Once happy with the freight, quote, you will need to send us required document and we will take it from there. We are going to keep close touch with you and your supplier, make sure your shipment transportation quick and safe.
By working with us,your shipments are moved safely and on time, every time. IFC provides our valued customer with the highest level of efficient reliable logistics service at competitive cost.
You can always rely onus as your complete import partner
Please read below information to understand packaging and selection of transportation:
Container Type 20 GP/40 GP/40 HQ
These three types are the most common ones used for container shipping.
General purpose commonly means Dry Container (DC). Sometimes if fluid goods are packed by a flexible container bag, it can also be delivery by standard DC.
20GP is designed to carry more weight than voluminous cargo.
Example minerals, metals, machinery, etc. all of which are heavy goods.
40GP is designed to carry voluminous cargo rather than heavy cargo.
Example a furniture, tyres, toys, etc. all of which are voluminous goods.
Though the volume of 40ft is twice than the 20ft, the max load of both is the same, no more than 27-28 ton in China, most cases under 20 ton. While you can load more than double the 20ft cargo volume into a 40ft, you cannot load double the 20ft cargo weight into a 40ft.
The ocean rates from China for a 40 container is less than double of a 20 container you may take it as rough 1.5 times for easy reference. And the 40 HQ cost the same as the 40 GP, sometimes higher US100-200.
In addition to the above three common containers, there are special types if your cargo is not so regular, such as Reefer Container, Open Top Container,Flat-Rack Container, Tank Container, etc.
No matter which type of the container is, you can find many useful data printed on the door, such as CNTR NO., MAX. GROSS, TARE, NET
Shipment Type FCL/LCL
FCL,full container load, which means your goods loading into a full container. You buy large quantity, and the freight cost per unit will be less. It's from CY(container yard) to CY.
LCL,less than container load, which means your goods and other importers goods consolidating together from the same loading port to the same destination port.You buy the just right quantity suitable for your specific target market. Its from CFS (container freight station) to CFS.
Packaging
Your cargo must be sufficiently protected, from the factory to loading port warehouse, and stacked in a container for up to a month. Then to discharge port warehouse, and finally on a truck to you.
A lot can happen in this time, and you need to be sure that your export packaging is up for the task.
Heres the common pallet size.40x48 inches(1016x1219mm), for the U.S.
Youd better provide the shipper with explicit and clear export packaging specifications. Do not leave anything to their interpretation, and provide graphical examples whenever possible.
LCL vs. Courier
A question for you. If your shipment is less than 1cbm, for example, 0.4cbm with 50kg, still LCL
Please note the minimum billable weight/volume for LCL is 1 cbmor 1 ton.
You may think delivery via sea is always cheap. But in fact,courier such as DHL/UPS/FedEx is more competitive for this kind of small package. Generally speaking, its better to choose express courier than LCL forth billable weight of a shipment under 100kg, sometimes even 200kg for certain destination countries.
LCL rate total ocean cost
You may get the quote ocean rate 40/cbm to your port. Please be cautious and try to have a clear thought first. Dont take it for granted that your freight cost. Actually, its just a small percentage of the total cost. Much more will be charged at the destination.
As you can imagine, loading a few LCL shipments into FCL before departure and unloading them after arrival, it takes quite a lot of time and efforts. Not only the physical in-out, but also complicated shipping documents.The unit LCL freight price should be higher than unit FCL.