Consolidated Shipping

Consolidation is an action of uniting loads, which is possible both by air and by sea, and is used in cases of partial shipments, or shipments that do not fill the full capacity of a container.
After the consolidated shipment arrives at its destination, the shipments are unloaded, and each shipment is transported to its final destination.

The purpose of consolidation is to reduce shipping costs and usually also shortens the transportation time.

Both by air and by sea, cargo is consolidated under the same master bill of lading, but each shipment also has its own House Bill of Ladin.

A common use of a consolidation service is for LCL (Less-than-Container Load) shipments, which are consolidated from several importers/exporters into a FCL (full container load), which is sent directly to one destination.

When in the air, cargo from several importers/exporters share space on the plane.

Consolidation by air is faster but remember that air freight is more expensive.

In addition to saving costs, the shipper is required to plan and coordinate this type of shipment in an optimal way, since it involves collection from several sources, close monitoring of the transportation time and coordination with all the logistic factors involved in the process (sea/air and land carrier).

In the case of temperature-controlled shipping, the container is already contained at the factory stage to maintain the requested temperature, and therefore, consolidation is not possible.
​