Groupage looks cheaper on a per-cubic-metre basis until you add the destination charges. Here is the honest comparison, including the volume where a half-empty container beats LCL.
FCL — full container load — means you book an entire 20GP (about 28 CBM usable), 40GP (about 58 CBM) or 40HQ (about 68 CBM) container. It is sealed at the Chinese warehouse or port and opened at destination. LCL — less than container load — means your pallets are consolidated with other shippers' cargo into one container, then devanned and separated at a UK facility before delivery.
LCL pricing has three properties that catch people out:
Run the numbers on a typical example: 14 CBM of light furniture from Shenzhen to a UK postcode. As LCL, you pay 14 cubic metres of ocean freight plus 14 cubic metres of destination handling, plus a per-shipment documentation fee. As a 20GP, you pay one flat ocean rate plus one set of destination charges, regardless of the fact that the container is about half full. In most markets the FCL figure comes out at or below the LCL figure somewhere between 13 and 15 CBM — and above 15 CBM the gap widens quickly.
| Volume | Usual cheapest option | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 CBM | Air or courier | LCL minimum charges make it uneconomic |
| 1–12 CBM | LCL | You only pay for what you ship |
| 13–15 CBM | Either — get both quoted | The crossover point, lane dependent |
| 15–28 CBM | 20GP | Flat rate beats per-CBM maths |
| 28–58 CBM | 40GP, or 40HQ if light and bulky | Cheapest per CBM |
Always get both quoted for anything over 10 CBM. The crossover moves with freight rates, and a forwarder who only sells LCL has no incentive to point it out.
LCL cargo is handled at least four more times than FCL cargo: loaded into the consolidation warehouse, loaded into the container, unloaded at the UK warehouse, then sorted and reloaded for delivery. Every one of those is an opportunity for a dropped pallet or a crushed carton. It also shares a container with strangers — if another shipper's cargo is held by customs, the whole container can be delayed while yours is innocent.
FCL eliminates both problems. A sealed container that only you loaded arrives as you loaded it. For anything fragile, high value, or needed on a fixed date, that is worth more than the freight saving.
You do not have to put an entire order on one mode. A common pattern for a first container of a new product: send 100–200kg by air so you can photograph, list and start selling, while the balance goes by sea. The air batch costs more per kilo but starts generating revenue three weeks earlier, and the sea batch carries the bulk at the low rate.
The same logic applies to restocks. If a best-seller is about to go out of stock, an air top-up of a few hundred kilos is usually cheaper than three weeks of lost sales. That calculation — lost margin versus air premium — is worth doing before every reorder, not just on the first one.
If you send us your carton list and SKU split, we will quote both a whole-order option and a split option so you can see the difference in cash and in stock cover. Request a quote.
Slightly. LCL waits for consolidation and is devanned at destination, which typically adds two to five days compared with a container on the same sailing.
You can, but it is rarely sensible. At that volume a 20GP is usually cheaper and far lower risk.
Typically 30–38 days port to port to Felixstowe, Southampton or London Gateway, plus a few days for clearance and inland delivery.
You can use the forwarder's broker, which is usually simplest, or your own if you already have one. Either way the declaration must be made on an EORI — yours if you want to reclaim the import VAT.