Guide · 3 min read

FCL or LCL — which one for you?

Your own container, or a shared one? The honest comparison, including the destination charges most websites forget to mention.

Guide 3

FCL or LCL — which one for you?

FCL — your own container

Best when your cargo fills most of a container
One shipper, one container — faster handling, fewer touches
Cost per unit drops as volume grows

LCL — share a container

Pay only for the space you use — from 1 m³
Weekly consolidations on our specialty lanes
Ideal for smaller, regular shipments

The break-even rule

As a working rule on most Asia lanes: from roughly 13–15 m³, a 20GP FCL starts beating LCL on total cost — because LCL charges per m³ at BOTH ends, and destination LCL fees surprise people. Below ~10 m³, LCL nearly always wins. In between? That’s exactly the calculation we run for you in a quote — free.

Related guides: Incoterms 2020 · Container sizes · All guides

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