Ocean freight, FCL and LCL.

FCL or LCL: what actually happens

With FCL, a full container load, the box is yours. It is loaded, sealed and not opened again until it reaches you, and you pay for it whether you fill it or not.

With LCL, less than container load, your pallets travel with other people's. They go first to a container freight station, a CFS, where a consolidator packs them into one container with other shipments. At destination a second CFS empties that container and releases each shipment to its owner.

That handling explains the price. Per cubic meter LCL costs more than FCL, because someone is paid to pack, unpack and keep every shipment straight. In total it still costs less for a few pallets, because you buy only the space you use. It also adds 5 to 10 days.

The rule of thumb

Under roughly 15 cubic meters a shared container usually works out cheaper in total. Above that, price it both ways: a 20ft container at a decent rate can win on volume alone. Call it a rule of thumb and not a rule, because heavy cargo, fragile goods and tight peak season space all move the answer. The container load tool in our shipper tools shows your volume against each box.

Containers and planning capacities

These are the planning capacities that tool uses, for deciding what to book.

Planning guide only. Interior dimensions and payload vary by carrier and by the container, and road limits at destination often cap cargo below what the box could hold.

Special equipment is quoted case by case. A reefer is refrigerated and holds less than a dry box of the same length. An open top has a removable tarpaulin roof, for cargo craned in from above. A flat rack is a floor with end walls only, for machinery wider than a door.

What an ocean quote covers

An ocean quote is not one number. Ours groups charges by where they happen, so you can lay two quotes side by side and see which one is missing something.

1. Origin: pickup, drayage to the port or CFS, export documents and terminal handling.
2. Ocean freight: the carrier's rate plus surcharges such as fuel and peak season.
3. Destination: terminal handling, the delivery order, and for LCL the deconsolidation charge.
4. Customs: the broker's fee, duty and government fees.
5. Delivery: the truck to your door, plus liftgate or inside delivery.

Reading a freight quote line by line names the lines that hide cost. If your purchase order says FOB, EXW or DAP, Incoterms for importers explains what is already in your supplier's price.

Booking to delivery

Port to port is what gets quoted. Door to door is what you live with. Around the ocean leg below, add origin time before the vessel sails, typically 3 to 7 days for FCL and 5 to 10 for LCL, and destination time after arrival, typically 3 to 7 days for FCL and 7 to 14 for LCL, since the box has to reach a CFS and be emptied.

Typical ranges for planning, never a promise. Routing via Suez, Panama or the Cape of Good Hope is set by the carrier and the service, and it moved more than once during 2026.

Then add the inland leg. Los Angeles or Long Beach to Phoenix is a truck lane, usually 1 to 3 days with the terminal appointment and chassis. Rail sits longer than it looks: boxes leaving those ports by truck averaged 2.95 days of dwell in August 2026, by rail 8.20 days, per the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.

ISF and customs entry

Ocean imports into the United States need an Importer Security Filing, and it is the deadline first-time importers miss. Ten data elements about the sale, the goods and who packed the container must reach U.S. Customs and Border Protection at least 24 hours before loading at the foreign port, under 19 CFR part 149. Liquidated damages run $5,000 per violation, current as of September 2026. Air, truck and rail imports need no ISF.

We collect the elements from you and your supplier and a licensed customs broker files them. Responsibility stays with the ISF Importer, normally you, so we show you what was filed. ISF filing, the 10+2 explained lists all ten.

Entry is separate. It must be made within 15 calendar days after the goods land, under 19 CFR 141.5, and is usually filed before arrival so the container releases near arrival day. Ocean entries also carry the merchandise processing fee, 0.3464 percent of entered value on formal entries between a floor and a ceiling that move each fiscal year, and the harbor maintenance fee, 0.125 percent, which ocean cargo alone pays. Check current figures with CBP.

Demurrage and detention

Two charges, one idea: you are renting something and the clock ran out. Demurrage is rent on terminal ground, for a container sitting at the port past its free time. Detention is rent on the box itself, once it has left the terminal and is not returned empty in time.

Free time is the days you get before either clock starts. It comes from the terminal schedule, the carrier tariff or your contract, not from any federal rule, so it differs by port, carrier and equipment. For LCL at destination, CFS free time is commonly 3 to 7 days. Ask for it in writing at booking.

Since the Federal Maritime Commission rule at 46 CFR part 541 took effect on May 28, 2024, one of these invoices must show the free time in days, its start and end dates, the container availability date and where the rate comes from. It has to reach you within 30 calendar days of the last day charged, and you get at least 30 days to ask for it to be reduced, refunded or waived. Missing information removes your obligation to pay, so send one to us first. Our shipper tools include a port shutdown planner for the weeks when free time gets tight.

Packing, wood and weight

• Pallets: for LCL, palletize and shrink wrap, with nothing overhanging. Loose cartons get handled piece by piece at two container freight stations, which is where boxes go missing.
• Weight: spread it across the floor, heavy items low and centered. A container loaded heavy at one end can be refused at the terminal.
• Wood: solid wood pallets, crates and dunnage must be heat treated or fumigated and carry the IPPC mark under ISPM 15, enforced here by USDA APHIS. Look for the wheat symbol and a treatment code, usually HT. Untreated wood gets the shipment held or destroyed. Plywood sits outside the standard.
• VGM: before a packed container can be loaded, the shipper must give the carrier a verified gross mass, meaning cargo plus packing plus the container's tare weight. That is SOLAS chapter VI regulation 2, in force since 2016. No VGM, no loading, so we ask for weights early.

Cargo insurance

Cargo insurance is optional, and we explain it rather than push it. A carrier's liability for lost or damaged cargo is limited by law and by the bill of lading, usually to a small fraction of what the goods are worth, and collecting means proving fault. General average, a shared loss declared when a vessel gets into trouble, can also leave you paying toward damage that never touched your container.

A separate policy is priced on the value of the goods and the lane. Ask when you request your quote and we will show the cost and the terms next to the freight, with no promise of any particular coverage or outcome. More background sits in our guides.