In previous years, reusable coil cradles were rarely used in the shipping industry. This is because, despite their safe, reduced stowage qualities, the collection and management of coil cradles are relatively expensive. This study analysed the costs of using coil cradles compared with disposal dunnage, using empirical data from a South Korean shipping company. We fabricated a prototype of a coil cradle and implemented a rolling and pitching test, in addition to two field tests. The major contribution of this research is to show that, compared with dunnage, coil cradles can reduce the amount of time required, the number of workers needed and the related work expenses. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.