Knowledge and characteristics of LCL in international trade
Knowledge and characteristics of LCL in international trade
LCL refers to that the carrier (or agent) classifies and sorts according to the nature of the goods and the destination after accepting the small ticket freight with less than the whole box consigned by the shipper. Gather a certain number of goods to the same destination and put them into the box. It is called LCL because there are goods of different shippers assembled together in a box. This situation is adopted when the consignor's consignment quantity is insufficient to fill the whole container. The classification, sorting, concentration, packing (unpacking), delivery and other work of LCL cargo are carried out at the container terminal of the carrier or inland container transfer station.
LCL cargo is the relative term of full container cargo, which refers to small ticket cargo loaded less than a full container. This kind of goods is usually collected by the carrier respectively and concentrated at the container freight station or inland station, and then the goods with two or more tickets are assembled in a container, which should also be unpacked and delivered at the destination container freight station or inland station.
For such goods, the carrier shall bear the packing and unpacking operations, and the fees for packing and unpacking shall still be charged to the shipper. The responsibility of the carrier for LCL cargo is basically the same as that of traditional general cargo transportation.
With the rapid development of international trade and the continuous extension of transportation services, the shipping terms of containers will continue to expand to meet the various needs of customers.
LCL features:
From the perspective of actual operation, more than 80% of LCL cargoes are transported by CFS to CFS, followed by door to door, door to CFS, CFS to door. The main reason is determined by the nature of LCL:
Integration of goods from different shippers and consignees: the whole container assembled in LCL is composed of goods from multiple different shippers and consignees.
The trade terms are different from the policies and regulations of the importing and exporting countries on the restrictions and requirements of various commodities: some commodities and goods have no restrictions on export, but once such things happen in the importing country, it will not only affect the customs clearance of the goods, but also directly affect other goods transported in the same box.
The links of import and export goods such as customs declaration and inspection are different: if there are problems in customs clearance and inspection of several tickets of goods transported in the same box, including missing inspection and missing inspection items, the time delay will affect the assembled whole box transportation.
Completeness of documents and consistency of goods: whether all kinds of documents are complete, the consignee and port of destination, and the name, specification, packaging, quantity, weight, size, etc. of the goods cannot produce any error. For example, if there is a small amount of overweight in each ticket, it will affect the large overweight of the whole container, which will cause difficulties in container transportation at least, and will cause transportation accidents at most; Another example is the size. If there is a small amount of excess in each ticket, the integrated volume may be larger than the volume in the container, causing the goods to be unable to be loaded or even unloaded, thereby affecting the shipment of the entire container goods.
Temporary change: from the place of production to the final shipment and departure, traders and shippers will constantly check and verify the real things of the goods. If errors are found, including subjective and objective causes, they will propose to modify the documents or adjust the goods. Therefore, the responsibility of a professional LCL company is to verify all the conditions of the goods before they are packed, and to accurately judge various matters that may occur after the goods arrive at the port of destination. If there are problems, it is necessary to contact relevant parties in time to ensure the smooth delivery of the goods. Due to the large number of cargo tickets involved in the consolidation process, changes like this will be more frequent than the whole box of goods.
