Ocean shipments are best suited and most cost effective for larger items and shipments – ocean freight takes longer and should be planned to accommodate your move schedule. Depending on your type of shipment, the time from decision to pick up and pick up to delivery is typically weeks to months. Exact scheduling of sea freight is also difficult before the shipment is packed and booked on a vessel. In addition, factors like weather, labor disputes, overbooking and more often change the schedule of an ocean shipment Ocean shipments are made in shipping containers. There are 3 types of ocean shipments to choose from:
1. LCL – Less than full container loads
LCL shipments send your item in a shared container. Imagine a large container that contains your goods as well as the goods of other families and individuals. LCL shipments are normally shipped in crates or pallets. Advantages:
- You can ship any size shipment even if you only have a few items.
- Reasonable cost for small to medium shipments.
Disadvantages:
- Normally takes a little longer than a dedicated container.
- Slightly more expensive than larger shipments.
- Your shipment is handled more times on-route.
- It is slower since the shipping company needs to consolidate your small shipment with other small shipments to fill a container.
2. Groupage or consolidation
Imagine a container split into 2 to 4 sections with different shippers’ goods packed into each section one after the other. Groupage is when a shipper/agent (like Isaac’s) has multiple shipments to a single destination and combines them. Consolidation is when a shipping line takes multiple small shipments to the same destination and combines them.
Advantages:
- Reasonable cost for smaller than container shipments.
Disadvantages
- Normally takes a little longer than a dedicated container.
- Relatively expensive for large shipments.
- It is slower since the moving company needs to consolidate your shipment with other shipments to the same destination until a container is filled. The faster they can accumulate shipments, the faster they will ship
3. FCL – Full container loads
This type of shipping arrangement is normally for larger shipments and shipments that need to arrive as quickly as possible. With FCL shipments, you are chartering the exclusive use of a full container for the purpose of moving your personal items.
Advantages
- It is easier to schedule the shipment and arrival of the container.
- We will load and seal the container at your house (if access permits). The doors of the container remain sealed until it arrives at your new home
- Since the container doors are sealed, it is easier for customs to verify the seal is intact and to report any irregularity.
Disadvantages
- If street access doesn’t allow loading the container directly from your home, we will use trucks to shuttle your goods to our warehouse and then load them into a container.
- When the container arrives to the destination, you have a short time at the port before storage charges begin. In addition to port storage, the container line will charge rental for the container after approximately 1 week.
There are many types of containers including custom sizes and designs – the most popular containers for residential household goods shipping:
| | 20′ container | 40′ container | 40′ high-cube container |
| | imperial | metric | imperial | metric | imperial | metric |
| external dimensions | length | 19′ 10″ | 6.058 m | 40′ 0″ | 12.192 m | 40′ 0″ | 12.192 m |
| width | 8′ 0″ | 2.438 m | 8′ 0″ | 2.438 m | 8′ 0″ | 2.438 m |
| height | 8′ 6″ | 2.591 m | 8′ 6″ | 2.591 m | 9′ 6″ | 2.896 m |
| | | | | | | |
| interior dimensions | length | 19′ 3″ | 5.867 m | 39′ 6″ | 12.032 m | 39′ 4″ | 12.000 m |
| width | 7′ 9″ | 2.352 m | 7′ 9″ | 2.352 m | 7′ 7″ | 2.311 m |
| height | 7′ 10″ | 2.385 m | 7′ 10″ | 2.385 m | 8′ 9″ | 2.650 m |
| | | | | | | |
| door opening | width | 7′ 8″ | 2.343 m | 7′ 8″ | 2.343 m | 7′ 6″ | 2.280 m |
| height | 7′ 5″ | 2.280 m | 7′ 5″ | 2.280 m | 8′ 5″ | 2.560 m |
| | | | | | | |
| internal volume | | 1,169 ft³ | 33.1 m³ | 2,385 ft³ | 67.5 m³ | 2,660 ft³ | 75.3 m³ |
| | | | | | | |
| empty weight | | 4,850 lb | 2,200 kg | 8,380 lb | 3,800 kg | 8,598 lb | 3,900 kg |
| net load | | 61,289 lb | 28,200 kg | 57,759 lb | 26,600 kg | 58,598 lb | 26,580 kg |
Shipping Delays: Containers are given priority on vessels based on their content and personal items are not the top priority so we are often at the mercy of the shipping lines. Other factors that may cause delays include:
- High traffic of containers arriving to specific destinations based on seasonal traffic.
- Port congestion or strikes.
- Security issues.
- Shortages of labor, trucks or containers (especially in the summer).
- Overbooking of the vessel.
It is wise to be flexible. Work with your coordinator and Isaac’s Moving and Storage will do our best to ensure your shipment remains on schedule
