How Does A Consol Box Work

Well it is quite simple actually

1. Various shippers deliver LCL cargoes going to various destinations to the packing warehouse nominated by the Consolidator ;
2. Say the port of load is Durban ;
3. Consolidators usually have a few consolidation or deconsolidation (opposite of consolidation) points around the world – like Dubai for all Middle Eastern countries, Singapore for all Far East/South East Asian countries, New York for the Americas, Hamburg for EU etc ;
4. The consolidator will consolidate the cargo based on its final destination and arrange the packing accordingly ;
5. For example, the Far East, South East Asian, Australasian ports like Keelung, Penang, Sydney, Adelaide, Honiara may be booked via Singapore which could be the consolidator’s hub port for these areas ;
6. So the consolidator books a 20′ or 40′ container to Singapore as an FCL box on FCL/FCL terms with the shipping line ;
7. As far as the consolidator is considered, they received various LCL cargoes from the shippers and as such, their terms of shipment to their client will be LCL/LCL ;
8. Each shipper who has given the cargo to the consolidator will receive a House Bill of Lading for their cargo after the payment of all freight and any other dues ;
9. Container is loaded and the ship sails ;
10. The container is discharged at Singapore ;
11. The consolidator’s office or their agent at Singapore takes delivery of the FCL container from the shipping line and moves the full container to their warehouse ;
12. The cargo is then unpacked from the container according to the final destination of the cargo such as Keelung, Penang, Sydney, Adelaide, Honiara ;
13. Similar to these cargoes arriving from Durban , the consolidator will have cargoes to these destinations arriving from other locations such as New York, Mumbai etc ;
14. The consolidator then loads all Keelung bound cargoes into one container, Sydney bound cargoes into another and so on and so on till all the cargo they have received from Durban, New York, Mumbai has been reworked into the appropriate containers bound for these destinations ;
15. These containers then sail to the relevant destinations ;
16. Upon arrival at Keelung or Sydney, the consolidator’s office or their agent will take release of the full container from the shipping line and unpack the container at their warehouse ;
17. The consignees of these cargoes will approach the consolidator’s office or agent for release and will secure release of their cargo after surrender of the House Bill of Lading after payment of any destination dues.

LCL services by shipping lines used to be popular in the past, but I am not sure how many lines actually offer this service these days.

A Consol box is considered by many as a simple way to get shipments to their destinations cheaply and efficiently.

As a customer, you need to understand the way consolidation works and the options that are available for the proper planning, execution and delivery of goods to the destination..

As with any activity there are Pros and Cons of using a consol box which is discussed below.