The Gulf summer is brutal on electronics in transit. A container leaving Jebel Ali in June or July sits on the dockside in temperatures that routinely exceed 50°C, and internal container temperatures push well above that. From our Dubai coordination office, electronics make up the second-largest category of avoidable damage claims after glassware — almost all of it preventable with a fortnight of preparation. Here is the checklist we walk clients through before the packers arrive.
What heat actually does to your kit
Lithium batteries lose calendar life rapidly above 40°C and can vent or swell at sustained temperatures north of 60°C. Capacitors on circuit boards degrade. LCD panels suffer pixel damage that does not always show up immediately — the screen looks fine at delivery and develops dead patches three months later. Hard-drive bearings expand and contract, and the read heads can park improperly if a drive is shocked while warm.
None of this is exotic. It is the predictable consequence of subjecting consumer electronics to industrial transit conditions, and it is the reason we treat electronics differently from the rest of the consolidation.
Two weeks out: back up, photograph, document
The single highest-value preparation is data backup. Every laptop, every external drive, every desktop, every NAS — cloud backup or a duplicate drive that travels in your hand luggage. We have seen drives arrive at destinations and never spin up again. The cost of replacement hardware is trivial compared to the value of the data that lived on it.
While backing up, photograph each device from multiple angles. Serial numbers, original boxes if you still have them, current condition including any pre-existing scratches. The photographs become the basis for any insurance claim and they remove the awkward debate about whether a chip on the laptop lid happened in transit.
Note the model and serial number of every item in a simple spreadsheet that you keep on your phone and email to yourself. This is also the document a destination customs officer may ask to see for high-value electronics.
One week out: batteries, drives, cables
Remove batteries from anything that takes removable batteries — cameras, remotes, kids’ toys, wireless keyboards. Loose alkaline batteries left in devices for a six-week sea move regularly leak and destroy the device they were powering.
For laptops and devices with built-in lithium batteries that cannot be removed, charge them to around 40 to 50 per cent and shut them down fully. Lithium cells stored at full charge in heat degrade fastest; cells stored fully discharged can drop below the safe minimum voltage and become unrechargeable. Mid-charge is the storage sweet spot.
Detach all cables and bag them by device. Loose cables stuffed in with electronics are the most common cause of scratched screens we see at unpack.
Packing day: what our crew does differently
Electronics travel double-boxed. The inner carton holds the device wrapped in anti-static bubble; the outer carton has at least five centimetres of compressible packing on every face. We do not stack electronics with heavier items above them in the same carton. Televisions over 40 inches travel in dedicated TV crates, screen-side away from any potential impact face.
We seal the cartons with silica gel sachets inside — cheap, effective and they keep humidity below the threshold where condensation forms when the container cools at sea or at the destination port.
What we ask you to hand-carry
Some items should never see the inside of a container. We advise clients to hand-carry, by air or in checked luggage:
- Phones, tablets, smartwatches and any device used daily
- External SSDs and the primary laptop
- Camera bodies (lenses can travel in the container if well packed)
- Headphones and earbuds with lithium cells
- Power banks — these are not permitted in containerised freight in any case
The rule we use: if it has a lithium cell, is irreplaceable, or fits in a backpack — it flies with you.
Voltage and plug standards at destination
UAE runs on 220V/50Hz with Type G (British three-pin) plugs. Most of the world your clients move to is compatible with one of those two specs — United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Ireland all use the same Type G socket. North America (110V/60Hz) and Japan (100V/50-60Hz) need either dual-voltage devices or step-down transformers. Continental Europe is the same voltage but different plug shape, so adapters rather than transformers.
Check the rating plate on every appliance before packing. Anything marked “100-240V” is dual-voltage and only needs a plug adapter. Anything marked “220V” only is single-voltage and will not work safely on North American current. Cheap step-down transformers exist but we generally recommend buying new appliances locally rather than transformer-running a 220V kettle in California for years.
Unpack day: a cooling-off period
When the container is delivered, do not plug electronics in immediately. Let them sit at room temperature for at least 24 hours before powering up. Condensation inside an electronic device, switched on, is what fries circuit boards. This is the single piece of advice that prevents the most post-delivery failures, and the one most often forgotten in the excitement of unpacking.
If you are coordinating a UAE-origin move and electronics make up a meaningful slice of what you are shipping, ask the coordinator to walk through the heat-management plan specifically. It is not the same as packing books.
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