, senior vice president of US operations at logistics company UTC Overseas, Inc.“ We want to get it out there and say,‘[ If ] someone can come up with a solution, they can make money on it, and they can save these projects millions of dollars.’”
While USDA approval for the solution moves forward, using a shredder-hammermill machine is still far off, with months required for design, sourcing and fabrication.
“ The information about what is required has been shared, so the next step is for the machine to be engineered,” said Davila.
email: laura. robb @ spglobal. com
December 2025 | Journal of Commerce 15