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Cargo Consolidation

Containerization has been a major advancement with regards international trade by improving cargo packaging, handling, storage and reducing the cost between 20 and 40 foot long and about 8 feet wide. Freight rates are usually applied per container talking into consideration the space occupied by the said container whether full or not. But what happens when the consignee (cargo owner) cannot provide enough cargo to fill the entire space in the container, he may then consider consolidation.

By definition, consolidation is combining a number of smaller shipments to be transported as one large shipment. In practice, consolidation involves organizing (consolidate) different shipments belonging to 2 or more consignees (cargo owners) into one shipping container by the freight forwarder (consolidator) to be processed for export.

This arrangement makes a lot of economic sense when an exporter cannot generate enough cargo to fill a container and would be ideal. Whiles this would ensure continuity of business since the exporters would not have to wait until he generates enough cargo to fill a container, but instead, cargo can be shipped in smaller quantities as and when available thereby maintaining the regular flow of business. Another major advantage of this arrangement is that, it reduces the cost of shipping the cargo as the freight would be shared by all other cargo owner involved.

The disadvantage however is that, the space in a container might not be exclusively made available to only one exporter and cargo may run the risk of contamination or damage from other cargoes especially when consignment in the container are not homogeneous and without proper lashing. The cargo might also run the risk of damage during the de-consolidation process as well as pilferage since container seal could be broken without your presence.

As cargo consolidators and warehousing agents we provide professional purpose built warehousing services to ensure the safety of your cargo at all time. Through our integrated inventory management system, we not only provide control on a worldwide basis but also allow customers to supplement and redistribute cargo. This approach reduces cycle time while assuring constant availability of products. We offer special warehousing facilities for containerized, refrigerated and hazardous materials.