How Much?

This page mostly related to shipping LCL (Less than Container Load) via ocean freight service of non-commercial shippers, individual shippers, where the commodity is household goods and personal effects.

LCL ocean freight cargo may be shipped as:

1. Loose Cargo
2. Palletized Cargo
3. Mixed Cargo

CNN International will determine the best shipping method based on commodity and capacity of cargo, traffic to destination, or destination country and steamship line regulations.

Shipping LCL ( Less than container load ) as loose cargo is the most economical way to ship cargo from or to US because the total ocean freight shipping cost will be calculated as a straight sum of volumes for all shipped items in cubic meters (or cubic feet). If you ship a small number of boxes (approx 4-5 boxes), then your goods may be shipped loose. However, if you ship many boxes OR any one piece exceeds 100 lbs then the ocean carrier may require to palletize your loose items no matter if you request the palletizing or not.

When palletizing a shipment items. Items will be professionally stacked by the ocean freight carrier from corner-to-corner of the skid's edge distributing weight evenly and utilizing each pallet's full capacity.

The size of standard U.S. pallet (also known as a 'skid') is 48'(1.2m) x 40'(1.0m) x 6'(0.15m) in height.

However in the sea freight industry it is permitted to use a variety of pallets with different sizes and forms.

Palletized cargo dimensions are derived by the length, width and highest point of the pallet (including the pallet itself). Palletizing may increase chargeable volume by 10% - 20% or more. However Palletized ocean freight cargo has much higher probability to reach its destination without damages or loss.

TO CALCULATE YOUR FINAL CHARGEABLE (GROSS) VOLUME THE LONGEST, WIDEST AND HIGHEST POINTS OF THE SKID WILL BE MULTIPLIED.
For example: a 40 x 50 x 50 inch skid would equal 1.65 gross cubic meters (or 58 gross cubic feet).