Plastic crates and bulk bins in Georgia

Chickens and peanuts lead the order book

Georgia ranks first in the nation for broiler and peanut production, according to the University of Georgia's ag impact center, second for pecans, watermelon and cotton, and third for bell peppers, onions, peaches and sweet corn. USDA NASS counted about 1.32 billion broilers produced in 2025. Food and fiber production and related industries supported about 370,400 Georgia jobs in 2024.

Poultry processors are the largest single group of container buyers. They need stacking lugs and crates that nest when empty, solid-wall combo bins for whole birds and trim, and nestable trays for further-processed product. Every one of them must survive a chiller, a blast freezer and a daily caustic wash. Buyers check radiused inside corners, drainable floors, rim strength for dumpers and a color code that keeps raw and cooked product apart.

Nuts, berries, melons and peaches

Georgia's 2025 value of production put peanuts at about $871 million, blueberries $225 million, pecans $210 million, sweet corn $145 million and watermelon $141 million. Each crop handles differently. Peanuts and pecans are dried and shelled, so handlers use solid-wall bins that keep kernels and hulls from sifting through. Blueberries need shallow, vented hand-held crates that cool quickly and carry no stack weight on the fruit.

Watermelons are heavy, round and prone to rolling, so packers lean toward tall-walled bulk bins on a 48x40 base with a sturdy floor, sometimes with padding. Peaches bruise easily and travel in shallow vented crates or low bins. Sweet corn and peppers go into vented produce crates that line up for forced-air cooling. Tell us what you pick and how it's cooled, and we'll shortlist the wall and vent pattern.

Pecans often go into cold storage for months after harvest. Bins that sit in a cooler that long should have a maker-stated low-temperature rating and a solid floor that won't let shells fall through onto the stack below.

Georgia sectors and the containers they use

Kia, Hyundai and the parts that feed them

Kia builds vehicles in West Point, on I-85 at the Alabama line, and Hyundai builds at its Metaplant America in Ellabell, west of Savannah. Suppliers ship parts to both in returnable containers, and the bulk footprint is usually 48x45: ORBIS describes its 48x45 BulkPak as the AIAG standard, offered in 17 heights from about 19 to 50 inches at 1,500 to 2,000 lb capacity.

Programs differ, so we work from the packaging spec: footprint, height, drop doors, lid, base, placards and dunnage. Smaller parts ride in hand-held euro containers. Used and refurbished collapsibles are common on supplier programs; we grade them A, B or C and say what that means for each unit.

Savannah, I-75 and freight planning

The Port of Savannah ranked 13th among US ports by 2023 total trade. I-16 runs from Savannah to Macon, where it meets I-75, the state's north-south route from Chattanooga through Atlanta and Macon to Valdosta and Florida. I-85 crosses Atlanta on a diagonal toward the Carolinas and Alabama, I-20 runs east-west through Atlanta and Augusta, and I-95 follows the coast past Savannah and Brunswick.

A packer adding a few pallets of crates ships LTL. A processor replacing a lug fleet, or a supplier stocking collapsibles for a new program, should price a truckload. Folded containers make the empty leg cheaper; PHS Plastic lists 88 of its 48x40x45 collapsibles per 53-foot trailer set up and 128 folded.

Selling surplus from Georgia

We buy reusable lugs, combo bins, harvest bins, collapsibles and totes in volume. A peanut handler switching bin models, a grower leaving watermelons or a supplier ending a program each has containers worth selling. Send the count, model, grade, location and what they carried. Start at sell.