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Logistics & Supply Chain vocabulary · Freight and Shipping

Consolidation

Meaning in logistics & supply chain, with examples

/kənˌsɑːlɪˈdeɪʃən/nounCommon term

In logistics & supply chain, consolidation means: Combining several small shipments, often from different shippers, into one larger load, such as a full container or truck, to lower the cost per unit.

In Turkish: konsolidasyon, grupaj, yük birleştirme

How it is used

The basis of LCL and groupage services. A forwarder acting as a consolidator collects cargo at a warehouse, loads it together and splits it again at destination (deconsolidation). Companies also consolidate their own orders to ship less often in fuller loads.

Example sentences

  1. Weekly consolidation from our suppliers in Shanghai fills one 40-foot container.

  2. Order consolidation cut the number of trucks we send north by a third.

Common collocations

  • freight consolidation
  • consolidation warehouse
  • order consolidation
  • consolidation service
  • LCLShort for less than container load: a small sea shipment that shares a container with goods from other shippers and pays only for the space it uses.
  • LTLShort for less than truckload: a road shipment too small to fill a truck, so it travels with other customers' goods and is priced by space or weight.
  • freight forwarderA company that organizes shipments for its customers: it books space with carriers, prepares documents and arranges customs, insurance and delivery.
  • FCLShort for full container load: a sea shipment in which one shipper's goods fill or use a whole container on their own.
  • cross-dockingA method in which incoming goods are unloaded and moved straight to outgoing trucks with little or no storage in between, usually within a day.

More terms: Freight and Shipping

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