Question 1

How much does it cost to ship a 20ft or 40ft container?

Accepted Answer

There is no single price — an ocean container rate is built from the lane (origin port to destination port), the container type, the season, and the current market. As a rough shape of the market: a 40FT usually costs roughly 25-40% more than a 20FT on the same lane, not double, because you are paying for a slot on the ship as much as for volume. Rates also move week to week, so any number older than about two weeks is a guess. Send us the origin, the destination, the container type and your target sailing date and we will quote the actual number.

Question 2

How much does a freight forwarder cost?

Accepted Answer

A forwarder makes money in one of two ways, and you should always ask which one you are getting. Either it buys carrier space and resells it to you at a marked-up all-in rate, or it charges a flat agency fee per shipment and passes the carrier's cost through at cost. Separate from that, expect line-item charges for documentation, customs entry, and any trucking at either end.

Question 3

Will my quoted rate change before the cargo ships?

Accepted Answer

Ocean quotes are normally valid for a fixed window, and rates on many lanes reset at the start of each month. If your booking slips past the validity date, or the carrier applies a general rate increase or a peak-season surcharge, the number can move. Costs that depend on what actually happens — demurrage, detention, storage, customs exam fees — are never in a quote and are billed as incurred.

Question 4

Do you ship parcels, boxes, or personal packages?

Accepted Answer

No. We move freight in ocean containers — full containers and consolidated container loads — not parcels or individual boxes. If you are sending a single box or a suitcase-sized shipment, a courier such as DHL, FedEx or UPS will be faster and cheaper than any container service. Container freight starts to make sense from roughly one pallet upward.

Question 5

How is LCL priced, and what is a CBM?

Accepted Answer

LCL is billed on whichever is greater, your volume in cubic metres or your weight in metric tonnes — the trade calls that the revenue ton, or W/M. A CBM is one cubic metre, measured on the outside of the packaging including the pallet rather than on the goods themselves, so a badly stacked pallet costs real money. Carriers apply a minimum, usually one CBM, and dense cargo pays on weight instead. Watch the destination side: LCL ocean rates look cheap because deconsolidation, handling and documentation at the destination warehouse are billed separately on arrival, and on a small shipment those charges can exceed the freight itself.

Question 6

How long does sea freight take, and how many days is my route?

Accepted Answer

Port to port, typical ranges are: China to US West Coast about 15-21 days; China to US East Coast about 28-38 days via the Panama Canal; Rotterdam to New York about 10-14 days; Turkey to US East Coast about 17-26 days. Door to door, add roughly 1-3 weeks for pickup at origin, export clearance, customs clearance at destination and inland trucking. Transit time is set by the carrier's service string rather than by distance, so two lanes of similar length can differ by two weeks depending on whether the routing is direct or transships, and a consolidated (LCL) load adds several days at each end. For your own route, send us the load port and discharge port and we will quote the actual sailing options with their transit times instead of an average.

Question 7

How far in advance should I book a container?

Accepted Answer

Two to four weeks before your target sailing is comfortable on most lanes. Book earlier — six weeks or more — around known crunch periods: Chinese New Year, the Golden Week holiday, and the late-summer peak season, when space sells out and rates spike. Special equipment such as reefers, flat racks and open tops needs more lead time than standard boxes.

Question 8

Why do containers get delayed, and what happens if mine is late?

Accepted Answer

The usual causes are vessel schedule slippage, a missed connection at a transshipment port, port or terminal congestion, a customs hold or exam, and weather. Ocean carriers do not guarantee arrival dates, and standard bills of lading exclude liability for delay, so a late vessel is not normally a claimable loss. What a forwarder can do is tell you early, re-plan the inland leg, and manage free time so a delay does not turn into demurrage.

Question 9

What is the difference between a 20FT, 40FT and 40HC container?

Accepted Answer

A 20FT gives about 33 m³ of usable space, a 40FT about 68 m³, and a 40HC (high cube) about 76 m³. The 40HC is the same footprint as a 40FT but roughly one foot taller inside, which is why it suits light, bulky cargo. Choose by whichever runs out first — volume or weight. Dense cargo like tiles, stone or liquids will hit the weight limit long before it fills a 20FT; light cargo like furniture or packaging fills a 40HC without coming near the weight limit.

Question 10

How many pallets fit in a 20ft or 40ft container?

Accepted Answer

Floor-loaded, single layer: about 9-10 standard 40" x 48" US pallets in a 20FT, and about 20-21 in a 40FT or 40HC. A 40HC holds the same number on the floor as a 40FT — the extra height only helps if you can double-stack. Pinwheel loading can sometimes add a pallet or two. If your cargo is stackable, count the usable height, not just the floor, because that is where most of the wasted space is.

Question 11

How much weight can a container hold?

Accepted Answer

By container rating, a 20FT takes roughly 28 tonnes of payload and a 40FT or 40HC roughly 26-27 tonnes. The real constraint is usually the road, not the box: the US federal gross vehicle weight limit on the Interstate system is 80,000 lb, which after tractor, chassis and the container's own tare typically leaves around 42,000-44,000 lb (about 19-20 tonnes) of cargo before you need an overweight permit. Plan to the road limit at the destination, not to the container's plate.

Question 12

Do I need a full container, or can I ship a smaller load?

Accepted Answer

If your cargo does not fill a container you can ship LCL (less than container load), where your goods share a container with other shippers' cargo and you pay by volume. The usual break-even is somewhere around 12-15 CBM: below that LCL is normally cheaper, above it a full 20FT usually wins. LCL is slower at both ends because the container has to be consolidated and then deconsolidated, and your cargo is handled more, so it carries a higher damage risk.

Question 13

Can you ship oversized or out-of-gauge cargo that will not fit in a standard container?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Cargo that exceeds the internal dimensions of a standard box — machinery, vehicles, structures, pipe — we ship on a flat rack or an open top container, or as breakbulk on a multipurpose vessel, and anything that rolls can go RO-RO instead. We need the exact dimensions and weight, a lifting plan, and often a route survey at the destination for the road leg. Lead times and rates are quoted case by case, not from a rate table. There is a fuller set of answers on out-of-gauge and project cargo further down this page.

Question 14

What is RO-RO shipping, and what can go on a RO-RO vessel?

Accepted Answer

RO-RO stands for roll-on/roll-off: the cargo is driven or towed onto the ship on its own wheels, parked on a vehicle deck, lashed down, and driven off at the other end. No container and no crane are involved. We ship RO-RO, and it takes cars, vans, pickups, trucks, buses, trailers, agricultural and construction machinery, and boats sitting on a road trailer. Static cargo that does not roll can still go if it is mounted on a mafi trailer and towed aboard, which is how transformers, tanks and prefabricated sections often travel. What RO-RO cannot take is loose cargo: if it does not roll and cannot be put on a trailer, it belongs in a container, on a flat rack, or in a breakbulk hold.

Question 15

RO-RO or a container — which one should my vehicle go in?

Accepted Answer

We do both, and the answer depends on the lane as much as on the unit. A container is enclosed: the vehicle is out of the weather, out of sight, and can sail on any lane with a container service, which is most of them. RO-RO needs a vessel on a service that actually calls at both your load port and your discharge port, so the sailing list is shorter and the wait for a departure can be longer. Against that, RO-RO needs no stuffing, no lashing inside a box and no loading equipment on your side, because the unit is simply driven aboard. High, long or heavy units that will not physically pass through container doors leave you no choice at all: those are RO-RO. Give us the two ports and the unit and we will price both where both exist.

Question 16

When is RO-RO cheaper than a container, and when is a container cheaper?

Accepted Answer

RO-RO is normally billed on the space the unit occupies, measured by its volume or by the deck length it takes up, plus terminal charges, with no stuffing labour to pay for. That tends to make it the cheaper route for a single vehicle, for self-propelled machinery, and for anything too tall or too wide for a box. A container tends to win when you are moving several vehicles at once, because two to four cars can share one 40FT and split the freight between them; when the vehicle does not run and would need winching at both ends; when the lane has frequent container sailings and no RO-RO call at all; and when you want the cargo enclosed against weather and pilferage. This is not a rule you can apply blind, because on the same pair of ports the answer can flip, which is why we quote both.

Question 17

What can I leave inside the vehicle on a RO-RO sailing?

Accepted Answer

Assume nothing. RO-RO is booked as a vehicle, not as a container of cargo, so personal effects, tools, spare parts, furniture and boxes loaded into the cabin or the boot are generally prohibited by the carrier and treated as undeclared cargo by customs at both ends. In practice that means a unit turned away at the terminal gate, a penalty, or contents that are simply not covered if they go missing, because the vehicle decks are worked by crew and stevedores throughout the voyage. Plan on the unit travelling empty and clean, free of leaks, with working brakes, a connected battery, no immobilising alarm, and only the fuel level the carrier allows. The keys travel with the vehicle, because somebody has to drive it off. If you need belongings to go with the car, that is a container booking, not RO-RO.

Question 18

What do you need to quote a RO-RO shipment?

Accepted Answer

Send us the load port and the discharge port, the make and model, and the measured length, width and height plus the weight. Measured, not taken from the brochure: a roof rack, a raised suspension or a mounted attachment changes the deck space you pay for. Tell us whether the unit runs and steers on its own or has to be winched and towed, because a non-runner needs terminal equipment that is not available in every port and costs extra where it is. Add the ownership document, your target sailing window, and the final address if the cargo carries on inland from the discharge port. With that we come back with the sailings that actually exist on the lane and what each of them costs.

Question 19

Can you ship a car, and should it go in a container or on RO-RO?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We ship cars both ways, in containers and on RO-RO, and the choice is the one set out in the RO-RO answers above: one car on a lane with a RO-RO call usually goes RO-RO, several cars or a non-runner usually go in a container. Two things sit outside that choice. First, export paperwork is jurisdictional. To export a vehicle from the United States, CBP requires the title, or a certified copy, and the vehicle itself to be presented at the port of export at least 72 hours before it leaves, so the booking has to be built around that deadline. That rule is US export specific and tells you nothing about exporting from anywhere else. Second, the destination decides what it will admit: age limits, emissions and steering-side rules, and pre-shipment inspection are all common, and confirming them is the importer's job before the vehicle sails rather than after it lands. If the final destination is inland, the vehicle is discharged at a gateway port and continues by road under a customs transit procedure.

Question 20

Can you ship personal effects and furniture, and what exactly do you handle?

Accepted Answer

We carry household goods and personal effects, but only the sea leg, and that boundary is worth stating bluntly because it is the usual source of disappointment. We are not a moving company. We do not pack, we do not send crews or supply crates, we do not collect from your home, we do not deliver to your door and we do not unpack. You pack and crate your goods so they survive the voyage, you get them to the loading point or load the container where it is placed, and from there we book the space, move the box and handle the ocean documentation. Customs on both sides will want a detailed inventory with values, item by item, and an estimate will not clear. Some countries grant duty relief on used household effects for people moving residence, but the conditions are set by the destination and by your status there, so confirm you qualify before you ship rather than after. If you want the packed, door-to-door version, hire a mover: that is a different service and it is not the one we sell.

Question 21

Can you ship hazardous or dangerous goods?

Accepted Answer

Yes, under IMO/IMDG. Dangerous goods cannot be booked as ordinary freight. Every shipment needs a UN number, the proper shipping name, an IMDG class and packing group, a safety data sheet, and a dangerous goods declaration signed by you as shipper. The goods have to be in UN-approved packaging for that class, correctly labelled at package level with the container placarded, and the booking has to be accepted in advance by a carrier that takes that class on that lane, because acceptance varies by carrier, by port and by class and some combinations are simply refused. Expect longer lead times than standard freight and a dangerous goods surcharge. The classification is legally yours, not ours and not the carrier's: a misdeclared or undeclared dangerous shipment is a serious offence and the reason ships catch fire. Send us the safety data sheet early and we will tell you what is bookable on your lane.

Question 22

What counts as out-of-gauge cargo?

Accepted Answer

We move out-of-gauge cargo, and the first thing we do with an enquiry is work out which category it falls into. Cargo is out of gauge (OOG) when it will not go inside a closed container and let the doors shut — too long, too wide, too tall, or too heavy to load through the doors. As a rough gate, a standard 20FT gives about 5.9 m of length, 2.35 m of width and 2.39 m of height inside, and a 40FT about 12.03 m of length. Cargo that breaks one of those but still sits on a container footprint we ship on a flat rack or an open top. Cargo that is wider than the flat rack, or too heavy to be lifted in one piece by the equipment at the port, we ship as breakbulk on a multipurpose vessel instead, and anything that rolls or can be mounted on a trailer may be better off on RO-RO. Which one applies is decided by the measured dimensions and weight, not by what the item is called.

Question 23

Flat rack or open top — which one do I need?

Accepted Answer

An open top is an ordinary container with a removable tarpaulin roof instead of a hard one: walls and doors are still there, so we use it for cargo that fits the footprint but is too tall to go through the doors and has to be craned in from above. A flat rack is a floor with two end walls and no sides or roof, and we use it for cargo that overhangs the width — machinery, boats, transformers, pipe, structures. Rule of thumb: too tall, open top; too wide, flat rack. Both are limited equipment rather than standard stock, so they need longer lead time, they are not available in every port, and the cargo has to be lashed and secured to the carrier's satisfaction, which is a real cost worth budgeting for. Send us the dimensions and we will tell you which one your piece needs before you commit to it.

Question 24

What do you need from me to quote an out-of-gauge or breakbulk shipment?

Accepted Answer

No rate table covers OOG, so we build the quote from your figures. Send the length, width and height of each piece as it will travel, the weight per piece, the number of pieces, and whether they are crated or bare. Then the handling details: lifting points or slinging instructions, the centre of gravity if it is off-centre, and whether the piece can be craned or has to be rolled. Finally both ends of the journey — load port, discharge port, and the road route at destination, because a piece that fits the ship can still be stopped by a bridge, an overhead line or a permit office. A drawing or a photograph with the dimensions marked on it moves this along faster than anything else.

Question 25

Can out-of-gauge cargo go to a small or secondary port?

Accepted Answer

Often, and we check that before we quote, because the port decides the method rather than the other way round. A smaller port may have no shore crane rated for your piece, in which case it has to arrive on a geared vessel that lifts with its own cranes, or be transshipped at a larger hub and carried in on a feeder. Draft, berth length, heavy-lift equipment and whether the terminal can store an oversized piece while customs clears all come into it. For out-of-gauge cargo that capability check is the quote — there is no point pricing a lane the discharge port cannot physically handle. Where a port cannot take the piece, we route it through a nearby hub and quote the inland leg together with the ocean freight.

Question 26

Which ports will my container sail from and arrive at?

Accepted Answer

You can name the pair, or give us the two addresses and we will pick it. Carriers call at a limited set of base ports on each service, and everything else is reached by a feeder vessel or by road from the nearest base port. That is why the cheapest routing is often not the nearest port: a hub with several direct sailings a week can beat a closer port served once a fortnight once you count the waiting. The port pair also changes the local charges and the paperwork, so we quote the realistic options side by side, with their transit times, rather than picking one for you.

Question 27

Can you ship to a landlocked country with no seaport?

Accepted Answer

The ocean leg ends at a gateway port in a neighbouring country and the cargo continues overland by road or rail under a customs transit procedure, so that duty is assessed at the final destination instead of at the port of entry. In practice that means a second set of documents, a transit bond or guarantee, border crossings that add days, and container return terms that have to be checked, because many carriers will not let their box travel far inland and the cargo is stripped at the port instead. Give us the final town, not just the country, and the gateway port and the inland leg get quoted as one number.

Question 28

What is included in a port-to-port rate, and what does door to door add?

Accepted Answer

A port-to-port rate covers the ocean freight and the carrier's own surcharges, and often the terminal handling at each end — confirm which, because terminal handling is sometimes quoted separately and it is not small. It never covers customs entry, duty or anything on wheels. Door to door adds collection at the origin address, export clearance, import clearance filed by a licensed broker, the drayage from the discharge terminal and the final delivery. The inland legs are where quotes diverge most: trucking from the port to an inland city can rival the ocean freight on a short lane. Compare all-in figures, not the freight line alone.

Question 29

What documents do I need to ship a container internationally?

Accepted Answer

The core set is the commercial invoice, the packing list, and the bill of lading. Depending on the lane and the commodity you may also need a certificate of origin (required to claim preferential duty rates under a trade agreement), an export licence, a fumigation or phytosanitary certificate for wood packaging and agricultural goods, and an insurance certificate. Getting the invoice and packing list right matters most — customs values and classifies your goods from those two documents, and errors there are the usual cause of clearance delays.

Question 30

What is a bill of lading, and when do I get mine?

Accepted Answer

The bill of lading is three things at once: the carrier's receipt for your cargo, the contract of carriage, and — for an original B/L — a document of title, meaning whoever holds it controls the cargo. It is issued after the vessel departs, once the shipping instructions are confirmed. Cargo will not be released at the destination without either the surrendered original B/L, a telex release (the originals surrendered at origin so no paper has to travel), or a sea waybill, which is not a title document and needs no surrender. Ask which type you are getting before the vessel sails, because it determines who can collect the goods.

Question 31

Who pays the customs duty and import taxes?

Accepted Answer

The importer of record pays — in the US that is normally the buyer, and the liability sits with them, not with the forwarder or the carrier. Which side of the transaction absorbs the cost is set by the Incoterm you agreed with your supplier: under FOB or CIF the buyer pays duty; under DDP the seller does. Duty is calculated from the customs value and the HS classification of the goods, and it is charged on top of the freight, not included in it. Always confirm the Incoterm in writing before the cargo moves — most disputes over surprise charges trace back to this one point.

Question 32

What is an HS code and do I need one?

Accepted Answer

The HS (Harmonized System) code is the international classification number for your product. It determines the duty rate, whether any trade remedy or additional tariff applies, and which agency permits you might need. You need one for every product on the shipment, and the importer is legally responsible for the classification being correct — not the supplier and not the forwarder, even if one of them supplied the number. If a classification is wrong you can owe back duty and penalties years later, so it is worth getting a binding ruling from customs on anything ambiguous or high-volume.

Question 33

Do I need a customs broker, or do you clear customs for me?

Accepted Answer

US customs entries are normally filed by a licensed customs broker. A freight forwarder and a customs broker are different licences and different jobs: the forwarder arranges the transport, the broker files the entry with CBP and is the one legally authorised to do so on your behalf. Many forwarders hold both, or work with a nominated broker.

Question 34

Do I need a customs bond and an ISF filing to import into the US?

Accepted Answer

For ocean imports into the US, yes to both on commercial shipments. The Importer Security Filing (ISF, or "10+2") must reach CBP no later than 24 hours before the cargo is loaded onto the vessel, and a late, inaccurate or missing filing can draw liquidated damages of $5,000 per violation. A customs bond is required for formal entry, which commercial shipments over $2,500 in value generally need; you can buy a single-entry bond per shipment or a continuous bond covering a year, and the continuous bond is usually cheaper from about four shipments a year upward.

Question 35

Is my cargo insured, and do I need cargo insurance?

Accepted Answer

Carrier liability is not insurance, and the gap is much larger than most first-time shippers expect. Under the US Carriage of Goods by Sea Act the ocean carrier's liability is capped at $500 per package unless you declared a higher value on the bill of lading — so a container of goods worth $60,000 can be worth $500 in a claim. Separate all-risk marine cargo insurance covers the actual value of the goods and is normally priced as a small percentage of the insured value. It also protects you against general average, described in the next answer.

Question 36

What happens if my cargo is damaged or lost?

Accepted Answer

Note any visible damage on the delivery receipt at the moment you take delivery — an unnoted receipt makes a claim very hard to win — photograph everything before unpacking, and file the claim in writing within the time limit on the bill of lading, which is often short. Two things catch uninsured shippers out. First, the $500-per-package COGSA cap above. Second, general average: if the vessel suffers a casualty such as a fire or grounding, maritime law makes every cargo owner on board contribute proportionally to the salvage costs regardless of fault, and your container will be held until you post security — insured shippers get that guarantee from their underwriter, uninsured ones pay cash.

Question 37

What are demurrage and detention, and who pays them?

Accepted Answer

Both are late fees on the container, and the difference is location. Demurrage accrues when your full container sits inside the terminal past its free time; detention accrues when you have taken the container out of the terminal and have not returned the empty in time. Free time is set by the carrier's tariff, not by regulation — typically around 3-7 days for US imports, and it usually starts the first business day after the vessel discharges. The importer pays, they compound daily per container, and the way to avoid them is to have customs clearance filed and the truck booked before the vessel arrives, not after.

Question 38

How do I track my container?

Accepted Answer

Every container has a unique number in the format of four letters and seven digits, printed on the doors and shown on your bill of lading. You can enter that number, or the B/L number, on the carrier's own tracking page to see vessel position, discharge and gate-out events. Containers do not carry GPS as standard, so tracking reflects scanned milestones — loaded, departed, transshipped, discharged, gated out — rather than live position.

Freight Shipping from Benin to Malta: Receive Quick Quotes and Instant Shipping Rates