Consolidating Mixed Grades Into One FCL
Part loads of fatty acid, glycerine and soap noodles can travel together. What that saves, and the packing rules that decide whether it is possible.
Buyers rarely need a full container of one grade. They need a working quantity of three or four, and ordering each of them separately means separate shipments, separate documents and separate arrival dates for material that is going into the same production run.
Consolidation puts those part loads into one full container load. A drum quantity of fatty acid, a few tonnes of glycerine and a pallet of soap noodles travel together, clear together, and land together — one bill of lading, one certificate of origin, one arrival to plan around.
The packing decides whether it is possible before price does. Products have to be compatible in the same box, packaged in forms that can be stacked and secured against each other, and within the weight the container can legally carry. Liquids in drums and solids in bags consolidate readily; anything needing its own tank does not.
The saving is not only freight. It is the second and third set of clearance documents that never has to be raised, and the working capital that is not tied up in a full container of a grade you will use over a year.
