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Know what you'll be charged for.
Carriers charge on actual weight or on space, whichever is greater. Type your pieces and see which one applies, for air, courier, road and sea.
Chargeable weight
Add each kind of piece once with how many there are. Measurements are outside dimensions, packed.
Loading metres & pallets
Road groupage is priced on the floor you take on a 13.6 m trailer. One loading metre is a metre of trailer, 2.4 m wide.
The rules behind the numbers.
| Mode | Volumetric rule | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Air freight | L × W × H (cm) ÷ 6,000 | 1 m³ = 166.67 kg. Chargeable weight rounds up to the next 0.5 kg. |
| Courier & express | L × W × H (cm) ÷ 5,000 | 1 m³ = 200 kg. Integrators set their own divisor; 5,000 is the common one. |
| Road (Europe) | 1 m³ = 333 kg · 1 LDM = 1,750 kg | Groupage is charged on the greatest of weight, volume and loading metres. |
| Sea LCL | 1 m³ = 1,000 kg (W/M) | Charged per revenue tonne: whichever is greater, cubic metres or tonnes. |
Indicative only. Carriers and routes can apply their own factors and minimums, and dangerous goods or temperature control can change the packing. Your coordinator confirms the final chargeable weight in the quote.
Questions
Questions, answered.
How is chargeable weight calculated for air freight?
Chargeable weight is the greater of the actual weight and the volumetric weight. For air freight, IATA volumetric weight is length × width × height in centimetres divided by 6,000, so one cubic metre counts as 166.67 kg. Airlines round the result up to the next half kilo.
What volumetric factor do courier and express services use?
Most integrators divide length × width × height (cm) by 5,000, so one cubic metre counts as 200 kg. Each carrier sets its own divisor, so the factor in your quote is the one that applies.
How is LCL sea freight charged?
Per revenue tonne, also written W/M: whichever is greater, the volume in cubic metres or the weight in tonnes. One cubic metre counts as 1,000 kg.
What is a loading metre (LDM)?
One metre of trailer floor, 2.4 m wide. A EUR pallet (120 × 80 cm) takes 0.4 LDM, so a 13.6 m trailer holds 33 of them. European road groupage converts 1 LDM to 1,750 kg and 1 m³ to 333 kg, and charges on the greatest of weight, volume and loading metres.
Numbers done. Now the price.
Quotes go out fast. Send the result and a coordinator prices the route.