Imagine you receive a 1000kg bulk bag (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container) and you have to hoist it up in the air and empty the material inside. As a safety precaution, you look at the fibc bag safe handling label sewn to the bag and you see the statement “SINGLE TRIP ONLY”.

What does that mean?

The jumbo bag was already used when it was filled! It was used again when it was shipped! And again, when the bulk bag was offloaded! How safe is it to hoist the bulk bag and empty the material?

This is a common question that is asked all the time.

Let me start by saying that it is perfectly safe to operate and discharge your bag. As a precaution always look to see if there are any visible damage to the bulk bag that may have happened during the previous handling, transportation, and offloading process.

So, what does the term “SINGLE TRIP” mean then? It means that the bulk bag should only be filled and discharged once. The bulk bags can be filled, stored, loaded, off-loaded, lifted as many times as necessary, and discharged at the destination.

What you should not do, is put the bulk bag back in inventory to refill and reuse a second time, unless it is specifically designed to do so.