1 whose load is lowered into recess 6 spacer element 19 is lowered over two cargo items 18 from above and partially surrounds items 18 spacer element 19 thereafter maintains the desired relative positions of the items 18 a fork lift not shown can pass its times into recesses 25 in the base of element 19 to access pallets 17 and lift the complete combination of items 19 and spacer element 18 for placement into container interior 20 as with elements 1 spacer elements 19 may conveniently be formed from a lightweight expanded foam plastics material but without implying any limitation to this material type or construction it is not essential that the cargo items 18 protrude through the top of spacer element 19 this arrangement simply happens to economize on the material used to form spacer element 19 a similar spacer element not shown could simply cover the items 19 completely except at the bottom if required fig6 shows a spacer element 30 that is also open bottomed and in use lowered over a cargo item 31 from above cargo item 31 comprises three layers 32 of flat material e g metal plates or billets for hot rolling supported on stillage elements 33 in known manner spacer element 30 is generally rectangular in overall form having opposing side faces 33 end faces 34 a top face 35 and a bottom face 36 a recess 37 is formed in bottom face 36 and is shaped and sized for close fitting containment of cargo item 31 as.