LCL vs FCL for Granite Shipping: Start With Your Square Meters
Granite reaches the weight limit long before it fills a container: 30 mm slabs weigh 81 kg per m², and 346 m² occupies only 10.38 m³ of a 20ft box. Here is how to compare LCL and FCL on square meters delivered per container, not on cubic meters.
Should my granite go LCL or FCL? Count your square meters first
Count square meters before you ask anyone for a rate. A 30 mm Sesame Grey G602 slab weighs 81 kg per m², so 200 m² comes to 16.2 t and 6.0 m³: under a fifth of a 20ft box by volume, but already about six tenths of its payload. Granite runs out of payload, not space, which is why the two options cannot be measured with one ruler. For LCL you ask the rate per chargeable ton; for FCL you ask how many square meters one box actually carries. Around 100 m², start with LCL; above roughly 300 m² you are already close to a full box — we load 346 m² — so start with FCL; only the band in between needs both quotes worked out.
Why is LCL charged by weight instead of by volume?
Because a shared container is sold in slices, and the carrier takes whichever figure is larger: cubic meters converted at 1 m³ = 1,000 kg, or the actual tons. Granite weighs 2.7 t per m³, so one cubic meter of stone counts as 2.7 chargeable tons. Your 100 m² order measures 3.0 m³ and 8.1 t, but it bills as 8.1 chargeable tons: small in volume, priced by weight. That cut is not in the ocean freight rate, it is in the billing basis, and buyers often skip it when they compare quotes.
How many square meters fit in a 20ft container, and where does 346 m² come from?
A 20ft box holds roughly 33 m³ inside, slightly different between carriers, so confirm it at booking. Yet 346 m² of 30 mm slabs is only 10.38 m³ and about 28 t (346 × 81 = 28,026 kg): more than twenty cubic meters still empty, weight already at the limit. That space cannot take more stone, only dunnage. The 346 m² figure is what we load to this specification, not a theoretical maximum. Compare quotes per square meter loaded, never per cubic meter, or you will read an empty box as a half-full one.
| Square meters | Volume m³ | Stone weight t | Share of one container's payload (of 28 t) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 m² | 3.0 | 8.1 | 29% |
| 200 m² | 6.0 | 16.2 | 58% |
| 346 m² | 10.38 | 28.0 | Full load |
If LCL saves on freight, will breakage eat the saving?
The risk sits in handling, not at sea. FCL is loaded at our yard, sealed, and first opened at your port. LCL goes to a consolidation warehouse first, where crates are broken down and stowed with other shippers' cargo; your wooden boxes may end up at the bottom of the stack, with an extra lift in between. Stone does not mind motion, it minds point loads. Ask two questions before booking LCL: will they take full wooden crates, and who insures the cargo? If the freight saved is smaller than the cost of re-finishing one crate of slabs, the saving is a loss. Insurance is not a cure either: a claim needs the tally report and site photos, and a missing document is enough to stall it.
Where is the line between LCL and FCL?
There is no single square-meter figure that holds for every route, only a method. Ask the forwarder for two figures: the all-in cost of a 20ft box to your port, and the LCL rate per chargeable ton. Then do the arithmetic: square meters × 0.081 gives tons, × 0.03 gives cubic meters, and the larger of the two is your chargeable tonnage. 100 m² bills as 8.1 chargeable tons, 200 m² as 16.2. Multiply both ways and take the lower. Do not overlook the consolidation warehouse at each end, stuffing at origin and de-stuffing at destination, and ask whether those are inside the quote; they often cancel the difference.
What should I confirm with the forwarder before booking?
Four items, and skipping any one usually means paying at destination. One: the weight limit for a 20ft box on this trade, and whether 28 t for 346 m² is accepted, confirmed in writing rather than by phone. Two: who pays the destination consolidation warehouse, included in the rate or collected on arrival. Three: whether the LCL warehouse accepts wooden crates, since some take pallets only. Four: who insures the cargo and at what declared value. Settle these four, then book. Ask afterwards and the answer usually arrives with a surcharge.