Freight & logistics guides
Comprehensive, evergreen resources for shippers, from Incoterms and customs to ocean freight and pricing. Part of the CargoLinked Help Center.
Stretch Wrap, Strapping and Getting a Pallet to Arrive Intact
Most pallets fail the same way: the film never gripped the pallet, so the load slides off the base as one piece. Thickness is not the measure that matters.
Shipper-Owned vs Carrier-Owned Containers (SOC vs COC)
A shipper-owned container stops the detention clock permanently. It also makes the empty your problem, which is the whole calculation.
Pre-Cooling and Loading a Reefer Without Breaking the Chain
The chain usually breaks in the twenty minutes the doors are open. Loading a reefer properly is a sequence, and one step of it is the opposite of intuition.
Marine Pollutants and UN Numbers: Getting Classification Right
Marine pollutant status is an extra label on top of whatever your cargo already is. Plenty of ordinary products qualify, including detergents and paints.
Marine Cargo Insurance Documents: Certificate, Policy, Open Cover
Which insurance document you hold decides whether a bank will pay you. UCP 600 rejects a cover note outright, and that surprises people at the worst moment.
Shipping Fresh Produce: Controlled Atmosphere and Ethylene
Fresh produce is alive in the container. It breathes, it gives off heat and ethylene, and several popular fruits are ruined by being kept too cold.
Limited and Excepted Quantities: When Full DG Rules Do Not Apply
Small quantities in small inner packagings pose less risk, and the regulations recognise it. Two separate regimes exist and they are frequently confused.
How Much Cargo Insurance to Buy: CIF Plus 10 Explained
CIF plus 10 percent is the default sum insured on almost every shipment. It comes from one line in Incoterms, and for some cargo it is materially too low.
High Cube vs Standard: When the Extra Foot Helps
The extra foot of height is nearly free at sea and occasionally impossible on the road. Whether it helps depends on your cargo height and your destination.
Export Crating: When a Box Is Not Enough
Machinery and capital equipment need structure, not cardboard. Crating is also where corrosion protection, desiccant and shock indicators come in.
Segregation and Stowage of Dangerous Goods at Sea
Two containers that are each perfectly safe can be a serious hazard side by side. Segregation is why a dangerous goods booking takes longer and costs more.
Container Damage, Detention and Per Diem: Who Pays
The container is not yours. You are borrowing it, and the charges for holding it or returning it damaged are separate from the freight you agreed.
Cargo Marking and Labelling: What Goes on the Outside
The outside of the box is a document. It routes the cargo, tells handlers how to treat it, and in some cases is a customs requirement in its own right.
What Cargo Insurance Does Not Cover
The exclusions apply to all risks cover just as much as to the narrow clause sets. These are the ones that decline real claims on genuinely damaged cargo.
Active vs Passive Cold Chain Packaging for Air Freight
A powered container and an insulated box solve the same problem differently. The choice turns on duration, value, volume and how much handling risk you can absorb.
Reefer, Flat Rack, Open Top and Tank: Special Equipment
Special equipment is scarcer, dearer and slower to position than a standard box. Here is what each type is actually for and when a standard container will do.
Shipping Lithium Batteries by Air and Sea in 2026
Lithium batteries are the most heavily regulated everyday cargo in freight, and the rules changed on 1 January 2026 for batteries shipped inside equipment.
Pallet Sizes Around the World and How They Fit a Container
A container floor is 2.35m wide, and no common pallet divides into it neatly. Which pallet you use decides how much of the box you actually pay to ship as air.
General Average: Why Another Shipper's Fire Can Cost You
Your cargo is undamaged, the ship is safe, and you still owe money. General average is the oldest rule in shipping and the one that surprises shippers most.
GDP Pharma Shipping: What the Rules Actually Require
GDP is about documented control, not about how cold the box was. Most forwarders who say they are GDP compliant cannot produce what compliance actually requires.
Dunnage, Lashing and Bracing: Securing Cargo for Sea
Cargo at sea is not sitting still. It is being accelerated in three axes for weeks, and restraint has to be designed for that, not for the drive to the port.
The Dangerous Goods Declaration: How to Get It Right
Most dangerous goods declarations are refused for the order of words in the shipping name, not for anything about the cargo. Here is how to complete one properly.
Container Weight Limits, Payload and VGM
A container can legally hold far more than a truck can legally carry it. Loading to the plate figure is how shipments become undeliverable by road.
Cold Chain Data Loggers and Temperature Excursions
An excursion is not automatically a loss. The damage is usually done by whoever decides on the spot to write the shipment off, or to accept it without telling anyone.
Carrier Liability Limits: What You Actually Get Paid
Carriers are liable, but only up to a limit set per kilo or per package. On most cargo that limit pays out a fraction of what the goods were worth.
Reefer Setpoints, Ventilation and Humidity: What to Specify
Most reefer claims trace back to three lines on a booking that nobody filled in properly. Here is what each setting does and what happens when it is wrong.
ISPM 15: Wood Packaging Rules and Why Shipments Get Rejected
The pallet under your cargo is regulated cargo in its own right. Untreated wood gets shipments refused entry, and the piece that fails is usually not the pallet.
Institute Cargo Clauses A, B and C: What Each One Covers
A and C are not the same product at different prices. One covers all risks minus exclusions, the other covers a short list of named perils and nothing else.
The 9 Dangerous Goods Classes, With Everyday Examples
Most dangerous goods problems start with a shipper who did not know their product was regulated. Here are the nine classes and the everyday goods that fall into them.
How to Read a Container Number and CSC Plate
The eleven characters on the side of a container are a checkable code, not a serial number. Here is how to verify one yourself and what the safety plate on the door means.
Air Cargo Security in 2026: ACAS, Screening and Known Consignor Status
Advance data and physical screening are two different regimes, and both changed in the last year. What ACAS requires now, what the EU expects, and six widely repeated claims that the primary sources contradict.
Customs Binding Rulings: How to Get Certainty Before You Ship
A ruling binds CBP to a position on your goods, but only your goods, only if your facts were right, and only until it is revoked.
Customs Valuation: How the Dutiable Value Is Actually Calculated
The six methods, the five additions to the invoice price, and the First Sale rule, which is still alive despite what a lot of guidance implies.
Cargo Securing Inside the Container: The Step Most Shippers Skip
Packing a container is not stacking boxes: weight distribution, void filling and lashing decide whether cargo arrives intact or becomes a claim.
Demurrage and Detention Invoices: The FMC Rules That Let You Refuse to Pay
A US invoice missing any required element eliminates your obligation to pay it, plus the provision that was struck down in 2025 and is still quoted everywhere.
Warehousing and 3PL Pricing: What You Are Actually Paying For
Storage, handling, pick and pack, receiving, and the accessorials that quietly dominate the bill, how to read a 3PL quote properly.
Transloading and Deconsolidation: What Happens to Your Cargo at the Port
Moving cargo from ocean containers into domestic trailers can cut inland cost sharply, or add a handling step you did not need.
International Returns: How Reverse Logistics Actually Works
Returning goods across a border is not shipping in reverse. It is a fresh import, with duty consequences unless you plan for them.
Thailand to USA Shipping: Ports, Modes and Lead Times
Laem Chabang to the US West and East Coasts: what ships, how long it takes, and why Thailand is operationally the easiest China+1 origin.
Europe to USA Shipping: The Transatlantic Freight Guide
Ports, modes and the paperwork that differs from Asia imports, plus why the transatlantic is the one lane where carrier choice really shows.
US Customs Bonds: Single Entry vs Continuous, and How the Amount Is Set
What a bond actually guarantees, the formula behind the number, and why paying high duties does not use it up.
Foreign Trade Zones vs Bonded Warehouses: When Deferring Duty Pays
Both defer duty. Only one allows manufacturing, only one protects you from a rate rise, and recent tariff actions closed the biggest FTZ benefit.
Duty Drawback: How to Reclaim Duty on Goods You Re-Export
Up to 99% of duty back on re-exported or destroyed goods: the deadline nearly every article gets wrong, and which tariffs actually qualify.
Restricted Party Screening: What Exporters and Forwarders Must Check
The lists, the free official tool, why EAR99 does not mean unrestricted, and the ownership rule that blocks companies whose names appear on no list at all.
Rules of Origin: How to Claim Preferential Duty Without Getting It Wrong
Origin is about where goods were made, not where they shipped from. The three tests that confer it, what USMCA and EU claims require, and why enforcement got serious.
Letters of Credit: How Document Discrepancies Delay Your Payment
Banks pay against documents, not goods. The discrepancies that stop payment, and how the shipping paperwork causes most of them.
3PL, Freight Forwarder, Broker or Carrier: Who Does What
Four roles that overlap in marketing and differ completely in liability, assets and what they are actually selling you.
What Your Forwarder's Trading Conditions Actually Say
The standard terms behind every booking: liability caps, time bars, lien clauses and the agent-versus-principal distinction that decides who you can sue.
US Drayage and Chassis: Why the Last 50 Miles Costs So Much
Per diem, chassis splits, dual transactions and appointment systems, the American port-to-door charges that surprise every first-time importer.
Sea-Air Freight: The Middle Option Between Ocean and Air
Roughly half the transit of ocean at a fraction of air freight cost: how sea-air works, the hubs that make it possible, and when it is worth the complexity.
The Best Websites to Find a Freight Forwarder (Ranked by What You Need)
Directories, marketplaces, trade bodies and Alibaba all surface forwarders. Which to use depends on your cargo, your lane, and how much verification you want to do yourself.
The 15 Busiest Container Ports, and Why the Biggest Is Not the Point
Full-year 2025 throughput for the top 15, plus the gateway-versus-transshipment split that decides whether a port matters to your cargo at all.
60 Freight Abbreviations Decoded: The Shipper's Reference
Every acronym you will meet on a quote, booking or invoice, grouped by where it appears: documents, charges, cut-offs and compliance.
Bill of Lading Types Explained: Original, Seaway, Telex and Switch
Which bill of lading releases your cargo, which one controls payment, and the mix-up that leaves containers sitting at destination.
Truck and Trailer Types: Dimensions, Pallet Counts and Weight Limits
European and North American trailer types side by side: internal dimensions, how many pallets fit, and the weight limit that binds first.
Air Cargo ULD Types and Dimensions: A Shipper's Reference
The container and pallet types used in aircraft holds, what fits each aircraft, and why your pallet height decides your air freight cost.
Project Cargo and Out-of-Gauge Shipping: What Changes
When cargo stops fitting a container, everything changes: equipment, pricing, route surveys, lifting plans and lead times.
Temperature-Controlled Freight: 9 Things You Must Specify
Setpoint, ventilation, pre-cooling, cold-chain gaps and data loggers. The details that decide whether reefer cargo arrives sellable.
How to File a Cargo Claim: The Step-by-Step Process
Notice deadlines, the documents you need, what carrier liability actually pays, and the three mistakes that kill a claim before it starts.
9 Freight Forwarder Credentials You Can Check Yourself
Licences, accreditations and memberships: what each one actually proves, which are checkable at source, and why a certificate in a PDF proves nothing.
Export Packaging and Palletisation: The Checklist That Protects Your Cargo and Your Rate
Carton specs, pallet standards, ISPM 15, and the packaging decisions that quietly change what you are charged.
Port-to-Port, Door-to-Door or DDP: What Each Freight Service Level Includes
Five service levels, what each one covers, and the charges that sit outside every single one of them.
China+1 Sourcing: What Shipping Actually Looks Like From 8 Alternative Countries
Eight China+1 countries compared on ports, realistic modes and the freight friction nobody mentions when they pitch you the factory.
Container Types and Dimensions: The Numbers That Decide Your Booking
Internal dimensions, nominal versus usable volume, and the payload limit that is almost never the container's own limit.
22 Free Freight Calculators Every Shipper Should Bookmark
Twenty-two free freight calculators grouped by the job they do: preparing a request, comparing quotes, and controlling costs after booking.
Container Tracking Explained: What the Box Number Can and Cannot Tell You
How container numbers are structured, what the check digit is for, why one container can hold several shipments, and where the real status lives.
How to Track an International Shipment: What Each Number Tells You
Booking number, bill of lading, container number, air waybill, which one to use, where to check it, and why the milestones lag reality.
Do You Need a Customs Broker? Broker vs Forwarder vs Filing Yourself
Three ways to clear customs, what each costs in money and risk, and the cases where self-filing is reasonable, plus the liability that never transfers.
How to Import from China to the USA: The Small Business Playbook
From supplier terms to delivered cargo: registrations, classification, the documents, who files what, and the timeline to plan against for a first China import.
Import Duty from China to the USA: How to Calculate What You Will Pay
Duty from China is now several layers stacked on one entry. How the calculation works, where each rate comes from, and how to estimate before you commit to an order.
Finding a Freight Forwarder on Alibaba: What to Check First
Supplier-arranged freight looks convenient and hides the margin. What you gain and give up, the questions to ask, and when to arrange your own forwarder instead.
Freight Forwarders for Ecommerce and Amazon FBA: What's Different
FBA freight fails on compliance details, not transport: appointment booking, labelling, prep requirements and who is importer of record. What to check before choosing a forwarder.
Where to Find Freight Forwarder Reviews You Can Actually Trust
Freight reviews are thin, gameable and often written by the wrong party. Where the useful signal actually lives, and the reference call that beats any star rating.
How to Find a Freight Forwarder in the USA: A Practical Shortlist Method
A repeatable method for building a shortlist of three: where to search, the FMC and FMCSA licence checks, and the questions that separate lane experience from marketing.
Cheapest International Shipping for Small Business: Courier vs Consolidation vs Freight
Where each channel actually wins by shipment size, the crossover points that decide it, and the six levers that reduce cost without changing provider.
How to Start Shipping Internationally: A First-Timer Checklist
The setup work before your first international shipment (registrations, supplier terms, HS codes and who does what) in the order it needs doing.
International Shipping for Small Business: The Complete US Guide
Your first international shipments, end to end: choosing a mode, the six documents, who clears customs, what it costs, and the mistakes that turn a small shipment expensive.
LTL Freight Quotes: How to Get One, Read It, and Compare It
LTL pricing runs on freight class, density and accessorials, not on a rate per kilo. What drives the number, why quotes get reclassified, and the details that prevent a corrected invoice.
Instant Freight Quotes: What 'Instant' Really Means
Instant rates come from pre-loaded contract pricing on covered lanes. When that is genuinely reliable, the five conditions that break it, and how to tell which you are looking at.
Freight Calculators vs Real Quotes: What Estimates Can and Cannot Tell You
Calculators are exact about arithmetic and silent about markets. What they are genuinely good for, why estimates and quotes diverge, and which tool answers which question.
What Information Do You Need for an Accurate Freight Quote?
The seven fields every forwarder needs, why each one changes the price, and a copy-paste template that gets accurate quotes back on the first reply.
7 Things to Check Before You Book a Freight Quote
A pre-booking checklist for the quote you have already chosen (validity, free time, routing, who holds the contract) before the money and the cargo move.
How to Post a Freight Request Online (and Get Comparable Quotes Back)
Emailing five forwarders gets you five incomparable answers. What to prepare before you post a request, what happens after, and the mistakes that get a request ignored.
The Best Way to Compare Freight Quotes (and Actually Save Money)
Two quotes for the same shipment are almost never comparable. Normalise the scope, the surcharges and the free time first, then the cheapest number is the cheapest shipment.
How to Find a Verified Freight Forwarder (Without Getting Burned)
"Verified" means nothing until you know who verified what. The six credentials worth checking, where to check each one yourself for free, and the references that actually reveal something.
Freight Broker vs Freight Forwarder: Which One Do You Actually Need?
Brokers arrange transport but never touch your cargo. Forwarders take possession and issue their own bill of lading. That single difference decides who is liable, who you claim against, and which one your shipment needs.
War Risk and Emergency Surcharges: How to Read and Challenge Them
WRS, ECS, EFS, PSS: 2026 invoices carry more emergency surcharges than base freight in some lanes. What each one is, when it legitimately applies, and how to push back.
US Tariffs in 2026 After the IEEPA Ruling: What Importers Actually Pay
The Supreme Court struck down IEEPA tariffs in February 2026 and the duties were rebuilt under other statutes within months. What applies now, and how refunds work.
Reaching the Gulf When Hormuz Is Closed: Landbridge and Multimodal Routing
With no sea alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, cargo is reaching the Gulf by road from ports outside it. The corridors, the paperwork, the transit times and the costs.
EU De Minimis Removal 2026: The 3 Euro Flat Duty Explained
The EU ended its 150 euro duty exemption on 1 July 2026. What the transitional flat fee means for ecommerce sellers, 3PLs and anyone shipping parcels into Europe.
Air Charter vs Scheduled Air Freight: When a Charter Is Worth It
Charters are not just for oversized cargo. A cost and risk framework for deciding when a full or part charter beats waiting for space on scheduled services.
CBAM Definitive Period: The 2026 Importer Checklist
CBAM moved from reporting to paying on 1 January 2026. What authorised declarant status means, who is exempt under the 50-tonne rule, and what to do before February 2027.
8 Contingency Questions to Ask Your Freight Forwarder Before the Next Disruption
Every forwarder handles a normal shipment. 2026 showed which ones handle a closed corridor. Eight questions that reveal whether your provider has a real plan B.
EU ETS and FuelEU Surcharges: What the Emissions Line on Your Invoice Means
EU ETS reached 100% coverage for shipping in 2026 and now includes methane and nitrous oxide. How carriers calculate the surcharge and how to check the number.
Asia-Europe Rail vs Ocean in 2026: When the Landbridge Wins
Cape routing pushed Asia-Europe ocean transits past six weeks. That changes the rail comparison for the first time in years. A cost, speed and risk breakdown.
Customs Audit Readiness: The Import Records You Must Keep
Duty rates rose, so audit activity followed. A practical guide to the records importers must retain, how long to keep them, and the four findings auditors raise most.
Freight Budget Planning in a Volatile Market: A Scenario Method
A single-number freight budget fails in a year where lanes move 50% in a quarter. A three-scenario method that survives contract season and gives finance a defensible range.
Switching Freight Forwarders Without Breaking Your Supply Chain
Changing forwarder is operationally risky and routinely botched. A phased transition plan covering data, in-transit cargo, customs continuity and the 90-day handover.
Customs Clearance Explained: Process, Documents & Duties
A clear, global guide to customs clearance: the step-by-step process, the documents you need, HS classification, duties and taxes, and when to hire a broker.
India to UAE Shipping: Fast Sea & Air Freight to Dubai
A practical guide to India to UAE shipping: Nhava Sheva and Mundra to Jebel Ali transit times, air cargo to Dubai, customs steps, and free-zone re-export.