A swim spa shell that arrives with a cracked acrylic wall or a bent pump housing is not a shipping accident to argue about after the fact — it is a project delay, a replacement shipment, and a re-quote of freight. For the Outdoor Swim Spa WS-S07B, packaging is the line item that decides whether the unit reaches your site ready for installation. Before you sign a purchase order, here is what to put in writing.

Start with the shell dimensions, not the marketing photo

The catalogue record for this model lists a 7000 × 2200 × 1335 mm shell. Those three numbers drive every packaging decision that follows: whether the unit can travel as a single piece, how it has to be supported on the container floor, which side carries the jet and plumbing assemblies, and what turning radius your site needs for offloading. Ask the supplier to confirm the packaged dimensions and the total shipping weight separately from the installed shell dimensions — they are not the same figure, and the difference is what determines whether you need a forklift with a longer reach or a crane.

The reason the configuration matters to packaging is that a heat pump, sand filtration, UV sterilisation or insulation added to the order changes both the number of crates and where loose components travel. Confirm the option list first, then ask for the packing plan that matches it.

Ask how many packages the order becomes

A 7-metre shell rarely travels alone in a standard container alongside everything else on a project. Get a package-by-package breakdown before booking freight:

• The shell itself. Confirm whether it ships upright or on its side, what the base support looks like, and whether the acrylic surface is protected against abrasion along the full length rather than only at the corners.
• Mechanical assemblies. Pumps, the filter pump, the control system and the jet manifold are the parts most often damaged by vibration. Ask whether they travel inside the shell cavity, in a separate crate, or palletised alongside it.
• Glass and acrylic trim, waterfall components, LED fixtures. These need their own protection class and should be labelled as fragile on the outside of the crate, not assumed.
• Steps and any optional accessories. Loose items are what go missing in a shared container. They should appear as separate lines on the packing list with their own quantities.

Request photographs of the actual loaded crates before the container is sealed. This costs nothing, and it gives you a reference point if something arrives damaged.

Confirm the container type and the loading plan

A 7000 mm shell does not fit flat in a standard 20-foot container with the doors closed. Whether it goes in a 40-foot, an open-top or a flat rack depends on the packaged height and on what else you are consolidating. If the swim spa travels together with other goods from the same order — paving, wall panelling, outdoor furniture — ask for the loading diagram showing where the shell sits relative to everything else. Heavy cabinetry or steel items stacked against an acrylic shell is how cracks happen.

Our logistics and door-to-door delivery service covers packaging and container loading, freight forwarding by sea, air and rail, customs paperwork and shipment tracking. What it cannot decide for you is the Incoterms on your contract. Confirm who pays for cargo insurance, who handles import clearance at the destination port, and where our responsibility ends and yours begins.

Write the receiving inspection into the order

The single most useful clause in a swim spa purchase order is the one that says what happens in the first 48 hours after the container arrives. Agree on it before shipment:

Damage claims on oversized freight are accepted when they are documented at the point of delivery. A report raised after the site has been cleared and the crates discarded is much harder to settle, whichever party was at fault.

Check site access against the packaged size, not the brochure size

Packaging questions do not end at the container. Before the unit ships, walk the route from the truck to the final position with the packaged dimensions in hand: gate width, turning space, overhead cables, the load rating of any driveway or terrace slab it crosses, and whether the shell can be tilted through a doorway on its way to the pad. A shell that fits the site plan but not the access route arrives at your gate and stays there.

Where the WS-S07B sits in the wider range

If the packaged size of a 7-metre unit exceeds what your site can accept, compare it with the other configurations in our swimming pools and swim spas range before you commit. Shorter shells change the container type and often allow consolidation with other project goods; longer ones may need a flat rack and a permitted escort on the final leg. The WS-S07B-T variant is listed with a swim training system, which adds its own components to the packing plan — so compare the option lists, not just the shell lengths.

Send us the delivery address, the configuration you intend to order, and your preferred Incoterms, and we will confirm the package breakdown, packaged dimensions and shipping weight for that specific build before production starts. That is the version of the packaging question worth asking early: not whether the spa is well made, but whether it arrives the way it left.