The general rule is: if you are shipping fewer than 6 standard pallets in a 20-foot container or 12 standard pallets or more in a 40-foot container, it might be more cost effective to ship your cargo via LCL than FCL.In FCL shipping, the FCL load is loaded into the container at origin, which is only opened upon arrival at destination.In an LCL shipment, however, goods may be removed from the original container in which they were loaded and loaded into another container during transshipment and then handled again at destination for sorting and distribution purposes. The increase in handling exposes your cargo to higher risks of damage and/or loss.FCL is charged with a flat rate per container, where as LCL prices vary depending on the volume the merchandise occupies in a container.

Pallets for FCL shipping

There are two types of commonly-used pallets:

• Standard: 47 ¼” X 39 ⅜” or 1.2m X 1m
• Euro: 47 ¼” X 31 ½” or 1.2m X 0.8m

A standard container, both 20-foot and 40-foot, has a door opening of dimensions 7’ 8” X 7’ 6” X 19’ 4” (2.34m X 2.28m X 5.898m x 5.898m).