The present invention relates to a packaging machine which has transport means in the form of two transport chains (5, 6) for lateral grasping and transporting of a length of material (7) consisting of packaging material. In particular with longer plants above approximately 10 meters in transport length the stretching property of the transport chains owing to the load has a marked effect on the precision of the transport distance. This results in fluctuations of the transport distance between the two transport chains and therefore distortions of the length of material, which, depending on the type of packaging material, can even lead to tearing of the length of material. In order to minimize these fluctuations, the first transport means (5) has a first engagement element (10) engaging in the first transport means (5) and the second transport means (6) a second engagement element (11) engaging in the second transport means (6), the first engagement element (10) being coupled to the second engagement element (11) in such a way that the two engagement elements are synchronized.