ARROW STAR Shipping
Buyers Consolidation
Buyer’s Consolidation Services
Buyer’s consoles, or buyer’s consolidations, are primarily used to overcome costs for shippers when they are managing cargo from multiple suppliers at approximately the same time – customarily within a period of a few weeks or a month.
The process of consolidation empowers shippers to increase their load factor and diminish overall shipping costs when compared to multiple LCL (less-than-container load) or FCL (full-container-load) shipments. Usually, this consolidation assistance is handled by freight forwarders who are typically also licensed NVOCCs (non-vessel operating common carrier).
What is the difference between LCL (less-than-container load) vs Buyer’s Consolidation shipping?
Although the two processes are very comparable, Below are several differences between buyer’s consoles and LCL shipping:
- LCL shipping includes the consolidation of many different shipments from different shippers to different consignees, based on a yielded destination hub.
- Buyer’s consolidation includes the consolidation of multiple shipments for the same buyer or representative.
- The LCL shipping process may require various points of consolidation and de-consolidation.
- Buyer’s consoles will only need to be de-consolidated at the final destination as all parts are going to the same final port of demobilization.
- The LCL shipping process is taken out of the hands of the buyer and is subject to deadlines and cut-offs that dictate the shipping duration.
- Buyer’s consolidation provides a lot more control to the buyer.
The Benefits of Buyer’s Consolidation
- Standardized origin and destination charges – There is no destination CFS (consolidator charges) if the FCL is delivered to your warehouse for final de-consolidation. Depending on the size of your shipments the influence charges can also be lower in a buyer’s console since it is usually a per container rate for sanctuary drayage, receiving, and loading, whereas in LCL shipments it is changeable, and usually charged on a per w/m basis.
- More control above the routing and schedule of your FCL – You will be conceded to select a particular sailing and date for the load, based on the options provided by your freight forwarder/NVOCC.
- Diminished per kilogram rates for air freight shipments – If you need multiple air shipments, your forwarder can consolidate these at a single warehouse, offering higher weight and higher volume shipments, reducing the rate per kilogram
When Are Buyer’s Consolidation Shipments a Good Idea?
When buying goods from various suppliers in the same country of origin
When a consignee, usually the buyer of the cargo, is purchasing items from multiple suppliers in the same country, the buyer’s consolidation assistance is ideal. The buyer does not want to be overwhelmed with tracking multiple oceans or air shipments or burdened with the destination charges of individual clearances for multiple LCL shipments. Nor do they wish to acquire the destination charges of a traditional LCL shipment, which may include destination consolidator and destination CFS charges.
When you have multiple shipments within the same period
Buyer’s consolidation shipments are also ideal for multiple flutters of air or ocean shipments across a period of up to eight weeks. These can be consolidated into one shipment to save money and trouble. The only time it can be costly is when attaching storage costs from the forwarder’s warehouse for holding those individual cargoes, which can sometimes exceed the costs of multiple LCL or Single Air Freight shipments.
When shipments are not notably urgent
Shipments where the sense of urgency is not as high so there is time to consolidate adequately freight to make a buyer’s console worthwhile.
Our Buyer’s Consolidation Services
We present the following buyer’s consolidation services:
- Buyer’s consolidation supply chain design and management
- Warehouses throughout the world for buyer’s consolidation
- POMS (Purchase Order Management System) with visibility systems, providing your supplier, carrier, and destination manager with full reporting
- Origin, freight, and destination freight management services for all modes of transport
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PO MANAGEMENT (AEL & you will have visibility of the status of your shipments.
PICKUP @ ORIGIN (AEL reaches out to your suppliers to arrange pickups)
RECEIVING @ ORIGIN (AEL receives your cargo at our consolidation warehouse)
LOAD PLAN & SCHEDULE (AEL provides an inventory of your cargo column and shipping schedule options)
CONTAINERIZATION & LOADING (AEL loads/secures the cargo in the container for export and returns container to origin port)
EXPORTATION & DOCUMENTATION (Container sails and AEL issues Bill of Lading and Container Manifest)
ARRIVAL & IMPORTATION (Arrival notice sent to consignee and customs brokerage services are arranged)
DELIVERY TO DOOR (Container is delivered to cross dock warehouse or distribution warehouse for final discharge or re-distribution and final mile trucking to multiple distribution centres or customers)