What is LCL? What is LCL Shipment?

International trade relies on the movement of millions of cargo containers, and there are some special freight terms when you are going to ship goods overseas, such as one of the more common terms that people have questions about in the freight industry, LCL.

What exactly does LCL stand for?

LCL (Less than Container Load) shipping, commonly known as LCL, is a service that takes shipments of different consignors and packs them into one container. This method is applied where single consignments do not occupy the whole container space. All the activities relating to the handling of LCL cargo such as classification, organization, consolidation, loading and unloading and delivering of the cargo is done at the carrier’s (freight forwarder’s) container freight station or inland container depot.

This responsibility is to load and unload the carrier and the expenses for this service are determined by the shipper. The ocean carrier’s responsibility for LCL cargo is usually the same as it would be for other break-bulk goods.

Based on the definition of LCL shipping there are two types of LCL shipping, direct consolidation and transshipment consolidation. Conventional consolidation entails that the cargo in the LCL container is handled in one port and then transported without being opened through to the final destination port, meaning that the cargo is destined for the same port of discharge. Such a service is generally faster and more convenient, and is offered by the large, reputable carriers offering LCL services.

Transshipment consolidation, however, entails shipment that contains goods to be delivered to different ports within a single container; these goods have to be unloaded or transshipped at an intermediate port. This kind of shipment takes more time to be delivered since the final ports of destination are different and the cargo has to wait for the subsequent vessels, which is also costly.

Forest Shipping offers 100% hands-off LCL shipment services to FBA warehouses and anywhere else worldwide. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.