LaycanDeskrPET bales, flakes and pellets: containers and break-bulk part cargo
Baled PET bottles, hot-washed flakes and rPET pellets in 40-foot containers, and 500 to 1,000 tonne part cargoes on break-bulk sailings, from the UK, EU and Pakistan to spinners in Türkiye, India and Pakistan. Freight for recycled PET at each stage: compressed bottle bales at 500 to 650 kg per cubic metre loading up to about 20 tonnes in a 40-foot container, flakes and pellets in one-tonne big bags loaded to the road weight limit, and 500 to 1,000 tonne pellet and flake lots as part cargo on break-bulk and MPP sailings, with the EU Waste Shipment Regulation's 2026 dates for non-OECD destinations and the Annex VII paperwork for green-listed material settled before a box is booked.
PET moves as three different cargoes. Bottle bales are the raw form: compressed to 500 to 650 kilograms a cubic metre and strapped, a standard bale about 1.1 by 1.2 by 1.5 metres, which fills a 40-foot container to roughly 20 tonnes; the recycler's bale specification, contamination limits and colour sort are the commercial terms, and a load that opens to a different bale is a claim. Hot-washed flakes and rPET pellets ship in one-tonne big bags, palletised or loose-stuffed, and a container is loaded to the road weight limit at each end long before it is loaded to its cube, so the payload is set by the trucking corridor, not by the box. Larger lots of pellets and flakes, 500 to 1,000 tonnes for a spinner's monthly programme, go as part cargo on break-bulk and MPP sailings that sell space per tonne, in big bags on pallets or slings, under tarpaulin or in a tween deck, with moisture the only cargo-care point because PET takes up water and a wet bag is a drying cost at the extruder. The regulatory line runs between bale and pellet. Baled bottles and flakes are plastic waste under Basel entry B3011 unless they have reached end-of-waste in the exporting state; a pellet that has finished recycling and is sold as a product with a certificate of analysis normally trades as a product. Under Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, exports of B3011 plastic waste from the EU to non-OECD countries need prior notification and consent from 21 May 2026 and are banned from 21 November 2026 until at least 21 May 2029; Türkiye is an OECD member and stays open under the OECD procedure, India and Pakistan are not. Green-listed waste, including textile waste under B3030, travels with the Annex VII document and an importer entitled to recover it.
Send us the material and stage (bales, flakes or pellets), the grade and colour, tonnage per month, packing and weight per bag or bale, the origin site and the receiving plant, the regulatory status of the material at export and whether the buyer holds the import consent, and the terms: FCA the plant, FOB a UK or EU port, or CIF the discharge port. Container lots go to the lines and NVOCCs serving Felixstowe, Southampton, Rotterdam and Antwerp to Mersin, Izmir, Nhava Sheva, Mundra and Karachi; part cargoes of 500 tonnes and more go against break-bulk sailings on the board, and we quote them per tonne with the lashing and tarpaulin terms. The textile stream runs the other way as well: Pakistan exported about 590 tonnes of synthetic fibre waste in 2024, 42 tonnes of it to the UK at about 2,000 dollars a tonne, which is clean post-industrial polyester for chemical and mechanical textile-to-textile recyclers, and it moves baled in 40-foot containers under Annex VII with the UK importer's recovery entitlement. Every counterparty is screened before a booking is made, and a rate is quoted only against a named sailing.
How it ships
- Bales 500–650 kg/m³, about 1.1 × 1.2 × 1.5 m, up to ~20 t per 40'
- Flakes and pellets in 1 t big bags, container loaded to the road weight limit
- 500–1,000 t part cargo on break-bulk and MPP sailings, per tonne
- Keep dry: PET absorbs moisture
- Bales and flakes are B3011 plastic waste unless end-of-waste; pellets with a CoA trade as product
- EU to non-OECD: PIC from 21 May 2026, banned from 21 Nov 2026 to at least 21 May 2029
Load areas
- UK (Felixstowe, Southampton, Kettering inland)
- Netherlands and Belgium (Rotterdam, Antwerp)
- Italy and Spain (Genoa, Valencia)
- Pakistan textile waste (Karachi)
Discharge areas
- Türkiye (Mersin, Izmir, Gemlik) - OECD
- India (Nhava Sheva, Mundra) - product only after 21 Nov 2026 from the EU
- Pakistan (Karachi, Port Qasim) - product only after 21 Nov 2026 from the EU
- Indonesia and Viet Nam flake buyers on the same basis
Ships that carry it
The cargo itself, on Commbril
Questions charterers and owners ask
How many tonnes of PET bales fit in a 40-foot container?
Compressed bales at 500 to 650 kilograms a cubic metre load up to about 20 tonnes in a 40-foot box; loosely baled material runs lighter. Flakes and pellets in big bags are limited by the road weight allowed at origin and destination, not by the container, so the payload is set corridor by corridor.
Can PET bales still go from the EU to India or Pakistan?
Only within the windows the Waste Shipment Regulation allows. B3011 plastic waste exports from the EU to non-OECD countries need prior notification and consent from 21 May 2026 and are banned from 21 November 2026 until at least 21 May 2029, after which a non-OECD country can apply to be listed. Türkiye is OECD and stays open under the OECD procedure. Pellets that have completed recycling and are sold as a product with a certificate of analysis are treated differently; confirm the status with the competent authority before booking.
What is an Annex VII document?
The information form that must travel with green-listed waste shipments, such as clean textile waste under B3030, naming the exporter, the importer entitled to recover the waste, the recovery facility and the waste code. It is signed at dispatch and on receipt, and the carrier keeps a copy. The UK applies it to imports as well as exports.
When is a part cargo cheaper than containers?
From about 500 tonnes a month on one route, when a break-bulk or MPP sailing is already calling both ends. Pellets in big bags on pallets stow in a tween deck under tarpaulin and are quoted per tonne with lashing and dunnage; below that, or on a route without a regular breakbulk call, containers win. Send the tonnage and the two plants and we price both.