What is LCL Shipping?
LCL shipping stands for Less than Container Load shipping and is for goods that are stored for transit in a container along with other people’s goods. With LCL shipping, you are paying for the space in the container that you’re using up, this means that if you don’t have enough stock to fill up an entire container you won’t have to pay for the whole container. This is useful for small businesses and those who are new to importing goods.
LCL shipping is best for when you’re shipping a small number of goods or items that are small and don’t take up much space.
What Are the Benefits of LCL Shipping?
LCL shipping is cheaper if you’re shipping a smaller volume of goods, which makes it more cost-effective as you’re only paying for the space you need in the container. This means that you aren’t paying for unnecessary space if you don’t have enough goods to fill a container.
LCL shipping offers much more convenient delivery options than FCL shipping. LCL shipments are delivered on the back of a truck, and if your location is small or has restricted access, you can request a smaller truck, which makes it easier to unload. If haven’t got a forklift, you can request a tail-lift delivery where your goods can be lowered to the ground for you.
LCL shipments can be easily delivered to Amazon. If you’re looking to directly ship to Amazon, then we are more than happy to arrange it for you.
What Are the Drawbacks of LCL Shipping?
One downside of LCL shipping is that your goods will be handled on more occasions than with FCL shipping. They are loaded onto a vehicle from the factory, and then unloaded to a warehouse by the port, where they are loaded into a shared container. When the shipment arrives in the UK, the goods are unloaded from the container and loaded onto a truck, and then delivered to you to be finally unloaded.
As LCL shipments must go through a longer shipping process than FCL shipments, it means that the transit time is longer.
If you need to ship larger items or large volumes of goods regularly then LCL might be more expensive, and FCL would probably be your best option as FCL shipping is cheaper per cbm.
Is LCL Shipping Right For You?
It depends on how much you’re looking to ship and the size of your goods. If your goods are small or you’re shipping small volumes of goods, then we’d recommend using LCL shipping.
At Alisped, we are specialists in both LCL and FCL shipping. If you’re unsure of which to choose, you’re more than welcome to get in touch with us.
