Maritime transport, railway transport and air transport are the three major modes of international transport. Each of them has its own advantages, and when we choose a mode of transport, we should consider both the variety of goods and the duration of transport. Among the various modes of transport, how to choose the appropriate mode of transport is an important issue in the rationalisation of logistics. In the international transport of goods, sea transport is the most important mode of transport in international trade, the vast majority of China's imports of goods are transported by means of sea transport. Next, we will explain what is called ocean freight consolidation? What are the precautions?

1. What is ocean freight consolidation?

A box is called a consolidation box because it contains consignments from different shippers assembled together. This situation in the owner of the consignment quantity is not enough to fill the whole box when used. Sea cargo consolidation classification, sorting, concentration, boxing (unboxing), delivery and other work in the carrier terminal container freight station or inland container transfer station.

2. Considerations for sea freight consolidation

(1) LCL cargo generally can not accept the designation of a specific shipping company, the shipping company only accepts the booking of the whole box of goods, and does not directly accept the booking of maritime LCL cargo, only through the freight forwarder to the whole of the maritime LCL cargo can be booked to the shipping company after the booking, almost all the maritime LCL cargo through the freight forwarding company, ‘centralised handling, centralised distribution’ to achieve the transport. Almost all ocean freight LCL cargoes are ‘centralised consignment, centralised distribution’ through freight forwarding companies to achieve transportation, and the ocean freight LCL distribution port in East China is basically Shanghai port.

(2)General freight forwarders due to the limitations of the source of goods, can only focus on booking to a few shipping companies, rarely meet the needs of the designated shipping company, so in the transaction of maritime LCL goods, try not to accept the designated shipping company, so as not to be able to meet the requirements for consignment.

(3)When negotiating a deal with the customer, special attention should be paid to the relevant transport terms, so as to avoid the other party's letter of credit opened in the handling of consignment only to find that it is unable to meet the transport terms.

(4) The billable tonnage of LCL cargo must be accurate. Before delivery of ocean freight LCL cargo, the factory should be required to measure the weight and size of the goods as accurately as possible, delivery to the warehouse designated by the freight forwarder for storage, the warehouse will generally re-measurement, and will be re-measured size and weight for the charges.

(5) In some ports, due to insufficient supply of ocean freight LCL cargo and high cost, forwarders specialising in ocean freight LCL take the lowest charge for cargo with small volume, such as the minimum starting point of 2 freight tonnes, i.e., less than 2 freight tonnes, and charge according to the price of 2 freight tonnes.

(6) For some routes and ports are more remote, and the customer proposes to deliver the LCL cargo to the inland point, it is better to consult before signing the contract, and confirm that there are shipping companies and forwarders who can undertake to handle the remote ports, inland point delivery and related costs before signing the contract.