China is one of the best-sought options when it comes to manufacturing products. Many companies prefer to import products from China due to its low labour costs.
Now as a business owner, saving freight costs would be your top priority. Here is where you can opt for consolidated shipping from China.
Why Go in for Consolidated Shipping?
If you are new to the concept of consolidated shipping, then you should understand what consolidated shipping is all about, before you make the decision.
This type of shipping is nothing but combining all the shipments of various companies into a big container.
Once the shipments reach their destinations, the goods are unloaded onto their original shipments. This helps shippers to save on costs and time.
Consolidated shipping can be done for sea, land, and air shipments. This is called carrier consolidation.
Another method is through orders consolidation. Under this method, several individual orders are combined into a single order and sent to the same shipment address.
Once they reach the destination the shipping company will then unpack the orders and deliver them to their final destination.
When it comes to consolidated shipping from China, you need to plan your logistics carefully.
Some ways in which you can optimize your costs are:
- Ensure that you choose multiple Chinese suppliers who are located nearby
- Check if they have export clearance
- They should be well-versed in Chinese customs and other export documents
- To save on costs, ensure that your products are properly packed or palletized
- If you have multiples shipment in various modes of production, it is better to opt for a temporary storage
- Lastly, ensure that you book the right container in advance so that you can load your products
Ordering a container that is too small or too big means that you will end up paying extra for the container or space.
Overview of LCL, FCL Consolidated Shipments
If you are new to the world of importing, then you would need to brush up your vocabulary with terms such as “LCL” and “FCL”. These are commonly used terms in the import industry. So what do they refer to?
LCL refers to Less Container Load wherein you share a small space for your products in a full container. This is a good approach especially if you are dealing with a small set of shipments.
FCL, on the other hand, refers to Full Container Load and involves paying for a full-size container. This is a good choice if you have a huge load of shipments.
So, the next question is which would be a better option? When compared to consolidated shipping from China, LCL tends to be expensive. Secondly, it takes a lot of time to clear customs when compared to FCL shipments.
If you are confused about how to go about the consolidation of freight, the general rule of thumb here would be to opt for:
- Time Consolidation
- Inventory Consolidation
- Warehouse Consolidation
- Vehicle Consolidation
Many a time, companies might opt for time consolidation, wherein they will accumulate all customer orders in one place and ship them off at a designated date.
Inventory consolidation is used by companies to manage their inventories better. They might either transport the entire load thereby converting them into inventories.
Warehouse consolidation, on the other hand, refers to storing different types of cargo in a warehouse and then transporting them to their final destination.
Vehicle consolidation refers to arranging for a single vehicle to board and off-board the goods at multiple locations.
Conclusion
Opting for consolidated shipping from China will not only help you minimize costs. It also ensures that your products are delivered to their customers on time.
