One of the hottest topics regarding global trades has been importing from China. However, since there are lots of terms and techniques involved in such a process, we opt to explain the LCL and FCL in this article.
Do Your Homework in Advance
Let’s say your importing electronics from Shenzhen. Your cargo includes small-sized plastic cellphone accessories that are light. In this case, the volumetric weight for your load will lead to a reasonable overall fee since it won’t occupy ample space in the aircraft or the ship.
Now, if you were to, say, import clothes from Guangzhou, things would be different. That’s because fabrics are light, but they occupy lots of space.
So, the whole idea is that you must choose LCL and FCL according to the volume weight of your load. (see below for more info).
LCL Is the Deal That Small Companies Are Looking for
Eurostat claims that China was involved in 45% of world trade in 2018. So, it’s safe to say that lots of small businesses that work with programs such as Fulfilment by Amazon in China are importing from this region to their countries.
Lots of traders are not capable of buying large sums of goods every time they’re working with Chinese suppliers. So, their freight becomes “Less Container Load.”
That is, their shipment is not enough to fulfill a whole container. So, what are the downsides and upsides of LCL?
- As an upside, it helps small industries to work with suppliers though they don’t want to buy a full container of a load.
- However, the downsides are paying more fees, having less reliable transaction process, and experiencing longer delivery time.
FCL is the Most Cost-Effective Deal
Not all of the traders are small businesses who’re utilizing the air and sea freight in China. Most of the world’s largest companies opt to import goods from China for Amazon FBA or other comparable programs.
Such traders usually buy enough goods to fulfill a container or two. And that type of load is called FCL or “Full Container Load.”
Some advantages of having such a load are:
- FCL reaches the ending point faster than LCL.
- It’s a safe method as the entire cargo of yours will be packed and shipped exclusively.
- It’s cost-effective because the forwarders won’t have to look any further to fill the container with other stuff. And that makes the process smoother, which ends up making your bills lighter.
We Offer Both LCL and FCL for a Fair Price
We, at the DDPCH, highly recommend our customers to ship cargos as LCL only if the dimensional weight of their packages is less than 15 cubic meters. Otherwise, it’s always wise to make your payloads FCL.
However, for more information on LCL and FCL, contact us via email or phone. (Comments are welcome too!).