LCL vs FCL from China to Singapore: which should you book?

1What is LCL? Less than container load, explained

LCL is less than container load. Your cartons travel in a container alongside other importers' cargo, and you pay for the space yours occupy, measured in cubic metres (CBM). Your supplier delivers to our Foshan hub; we receive the cartons, count them against your packing list, consolidate them with anything else you are shipping, and load them into a shared container. At the Singapore end the container is unpacked, your cartons are cleared on the import permit and delivered to your address.

This is the standard choice for a Singapore SME importing from 1688 sellers or factories: sample runs, restocks, shop fittings, anything from a cubic metre to a few pallets. It is also the only way to combine several suppliers into one consignment, because the consolidation happens at our hub before the container is loaded. The sea freight guide covers LCL end to end; this page is about the choice between the two.

2What is FCL? Full container load, explained

FCL is full container load. You book the whole container, a 20-foot, a 40-foot or a 40-foot high cube, and everything in it is yours. Nobody else's cargo shares the box, and your goods are not handled at a consolidation warehouse: the container is sealed once loaded and stays sealed until it reaches Singapore, apart from a customs inspection if one is called. Tell us where the goods are when you ask for the quote and the loading arrangement is set out in writing with the price.

FCL is for importers with steady volume and for goods you would rather nobody stacked anything on top of: furniture, fixtures, fragile or bulky items, anything where a sealed box from origin to your door is worth paying for in its own right. The furniture shipping guide covers that case on its own. It still ends at your door with Shiplet: the booking, the ocean freight, the Singapore import permit and clearance and the delivery to your address are all part of the job.

3How LCL and FCL are priced

LCL is priced per CBM. Our published rate is S$82 per CBM, hub to door, with a minimum of 1 CBM; anything under the minimum is billed as S$82. A carton of 60 × 40 × 50 cm is 0.12 CBM, so ten such cartons are 1.2 CBM, and 1.2 × S$82 is your indicative freight before GST. Heavy cargo is the exception: LCL is charged on the greater of the volume and the weight at 500 kg per CBM, so 1,000 kg counts as 2 CBM. The CBM calculator does the arithmetic for mixed carton sizes and shows the indicative figure. The rate is indicative until it is on your confirmed quote.

FCL is quoted per booking. We do not publish a container price because carrier rates for 20', 40' and 40'HC containers move weekly, and a printed figure would be wrong within days. Tell us the container size, what the goods are and when they are ready, and the confirmed quote follows in writing within a few hours, priced on the day's carrier rate. In both cases nothing is booked and nothing is payable until you accept the confirmed quote, and you pay when your cargo reaches Singapore, before we deliver it, by PayNow or bank transfer.

4How your cargo is handled in each case

With LCL, every carton passes through our Foshan hub. It is received, counted against your packing list, checked for obvious damage and consolidated with the rest of your order. If the count does not match the packing list you hear from us before the cargo sails, not after. The upside is that mistakes are caught at origin and several suppliers become one shipment. The reality is also that your cartons are stacked with other cargo in a shared container, so they need to be packed for that.

With FCL, the container is yours and nothing is handled at a consolidation warehouse. Your goods are loaded once and unloaded once, at your Singapore address. There is no carton-by-carton count at a hub because there is no shared container to fit them into. For goods that are heavy, awkward, fragile or high in value, that single handling is often the point.

5Transit is the same for both

LCL and FCL both take 10–14 days hub to door: from departure to delivery at your Singapore address, with the import permit and customs clearance done inside that window. Departures run Monday to Saturday, and cargo received at the hub on a working day leaves the next working day. Speed is not a reason to pick one over the other. If you need the goods sooner than that, the question is sea or air, not LCL or FCL; the transit times guide shows the next departure and ETA for today.

6LCL vs FCL at a glance

7When to switch from LCL to FCL

There is no single cubic-metre figure at which FCL becomes cheaper, and anyone who gives you one is guessing, because the FCL side of the comparison changes every week with carrier rates while the LCL side is a fixed per-CBM figure. What we can tell you is how to find out for your own shipment: as your volume grows, have LCL and FCL quoted side by side for the same cargo. On request we confirm both in writing, side by side: the instant quote covers LCL, and FCL comes as a confirmed quote.

One figure to know: a delivery lorry takes 20 CBM. A single LCL shipment over 20 CBM chargeable pays S$300 for each further 20 CBM or part of it; exactly 20 CBM pays nothing extra. Book shipments of 20 CBM or less, or go FCL, and it does not arise.

Cost is not the only reason to switch. Ask for both quotes, or lean towards FCL even at a similar price, when:

• The goods are bulky or awkward: furniture, fixtures, machinery, long or oversized items that do not stack well with other cargo.
• The goods are fragile or high in value and you would rather nothing was stacked on them and nobody handled them between loading and your door.
• You ship steady volume on a regular cycle and want each shipment to be a single sealed unit from origin.
• The order comes from one supplier and fills most of a container on its own, so there is little consolidation for LCL to do.

Stay with LCL when the order is a few cubic metres, when it comes from several suppliers who deliver on different days, or when the goods are robust cartons that are happy in a shared container. The pillar guide to shipping from China to Singapore puts both modes alongside air, GST and the paperwork.

8What the LCL rate includes and excludes

The LCL figure is hub to door. Inside S$82 per CBM: receiving and carton check at our Foshan hub, consolidation, ocean freight, the Singapore import permit and customs clearance (lodged by us as Declaring Agent), delivery to your Singapore address, cargo cover at declared invoice value, and 5 days' storage at the hub.

Outside it: GST at 9% on the import value and any duty (passed through at cost), collection from your supplier to the hub (the supplier delivers to us), storage beyond 5 days at S$20 per CBM per day, and special handling such as stairs, a timed delivery or unpacking. An FCL quote sets out its own inclusions in writing, so you can compare it line by line with the LCL figure.

9Get both quotes

Send the carton dimensions and count through the quote form and say you want LCL and FCL side by side. You get a reference number immediately and an instant quote for the LCL side; the confirmed quotes for both follow in writing within a few hours, with the transit window and the next departure. Nothing is booked and nothing is payable until you choose one and confirm.