Big part of our job is providing you with know-how necassary to ship your goods.
Below you will find some of the Q&A we get most often from our Clients.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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What are the dimensions of the containers?
In container transport there are many different types of containers, but the most puplar ones are standard (DV) and taller high cube containers (HC) with lenghts of 20 or 40 feet. The most important dimensions for loaders will be the inner dimensions as found below:
20′ DV Container:
inner lenght: 5900 mm
inner width: 2352 mm
inne height: 2395 mm
width of the door: 2340 mm
height of the door: 2292 mm
capacity: 33 CBM
40’DV Container:
inner lenght: 12032 mm
inner width: 2352 mm
inner height: 2395 mm
width of the door: 2340 mm
height of the door: 2292 mm
capacity: 67 CBM
40’HC Container:
inner lenght: 12032 mm
inner width: 2340 mm
inner height: 2700 mm
width of the door: 2280 mm
height of the door: 2597 mm
capacity: 76,3 CBM
Above dimensions are as sated by the norm for the producers, but in reality there might be slight differences, so please plan accordinly leaving at least a little space in case the dimensions differ.
Another very popular types of container are refrigerated containers: 20’RF and 40’HCRF. their lenght is a little smaller than regular ones due to space taken by cooling equipment:
40’HCRF Container:
inner lenght: 11600 mm
inner width: 2290 mm
inner heght: 2700 mm
the width of the door: 2280 mm
the height of the door: 2557 mm
capacity: 67,7 CBM
What are LCL and FCL shipments?
FCL – Full Conatiner Load – we are talking about such shipment when one Shipper books full container capacity.
LCL – Less (than) Container Load – means that there are multiple Shippers and many different cargos are collected together and loaded into one container. This is good option when you only have a small amount of cargo to ship.
What does THC mean?
THC – Terminal Handling Charge is a surcharge paid to either Shipping Line or Terminal itself that covers the usual costs of handlings and operations on the terminal that the conatiner is going through. It is usually included in the rate that we give you and if not you will be informed about the amount that will be re-invoiced to you.
Why the freight costs are not correspondent with physical distances between two destinations?
This is the one question we get a lot, because often times it is much cheaper to ship conatiner to China than to ship it, say, to Canry Islands. Well, the costs of freights are very dynamic and depend on many things, from the market dynamics, seasonal surcharges, the need to gather certain container types someplace far away up to inner politics of the Shipping Lines.
What is VGM?
VGM – Verfied Gross Mass is a total mass of the container. It cosists of the weight of cargo, weight of the packages and other materials used to secure the cargo and the weight of the container itself. It is compulsory for all shipments around the world since it was introduced by International Marine Organisation under the SOLAS convention. The Shipper is obliged to give the weight information to the forwarder. Our role is to pass it down to the Shipping Line timely.
To obtain VGM weight the cargo has to be weighted. It can be done in two ways. 1. – the cargo, materials, packages etc are all weighted seperately and tare weight of the container is added. 2. – the car with container is weighted full and empty and the weight are than substracted. To stay in accordance with polish law, a certified weighting device has to be used.
Not sending the VGM to the Shipping Line on time will usually end by the conatiner not being taken on board. Please keep that in mind and pay attention to the VGM cut off that we will inform you about during the shipment.
What is “cut off“ in container shipping?
“Cut off” defines the moment by which we, as forwarders, are obliged by the Shipping Line to fulfill tasks necessary to ship the containers. Each Shipping Line sets their own cut off times and we always plan accordingly and let you know when do we nned certain informatons regarding the shipment.
We have different cut offs:
- Cargo cut off – day and time by which the conatiner has to reach the terminal and be ready for shipment.
- Documentation cut off – date and time by which we have to provide Shipping Line with Bill of Lading instructions.
- VGM cut off – date and time by which we have to declare gross mass of each conatiner.
- Customs cut off – date and time by which the conatiner has to be customs cleared and ready to be loaded. It is sometimes the same as Cargo cut-off
Being late for cut-off might end in the conatienr not being loaded on board, that is why it is important for us that we get all the informations and documents on time.
What is intermodal and multimodal transport and what’s the difference?
Both multi- and inter-modal transport uses few different means of transportation, i.e: car, train and vessel. This lets us lower the costs and lower the environmental impact as well!
The difference is in the transportation documents. When we use multimodal transport we only get one transportation document, i.e bill of Lading, while with intermodal transport there will be seperate documents for each mode of transportation.
What are Incoterms?
Incoterms ie International Commercial Terms, a list made by the International Chamber of Commerce that is used in the trade of goods from one country to another.
Friendly ilustration you may find on the left side.
We are working in accordance to Polish General Forwarding Rules 2010:
OPWS 2010
What do we need for Shipping Instructions?
To make Bill of Lading / - B / L we need specific information:
1. Shipper's data
2. Consignee data
3. Percon or company to be informed about the arrival of the container (Notify). It may be the same part as receiver, but not always. We may put there more than one firm.
4. Name of the goods
5. Quantity and a kind of package of the goods
6. When shipping is based on letter of credit, additional detail information and clause may appear, and need to be provided within documents. In that situation the best option is to send the letter of credit to us before loading, because there are Shipowners that can not provide some guidelines.
What does CY mean?
CY stands for Container Yard shipments and it is a designated storage area for containers in a terminal or dry port before they are loaded or offloaded from a ship.
CY/CY means that the responsibility of the shipping line begins at the CY at the load port and ends at the CY at the discharge port.
What do ETS, ETA, TT mean?
We use those when sending you plan of sending your container – Sailing or ship bargains.
ETS – Estimated Time of Sailing
ETA – Estimated Time of Arrival
TT – Transit Time
What is feeder?
Feeder vessels or feeder ships are medium-size freight ships.
Feeders collect shipping containers from different ports and transport them to central container terminals where they are loaded to bigger vessels, or for further transport into the hub port's hinterland. In that way the smaller vessels feed the larger liners, which carry thousands of containers.
What documents do you need for customs clearance in export?
Main documents for customs clearance in export are:
- commercial invoice
- packing list
Some product groups need additional documents, ie goods health certificate.