Sea Groupage

The proper LCL definition is a shipment ‘Less than Container Load’, and it means in practice that your freight forwarder is going to be earning his money by getting you the best deal.

Because you have just one or maybe a few pallets to ship, you cannot by yourself get competitive shipping rates. Freight haulage is geared up for transporting containers, typically of 20 foot or 40 foot length; and the ideal is to persuade your recipient to take exact container load quantities.

Efficient LCL transport

Whereas airfreight is very weight-focused, ships are able to handle almost any load. Thus the most important cost factor is how much volume they can accommodate. This means that LCL rates are based on a system that takes package measurements into account and converts then into a density figure: it is the Weight or Measurement rule (WM). The higher of the weight, or the measure calculation, applies.

Shippers work around cubic metre measurements (cbm). You will be charged for a minimum 1 cbm under LCL rules even if you have a very small shipment. There are 33 cbm in a 20 foot container and 66 in a 40 foot container.

Converting cbm into what is known as chargeable shipping volume is done using standard conversions set by shippers: these vary so that some may work on 1 cbm = 500kg, others may work on up to 1000 kg (check with your LCL freight forwarder). If the actual weight is lower than this, then the chargeable shipping volume applies: if the weight is higher, there is a penalty because the weight applies.