One of the most used transports in international trade is maritime and sometimes the lack of knowledge of certain terms and codes can lead us to run with unnecessary expenses. Today we talk about two important terms that will help you make the best decision for the safety of your cargo.

FCL (full container load) and LCL (less than container load) are acronyms that are used very frequently in the field, and basically refer to whether your cargo travels in a container alone or shares space with the goods of other exporters or importers.

An FCL or full container load, as the name implies, is a shipment in which a shipper’s goods travel inside a container without sharing space with other cargo. In an FCL, the entire container is available to the importer or exporter.

In contrast, we have the LCL, which is a type of shipment in which the cargo travels inside a container along with other shippers’ cargoes.

One of the benefits of FCL is that the process in the supply chain is usually faster, reducing the likelihood of delays as the cargo goes from one port to the same consignee.