Flexport recommends that you give your best estimate of the shipment’s total weight and volume when you submit a quote request, so that your quote is as accurate as possible. However, the cargo will be measured before it ships, and the measurements may differ from what you provided in the quote. 

FCL (full container load) shipments will be weighed at the origin port when they are gated-in dropped off). Flexport will use this weight to calculate the freight costs in the invoice. 

LCL (less than container load) shipments will be measured at the CFS before they are consolidated into containers. LCL shipments are measured per cbm (cubic meter) unless they are heavy (>800 kgs per cbm). These heavy LCL shipments will be charged per 800 kgs. The cbm of the LCL shipment at the CFS is what Flexport will use to calculate the freight costs in the invoice. 

Air shipment freight costs are determined by the chargeable weight, the amount the carrier will charge to move the shipment. The chargeable weight is whichever is greater: the gross weight, or the volumetric weight. 

Why Did the Measurements Change?

Your supplier may have only provided an estimation of the cargo’s weight and volume. LCL shipments often turn out to be larger than expected, most commonly because of palletization. Packaging and palletization will add weight and volume to your shipment. 

How Will Re-Measurements Impact the Final Invoice?

Re-measurements will affect LCL (less than container load) and airfreight charges because LCL shipments are charged by cbm (cubic meters) and air shipments are charged by chargeable weight. 

A re-measurement will also impact the line items that are calculated based on the volume and weight of the shipment. These line items are estimated during quoting based on the inputted measurements. 

Affected line items include: 

• Container freight station fee for LCL shipments 
• Chassis fee for LCL shipments 
• Pier Pass fee for LCL shipments