Container-share vs full-container - what most buyers get wrong about freight
Full containers aren't always cheaper. Here's how to read the break-even point and pick the smarter freight mode.
Buyers assume that filling a 20-foot container always beats LCL shared freight. For some orders that's true. For most fabricators ordering a few pallets, it isn't.
The break-even maths
LCL freight (Shanghai → Sydney) sits around $120 per cubic metre after fees. A full 20-foot container holds about 25–28 cbm of usable plastic sheet and lands around $2,200–$2,800 all-up. Break-even is roughly 18–20 cbm.
Below that volume, LCL wins on landed cost AND on cashflow - you only pay for the space you use.
When full containers do win
Full containers beat LCL when you need fast turnaround (no consolidation wait), tight chain of custody (sensitive optical materials, custom-printed jobs), or when you want to spread overhead across a big stocking order.
Our container-share model
We aggregate orders from buyers across Australia and New Zealand into shared inbound containers. That gets every customer near-FCL pricing without the FCL commitment.