What is Consolidated Freight in Shipping?

12/01/2022

In consolidated freight, several small shipments (in cargo volume) from a location, belonging to different sellers, are combined to form a full container load (FCL) and shipped to a destination location.

Upon arrival at the destination, this cargo is segregated and redistributed to the respective customers.

The main benefits of freight consolidation are:

Saving in freight cost

Less than Container Load (LCL) cargo is packed with other similar cargo and ships as FCL to a destination. Several shippers thus share space inside a container and pay only for the volume that they take up, thus saving on cost.

Fewer damages to goods

Goods in a container that is partly filled (LCL) are more susceptible to damages than an FCL. This is because the LCL cargo may move around the container if not packed compactly with enough packing. Since a full container load is usually the maximum capacity of a container, the goods are less likely to move around the container.

Source: Container News