How to choose the right desiccant – and always stay protected from moisture damage

When it comes to protecting your goods from moisture damage, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. But the right approach will certainly help you ask the right questions and bring you to choose the right desiccant and moisture prevention solution.

Key factors to consider when choosing the right desiccant

The right approach for protecting yourself and your cargo from moisture damage is a combination of different factors and how they relate to each other. It’s a combination of you, your cargo, your preferred solution and the supplier who can bring it all together for you. But here’s a breakdown of what is important and why.

If you keep these in mind then you’re already very close to getting the best possible moisture damage protection.

1. Your cargo is unique: choose a desiccant that matches

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for effective moisture damage prevention. Asking yourself the following questions will often reveal that you need a specific desiccant solution.

• Why is there excess moisture?
• What is special about your cargo?

If you’re shipping cocoa beans that release their own moisture during transit or you’re transporting sensitive electronics through the heat and humidity of tropical zones then you’ll have different and very specialized needs.

2. Exploring the wide range of moisture prevention technologies

There’s a lot of desiccant and moisture prevention technology out there. You can choose from silica gel or clay desiccants, oiling and VCI (for automotive parts) or calcium chloride-based desiccants.

Again, this is still all about you and your cargo, as well as any other advantages particular solutions give you such as performance, cost and sustainability. But now we’re starting to see how the complexity increases and where you’re quickly in need of a supplier and partner who can help you.

3. Consult an expert in shipping desiccant solutions

There’s a lot of knowledge in the world of moisture damage prevention. For most of us, it’s how we spend our waking hours – and sometimes even our dreams.

So look for someone who understands your unique cargo/moisture situation, and the damage that can result. And look for someone who has fixed a similar problem for someone else and can provide the best-practice solution.

4. Moisture prevention starts at loading: ensure deliverability and availability

It might seem obvious but the key to protecting against moisture damage is ensuring that the chosen solution is successfully delivered and installed at the point of loading.

Often that means trusting availability and delivery in another country. This has to be central to your thinking – if you can’t rely on that then the risk of damage still remains.

Desiccant suppliers need to be active at the port of departure, and their production and delivery can’t be restricted to one country of origin. In short, moisture prevention technologies need to be available when and where cargo is loaded, not where it arrives.

With a locally active supplier, any problems can be dealt with before shipping and before damage is caused. Because a local supplier is in the same time zone and speaks the same language. And can even be on site to instruct how to load and find areas where excess moisture is accidentally added.

5. Choose environmentally responsible desiccant solutions

Quite rightly, we all have to be accountable for our choices and how they affect people and the planet. Choose the most sustainable solution for your needs and choose a supplier who shares your environmental and ethical values. We all want to be in it for the long haul.

6. Partner with suppliers who prioritize continuous improvement

Work with a supplier who is looking to improve and find new value. Because what’s good now can change in the future.

The best moisture prevention solution is based on continuous improvement and looking for new advances – whether it’s performance, cost, carbon footprint or the overall greater good.

Now, you might think we’re shamelessly promoting ourselves at Absortech forward here…

Yes, absolutely. Because this is the approach we believe in, and the approach we want for our customers and ourselves. We also know it’s the only way to deliver true moisture damage protection.

So, ask us anything and we’ll give you the straight answer – even if that means recommending someone else if they have a better solution to your situation.