Less Than Container Load Essay

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Less-than-container load (LCL) is a shipment that is not large enough to fill a standard cargo container. The abbreviation LCL formerly applied to "less than (railway) car load" for quantities of material from different shippers or for delivery to different destinations carried in a single railway car for efficiency. LCL freight was often sorted and redistributed into different railway cars at intermediate railway terminals en route to the final destination.
LCL is "a quantity of cargo less than that required for the application of a carload rate. A quantity of cargo less than that fills the visible or rated capacity of an inter-modal container”. It can also be defined as "a consignment of cargo which is inefficient to fill a shipping container. …show more content…

Normally it will be consolidated with other LCL shipments to make an FCL (full container load).

When you do not have enough cargo to fill a shipping container of FCL, you can opt for the LCL option. LCL is usually a very viable option. Specialist LCL sea freight consolidators run services to all of the major ports and gateways around the world. They do this by paying for a full container from the shipping line, consolidating multiple smaller shipments at their warehouse, loading and shipping the full container in the usual manner and then earning their profit by charging a pro rata rate per 1000 kg’s or 1 Cubic Meter (whichever is greater), known as weight or measure (w/m)
The question remains FCL or LCL?
There are some instances where a shipper will not want to share a container even if LCL is cheaper, but for most the decision of which option to choose comes down to cost. Consider the below example when shipping from London to Durban, South Africa (using fictional rates!) Lets say shipment size of 2,000 kg’s and 10.000 M3
20 ‘ container would cost £2500 including all costs from collected to arrival …show more content…

Sea Freight rates are normally provided in the form of a Freight quotation, and the format of these quotations can vary between freight forwarders companies and sea freight companies. Whilst new surcharges seem to be introduced daily, your sea freight price will most likely be made up of the below freight & surcharge items.
Cost type Description FCL Charge Type LCL Charge Type
Inland Haulage Haulage from shipper to export warehouse or port of exit. Lump Sum - Can include Ocean Rate be subject to Fuel surcharge Lump Sum - Can include Ocean Rate be subject to Fuel surcharge
UK THC Terminal handling charge – container handling at the port or consolidation warehouse Lump Sum Weight or Measure (W/M) Usually based on per 1000 kgs or 1.000 M3 whichever the greater.
Documentation Admin charge for required shipping documentation. Lump Sum - Can be multiple items for different documentation. I.e. Shipping line Bill of lading / House Bill of lading / certificates of origin etc. Lump Sum - Can be multiple items for different documentation. I.e. Shipping line Bill of lading / House Bill of lading / certificates of origin netc.
Customs Clearance Production and lodging of customs declaration. Lump Sum Lump

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