
Wasted Space in Container Shipping - airfcl
http://airfcl.com/waste.html
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teilo
The logic of this falls apart. The more the containers are filled, the more
they weigh. The more they weigh, the more fuel must be expended to move them
from point A to point B. While there are some gains that could be made by
eliminating wasted space, there are losses that offset it.

Granted, there is not a strictly linear relationship between weight and cost.
However, the economics of shipping, or any distribution system (like passenger
airlines), are such that the need to move a product to its destination in a
timely fashion runs up against the desire to maximize the efficiency of a
shipping medium. Customers expect their product to arrive on time, and they
pay for this to happen.

That said, I love the idea this company is proposing.

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MikeTLive
Think of FedEx dimensional shipping. You don't pay by weight. You pay by
length width height. If the shipping containers can be parted out and packed
densely to be closer to their max dimensional weight then it's a deal for me,
the intermediary shipper, I can ship stuff "for free" by taking up space in an
already paid for container.

Just like AWS Large dedicated systems and packing it to 90% utilization by
selling back the unused capacity on the spot market.

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pitaa
I'm trying to figure out how this is any different from standard LCL. You're
just working with another shipper rather than a freight company arraigning it?
If that's the case, what's to stop the first guy that unloads from helping
himself to some "free samples" of my goods? What ensures that the loads are
balanced so the trucker doesn't have one axle overweight? What happens when
the other guy's goods get stuck in customs for 2 weeks because he used the
wrong HTS?

I'm all for a cheaper LCL option, but LCL is expensive for a reason. I'm
interested to see how these guys plan to address the issues here.

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airfcl
Hi pitaa,

Thanks for your comments, all valid an need to be addressed by the service.

LCL shipments usually consist of many different vendors and are very expensive
and slow to despatch (waiting to consolidate) and deliver (unpacking the other
end). What airfcl will allow you to do is 'hitch a ride' on a container with
spare capacity on the same route. Less waiting time and less expensive.

We are integrating a feedback/rating system to help with, amongst other
things, possible pilfering by one of the importing companies.

The loads will be balanced and rearranged if required at point of loading like
any other shipment.

Customs are always a problem, I've had goods held for weeks for no reason and
you can get unlucky. Having said that, we'll integrate a tariff guide and make
shipping stages/requirements very clear to all parties to make sure shipments
clear customs cleanly.

Please let me know of any other issues you've thought of, as they're v useful
for development! Either here or jonathan at airfcl .com

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airfcl
Hi, thanks for the comment! Wasted cost is purely the cost of shipping the air
as a percentage of current cost based the cbm of a full container. Good point,
you're right it will cost more and will offset slightly, but the saving in
money, fuel and more importantly the environmental impact more than outweighs
it!

