LCL Shipping


The shipping term LCL Shipping is commonly used to describe an international ocean freight service that was designed for shipping boxed, crated or palletized cargo from or to the USA that can’t fill an entire 20′ or 40′ foot container. When you are shipping LCL cargo you are paying for the space that you use in the container, and LCL cargo ocean freight rates are calculated by the volume (per cubic meter/cubic foot) but not by the weight. 

Less than container load is a shipment that will not fill a container. With an LCL shipment, you pay for your load to be shipped in a container with one or more loads from other customers of the freight transport provider. If you know that you cannot fill even a 20-foot container, LCL is the most sensible option in terms of cost and convenience.

When you don’t have enough cargo to fill an ocean freight container, International 3PL offers LCL service between major ports worldwide. We have an extensive network of capabilities and container freight stations. That means we can offer you space within a container that is shared with other customers’ goods to deliver economical usage-based costing, while providing Full-Container-Load (FCL) frequency, routing and visibility.

Advantages of using LCL shipping services for your international shipments:

• It will decrease the shipping cost, you are paying for the portion of the space you are using.

• For inland, you can either drop or pick up the cargo from the CFS/bonded warehouse where they load or unload the container.

• Transit time will be the same as if you would have shipped a full ocean freight container.

• International moving company can also palletize smaller boxes to eliminate shipping cost extra volume charges.

Disadvantages of shipping LCL Vs.  FCL:

If one of shipment in the container is stopped for inspection, all other shipments will be delayed.

The cost of the inspection is shared by all consignees.

Pallet shipping from one country to another might get tricky, contact us so that we can handle your shipment