If you’re a small business looking to ship goods into the UK, you might be confused about the process and wondering what your options are. In this blog, we’ll help clarify things by explaining what LCL shipping is and taking a closer look at the advantages of LCL shipping for small businesses.
What Is LCL Shipping?
When you import goods into the UK via sea freight, you have two methods of shipping your goods. In either of these options, your goods will be loaded into a container before being placed on the vessel but how the two methods differ is dictated by the volume of goods you’re shipping.
If you have a full container load of goods, this is known as FCL (Full Container Load). However, if you’re only importing a small amount of goods, you may want to use a shipping method known as LCL (Less than a Container Load).
In FCL shipping, you pay for and can use the entire container solely for your goods, whereas LCL shipping consolidates multiple shipments from different customers into a single shared container.
LCL shipping can offer many benefits for businesses wanting to import smaller volumes of stock.
What Are the Advantages of LCL Shipping For Small Businesses?
Here are just some of the advantages of LCL shipping for small businesses.
More Economical
LCL shipping offers a cheaper alternative to FCL shipping for businesses who need to ship smaller quantities of goods in one shipment.
Shipping your goods this way means that you don’t have to buy enough stock upfront to fill an entire container load, and rather than pay for an entire container, you’ll only pay for the space that you actually use.
This makes LCL shipping perfect for smaller businesses, start-ups, first-time importers or those businesses shipping low-volume goods (i.e. products that don’t take up much space).
Flexibility
LCL shipping offers a greater degree of flexibility than FCL shipping as you can ship slightly less or slightly more goods without being penalised or charged more. This is because with LCL, the lowest volume of space you can buy is 1 Cubic Metre (100 x 100 x 100cm) so if you’re shipping small goods, your shipment volume doesn’t need to be exact, provided you stay within the amount you have paid for.
FCL on the other hand requires exact volumes and if you unexpectedly ship less, you’ll still be paying for the full container, meaning you’re essentially paying to ship fresh air!
Delivery
LCL offers more flexible delivery options. Unlike FCL deliveries (which arrive as an entire container on the back of a truck) LCL deliveries are typically delivered on pallets and if you have specific access requirements (for example, you live down a narrow lane), you can request a smaller truck to deliver your goods. For an extra charge, you can also request that a truck with a tail lift deliver your goods, which is handy if you don’t have the manpower required to manually unload your items.
Direct to Amazon
If your small business sells goods on Amazon, with LCL your goods can be shipped directly to them, unlike full containers, which Amazon doesn’t accept.
Are There Any Drawbacks to LCL Shipping For Small Businesses?
Of course, there can be some drawbacks to LCL shipping for small businesses too.
May Not Always Work Out Cheaper
We’ve said that shipping smaller volumes of goods is more economical when using LCL shipping, however, this stops being the case once you reach a certain volume.
This is because FCL is charged at a flat rate, and although it’s more expensive than LCL, it can work out more cost-effective per cubic meter of space, even if you don’t have quite enough goods to fill a container.
More Handling
Typically, when shipping a full container of goods, the supplier will pack the container and you’ll unpack it on arrival. However, with LCL, shipments are subject to more handling. This comes with a slightly increased risk of damage, which might make LCL less suitable for fragile goods.
This excludes containers that are selected for inland pre-clearance checks, which will also be unpacked by HM Revenue & Customs.
Slightly Slower
Since LCL shipments contain goods belonging to multiple businesses, there are more stages involved in loading and unloading, which can make LCL shipping slightly slower than shipping a full container.
LCL Shipping For Small Businesses With Shippo
If you’ve been wondering about the advantages of LCL shipping for small businesses, we hope this blog has helped.
Here at Shippo, we specialise in LCL, helping businesses of all sizes ship their goods without hassle in the way that best suits their business needs.
You can learn more about the process of shipping with us here, or contact us for a quote or shipping advice.