Buyer’s consoles, or buyer’s consolidations, are primarily used to reduce costs for shippers when they are handling cargo from multiple suppliers at roughly the same time – usually within a period of a few weeks or a month.
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The process of consolidation allows shippers to increase their load factor and reduce overall shipping costs, when compared multiple LCL (less-than-container load) or FCL (full-container-load) shipments. Usually, these consolidation services are handled by freight forwarders who are typically also licensed NVOCCs (non-vessel operating common carrier). You could be consolidating export cargo from Costco, Sam's Club, Amazon and other suppliers or consolidating import cargo from multiple suppliers in China, Vietnam or India.
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At SHIPIT Logistics® , our buyer’s consolidation services span the entire globe, and are available to customers worldwide. We are looking forward to delivering the right experience, to the shipper and consignee.
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Request a Quote or Contact Us today about our Buyer's Console Services
We provide the following buyer’s consolidation services:
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Buyer’s consolidation supply chain design and management
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Warehouses throughout the world for buyer’s consolidation
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POMS (Purchase Order Management System) and Booking Portal with visibility, providing your supplier, carrier, and destination manager with full reporting
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Origin, freight, and destination freight management services for all modes of transport
Buyer's Consolidation Service
Our Process Flow
What is the difference between LCL (less-than-container load) vs Buyer’s Consolidation shipping?
Although the two processes are very similar, there are a number of differences between buyer’s consoles and LCL shipping. Read on to learn more:
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LCL shipping involves the consolidation of many different shipments from different shipper’s to different consignees, based on a shared destination hub.
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Buyer’s consolidation involves the consolidation of multiple shipments for the same buyer or consignee.
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The LCL shipping process may require multiple points of consolidation and deconsolidation.
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Buyer’s consoles will only need to be deconsolidated at the final destination as all pieces are going to the same final port of discharge.
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The LCL shipping process is taken out of the hands of the buyer, and is subject to deadlines and cut-offs that dictate the shipping duration.
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Buyer’s consolidation provides a lot more control to the buyer.
The Benefits of Buyer’s Consolidation
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Reduced origin and destination charges – There are no destination CFS (consolidator charges) if the FCL is delivered to your own warehouse for final deconsolidation. Depending on the size of your shipments the origin charges can also be lower in a buyer’s console since it is usually a per container rate for harbor drayage, receiving and loading, whereas in LCL shipments it is variable, and usually charged on a per w/m basis.
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More control over the routing and schedule of your FCL – You will be allowed to select a specific sailing and date for the load, based on the options provided by your freight forwarder/NVOCC.
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Reduced per kilogram rates for air freight shipments – If you need multiple air shipments, your forwarder can consolidate these at a single warehouse, offering higher weight and higher volume shipments, reducing the rate per kilogram.
When Are Buyer’s Consolidation Shipments a Good Idea?
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When buying goods from multiple suppliers in the same country of origin. When a consignee, usually the buyer of the cargo, is purchasing items from multiple suppliers in the same country, buyer’s consolidation services are ideal. The buyer does not want to be burdened with tracking multiple ocean or air shipments, or burdened with the destination charges of individual clearances for multiple LCL shipments. Nor do they wish to incur the destination charges of a traditional LCL shipment, which may include destination consolidator and destination CFS charges.
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When you have multiple shipments within the same time period. Buyer’s consolidation shipments are also ideal for multiple air or ocean shipments across a period of up to eight weeks. These can be consolidated into one shipment to save money and hassle. The only time it can be expensive is when accumulating storage costs from the forwarder’s warehouse for holding those individual cargoes, which can sometimes outweigh the costs of multiple LCL or Single Air Freight shipments.
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When shipments are not extremely urgent. Shipments where the sense of urgency is not as high so there is time to consolidate enough freight to make a buyer’s console worthwhile.
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