Tuesday cut-off and the numbers keep moving
You run a weekly LCL service from Shanghai to Felixstowe. Bookings come in from shippers and your origin agent all week: five cubic metres here, eleven there, a shipment that was quoted at three cubic metres and turns out to be seven on delivery to the warehouse. The consolidation spreadsheet is updated by whoever gets the email. At the cut-off, the box is either overflowing or two-thirds full, and decisions about which cargo rolls to next week are made in a rush.
Why consolidation is hard to plan
LCL is a jigsaw with pieces that change size. Planning it needs up-to-date volumes, weights and readiness for every booking, and those details change right up to delivery to the CFS.
- Bookings arrive from shippers and agents in different formats.
- Declared volumes and weights change when cargo is measured at the warehouse.
- Some cargo is not stackable or has special handling needs.
- Ready dates slip, and cargo expected for this week is not there.
- The consolidation plan lives in a spreadsheet that one person updates.
What part-empty and overflowing boxes cost
A container that closes with space unsold is margin lost on the service. One that overflows means rolling cargo and disappointing shippers who were promised a sailing. Last-minute decisions made without the full picture tend to roll the wrong cargo, and customer service spends the next day explaining. The person who manages the spreadsheet becomes the bottleneck for every decision.
The consolidation planner we build
- Every LCL booking for a lane is held in one list, fed from your forwarding system, agent bookings read from email, and a shipper booking form.
- Each booking records declared volume and weight, packages, stackability, special handling, ready date and the sailing it is planned for.
- When cargo is received at the CFS, measured volume and weight replace the declared figures, from the warehouse's receipt data or entered on arrival.
- Each planned container shows volume and weight used against the limits you set, and flags when it is over or under.
- The planner suggests which bookings to move between sailings when a box is overbooked, following rules you choose, such as keeping priority customers on the planned sailing.
- Shippers whose cargo is moved are notified, and the change is written back to their job.
| Planning step | Spreadsheet | Consolidation planner |
|---|---|---|
| Booking list | Emails into one sheet | One list from all sources |
| Actual volumes | Updated when someone remembers | Taken from CFS receipt |
| Container fill | Totalled by hand | Shown against limits |
| Rolling cargo | Decided in a rush | Suggested by your rules |
| Telling shippers | Separate emails | Sent from the change |
What the service looks like afterwards
The consolidation picture is current all week, not just at the cut-off. Sales can see how much space is left on the next sailing and sell it. When cargo has to roll, the decision is made earlier, with the customers affected told straight away. And the service's fill and roll history by week shows whether the sailing pattern and pricing are right for the demand.
The origin agent works from the same picture as your UK team, which removes a whole category of email: the daily exchange of spreadsheets asking what is booked, what has arrived at the warehouse and what is still expected. Everyone sees the same plan, and the questions that remain are real decisions.
Checklist
- Consolidations are planned in a spreadsheet.
- Boxes close with unsold space or with cargo rolled at the last minute.
- Measured volumes differ from declared and are found late.
- Sales cannot see space left on the next sailing.
- One person owns the consolidation plan.