LCL & Groupage Shipping.

Not every shipment justifies a whole container. LCL — less than container load, also called groupage — consolidates your pallets or cases with other shippers' cargo into a shared container, and you pay for the space you occupy rather than the box. For anything between one and roughly fifteen cubic metres it is usually the cheapest sea option, and it is how most first orders, trial shipments and small household consignments move.

The trade-off is transit time and handling. A groupage container is loaded at a consolidation warehouse, sails, and is then stripped at a deconsolidation warehouse at destination, which adds several days at each end and means your cargo is handled more than it would be in a sole-use box. Good packaging is therefore not optional: palletise where you can, use corner boards and shrink wrap, mark every piece clearly and never ship loose cartons that can be lost or crushed.

LCL is charged on whichever is greater: the cubic volume of your cargo or its weight expressed as a revenue tonne, normally one tonne per cubic metre. A pallet of feathers is charged on volume; a pallet of bolts is charged on weight. Measure the outer dimensions of the packed pallet including the pallet itself and any overhang, because that is what the warehouse will measure, and a 5cm overhang can push a shipment into the next cubic metre.

Every lcl & groupage shipping booking with NLX Logistics follows the same simple sequence, and you keep the same reference number and the same contact from the first email to final delivery. You send us the details, we send you a written quotation, and once you are happy we confirm space and issue a booking pack with everything you need to prepare.

We never ask for paperwork you do not need, and we never spring charges on you at destination without warning. If a cost is likely to arise at the other end — terminal handling, customs examination, quarantine inspection, storage after free time expires — we tell you about it in the quotation so you can budget for it rather than discover it later.

Good paperwork is what keeps freight moving, so we front-load it. For commercial cargo we need a commercial invoice and packing list, your EORI number, the commodity codes and the incoterms you have agreed with your buyer. For vehicles we need the V5C or bill of sale, photographic identification for the owner and the keys. For personal effects we need a detailed inventory and, where relevant, evidence of residence.

If anything is missing we will tell you exactly what to obtain and where to get it. We would far rather spend ten minutes on the phone before the cargo moves than deal with a detention charge at destination because a certificate was never applied for.

Standard carrier liability is limited by international convention and is calculated on the weight of the cargo rather than its value, which means an expensive, lightweight shipment is barely protected at all. We therefore recommend all-risks marine cargo insurance on the declared commercial or replacement value of every consignment, which we can arrange at the point of booking for a small percentage of the insured value.

Cover runs warehouse to warehouse, includes general average contribution, and is underwritten on Institute Cargo Clauses A for most cargo types. Claims are handled with a single point of contact, and we will help you assemble the survey report, photographs and commercial evidence a claim requires.