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Shipping Methods

The document outlines various shipping methods for personal items, including road, air cargo, and ocean freight, with a focus on ocean shipments. It details three types of ocean shipments: LCL (Less than Full Container Load), Groupage (Consolidation), and FCL (Full Container Load), along with their respective advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, it highlights potential delay factors that may affect shipping times.

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sosomei2008
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10 views

Shipping Methods

The document outlines various shipping methods for personal items, including road, air cargo, and ocean freight, with a focus on ocean shipments. It details three types of ocean shipments: LCL (Less than Full Container Load), Groupage (Consolidation), and FCL (Full Container Load), along with their respective advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, it highlights potential delay factors that may affect shipping times.

Uploaded by

sosomei2008
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Shipping Methods

In general, the shipping process is very complex and involves much logistical planning.
There are several options for shipping your personal items.

By Road

This method is wildly used within Country to Country where with land borders linked.

By Air Cargo

Air shipments are very fast and very expensive. You may want to consider air freight for a small portion of your goods. You should choose to use air
shipping for items you will need immediately when you arrive at your destination.

By Ocean Freight

Ocean shipments take longer and therefore, pre-planning is extremely important.

We will review available options and provide tips on how to choose what is best for you. Normally we can estimate the arrival time. However, keep in
mind that when dealing with logistics of this magnitude, delays happen at no one’s fault (for example port strikes, over-flowed/routing change, etc. of
ocean carriers, etc.).

There are 3 types of ocean shipments that you may choose from:

1. LCL – Less than Full Container Load.(LCL) shipments are NOT an exclusive use of a container. Imagine a large container that contains your
goods as well as the goods of other families and individuals. LCL shipments are normally shipped in crates or pallets as an additional protection
during the whole routing.

Advantages

 You can ship any size shipment even if you only have a few items.
 Relatively non expensive for small to medium size shipments.
 Normally takes a little longer than a full-dedicated container. This might be an advantage or a disadvantage according to your needs.

Disadvantages:

 Relatively expensive for large shipments.


 You lose some space due to the fact that these shipments are normally crates or palletized and you are billed by the total size (actual
gross volume of the crate/pallet).
 Your shipment is handled more times by operators of the consolidators of commercial goods.
 It takes more time than FCL, as the packed stuff will need to be palletized or crated at the mover’s warehouse before send to the
receiving station of the consolidators

2. Groupage, also known as Consolidation – Similar to LCL shipments, however the consolidation is done by the moving company that you are
dealing with.

Advantages

 Relatively non expensive for small to medium size shipments.

Disadvantages

 Relatively expensive for large shipments.


 It takes more time since the moving company needs to consolidate your small shipment with other small shipments until a full container
is filled. The faster they can accumulate shipments, the faster they will ship.
3. FCL – Full Container Loads – This type of shipping arrangement is normally for larger shipments and shipments that need to arrive faster than
LCL shipment. With the FCL shipments, you are renting the exclusive use of a full container for the purpose of moving your personal items.

Advantages

 Normally we will load and seal the container at your house (if access permits). The next time the doors of the container are opened will
be at your new residence. If access does not permit loading the container directly from the residence, we will use a “shuttle” and deliver
your goods to our warehouse and then into a container.
 It is easier to time the arrival of the container.
 The container doors are sealed with a high security numbered lock. It is easier for customs to verify the seal is intact and to report any
irregularity. The seal should not be broken until the container arrives at your residence unless there is a customs exam.

Disadvantages

 Once the container arrives to the destination, you hardly have any free time at the port. If you need storage afterwards, additional
storage at the port is very expensive. The port will charge a progressively higher storage rate. In addition to port storage, the steamship
line will charge rental for the container.
 If you need storage, it is best to know this in advance and to plan with the moving company in order to minimize the cost. There are
other alternatives.

Delay factors:

 High traffic of containers arriving to destination during the summer.


 Port congestion or port strike.
 War or other security issues that may affect the port.
 Lack of labor, trucks or containers (especially in the summer).
 Lack of space on the shipping vessel.
 Overbooking of the vessel.
 Insufficient cargo volume during the low season of the industry / market, especially for the Groupage Service
 Once the shipment arrives at the destination, allow some time for delivering full containers and about 2 weeks for less than full
containers. It is best to communicate your preferred delivery date with your moving consultant. However, during the summer, it may be
difficult to get the exact desired delivery date.
 It is better to be flexible. Work with the coordinator.

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