Protective packaging for oversized paintings: new requirements for 2026

The major international carriers — FedEx, UPS and DHL — regularly update their rules for oversized shipments. For artists, galleries and collectors, these changes have a direct impact on cost, transit times and the paperwork involved in shipping paintings abroad.

Shipping large consignments of artwork — paintings, prints, sculpture — requires purpose-built protective packaging, particularly once dimensions exceed 100×100 cm. In these cases the work is enclosed in a crate built from hardboard, plywood or OSB panels. This adds bulk and weight to the shipment, but it is what gets the piece to its destination intact.

Why a wooden crate rather than a cardboard box

A wooden crate spreads impact and vibration across the whole structure instead of concentrating it on the corners of the canvas or frame, which is exactly what happens with cardboard. For oversized works this matters: on an air or road route the shipment is transferred between modes of transport several times, and those transfers are when damage most often occurs.

ISPM 15: the mandatory international standard

If the crate is made of wood — including plywood or hardboard with a wood content — it must be treated in accordance with ISPM 15, the international phytosanitary standard. Treatment is either heat or chemical, and its purpose is to eliminate pests and insect larvae. Without the ISPM 15 stamp on the crate, customs authorities in many countries, the EU, the United States and the United Kingdom among them, are entitled to hold the shipment or require treatment at the border, which costs both time and money. This is why crate construction should be entrusted to a workshop that already holds the relevant certification.

What else professional packing involves

Beyond the crate itself, several elements are essential to protecting a painting properly:

• a soft wrap in direct contact with the surface of the work — acid-free paper or silicone-coated (glassine) paper, never bubble wrap pressed straight against the paint layer, where it can adhere to heavily textured brushwork;
• internal bracing and corner protectors, which hold the frame in place and stop the canvas shifting inside the crate in transit;
• skids on the base of the crate, so a forklift can get its tines underneath without any risk to the contents;
• clear handling marks indicating orientation — "this way up", "do not turn over", "fragile". These are not a formality; they are what warehouse staff actually go by at every sorting hub.

For especially valuable or vulnerable works — aged oil paint, panel paintings, canvases with an unstable ground — temperature and humidity fluctuations in transit need to be factored in as well. Sharp swings can crack the paint layer even when the physical protection is faultless.

Customs considerations also shape the packing

Every country operates a customs service, and customs policy is in constant flux. When shipping artwork internationally, all of these factors have to be accounted for, since they affect shipping costs, transit times and additional expenses — duties payable in the destination country, for instance.

ArtDom Gallery assists with preparing artwork for international shipping: professional packing to ISPM 15 standard, plus guidance on carriers' current requirements.