Full container transportation and LCL transportation

Full container transportation and LCL transportation

FCL (referred to as FCL) In contrast to LCL, in the container transportation business, we put a container, an exporter, a consignee, a port of destination, meet the "four one" conditions of the goods called FCL transportation, also known as full container cargo. LCL (referred to as LCL) refers to the carrier (or agent) to accept the number of the shipper is less than the full container of the receipt of freight, according to the nature of the cargo and the destination of classification. The goods going to the same destination are gathered into a certain number and assembled into boxes.

The transportation cost of FCL and LCL, whether in formalities or in time and costs are very different, and the relationship between the two is by no means the simple addition and sum of "1+1=2".

1, Comparison of customs clearance procedures

First of all, the whole container of goods is just in line with the export and import countries of customs inspection, sealing, release of the smallest unit, a batch of goods, as long as the exporter and the importer submitted documents are reasonable and legal and intact, the export customs and import customs to complete the relevant procedures and collect the relevant taxes and fees, will soon be cleared. LCL cargo is not so simple and fast. As long as there is a mistake in the documents of the goods in the container, the export customs will not release the goods.

Secondly, LCL does not have the breadth and flexibility of the full container. LCL transport companies need to solicit additional and reasonable collocation of some loading port, port of destination, delivery date, variety of goods, volume, weight and other aspects of the conditions are very suitable for the same container of export goods. These requirements are very difficult to do and take a long time. If the shipper's shipping company's operating capacity is not strong, then the transportation of goods will be delayed for longer.

Because the export customs must do a good job of sealing the container before allowing the cargo container to leave the country. Therefore, in the same container, any goods do not clear customs, which is bound to affect the timely export and transportation of other goods.

2, Cost comparison

Under normal circumstances, the freight and miscellaneous charges of the full container transportation of sea freight generally include freight, transportation surcharge and port miscellaneous charges. The freight and transportation surcharge of LCL and FCL should be the same, and the difference in cost is only the cost of assembling at the port of loading and unpacking at the port of destination. Therefore, compared with FCL, LCL may have LCL, unpacking fee and storage fee.

In addition, compared with FCL, the quantity and total value of LCL are generally relatively small, and the cost of communication, letter of credit, certificate of origin, customs declaration and so on is equivalent, from this point of view to accounting, the unit transaction cost of LCL is definitely higher than that of FCL.

There is also if the goods can not be shipped in time, there will be a loss of space charges. For FCL, the fee charged by the shipping company is fixed, and the LCL freight forwarder can only book and operate from the shipping company by FCL. If the space is vacant due to the shipper's reasons, the LCL freight forwarder will lose money or profit will be greatly reduced, for which the freight forwarder will charge a high loss of space fee.

To sum up, the FCL takes a shorter time, and the cost is relatively low, but it depends on the situation, if your goods are more FCL is cost-effective, if not much LCL is cost-effective. Finally, on the issue of whether the goods go full container or less container, it is best to think twice before proceeding, considering both the cost and the invisible risk.