For each day that people are awake, the shipping business never sleeps. They work to ensure delivery, 24/7. Moving around and living in other parts of the world means you’ll pack your things and fly away. Everything becomes challenging when you move across continents. Hence, one solution you can think of would be to utilize bulk shipping solutions to take care of your things. Not only will this give you peace of mind, but also the security and safety of your stuff.

However, bulk shipping is not limited to transporting personal effects. Border shipping services, popularly known as bulk shipping services, also transport raw materials such as cement, ore, iron, grain, coal, and steel. Pondering about it makes you wonder, how do they do it? Wouldn’t it be too challenging to load and unload these materials to and from their destinations?

Fortunately, bulk shipping solutions own carrier ships that are intricately designed to carry all these materials worldwide. Businesses need not worry about their packages as these carrier ships protect and ensure the products’ safety.

As you read this article, we will help you answer questions like, “What is ground service shipping?” and ”How is small business shipping in Canada?”

Defining bulk shipping

Before we get to the nitty-gritty, let’s define bulk shipping. For starters, bulk shipping means shipments that are loaded directly into various containers transported through shipping vessels. The items are not packaged in general, in contrast to other shipments.

To make things easier to understand:

• Products or items can be categorized into general or bulk cargo.
• General cargo travels in containers or packages. You’ll see these as sacks (of rice or cement), pallets, and in TEU containers. These are counted in units to avoid confusion.
• Bulk cargo means transporting materials or products in large quantities without any individual packaging. It requires no specific packaging for the products.

How do bulk shipping solutions work?

Various businesses want to save their resources as much as possible, especially if they have just started operating and earning. Importing and exporting products and materials in bulk quantities help reduce the expenses they incur. The majority of these businesses aim to deliver orders on time, especially if multiple orders are from the same area.

When exporting or sending the customers’ orders to their destinations, most business owners see an opportunity to save and be efficient in fulfilling these orders. When the cargo arrives at the designation port, the cargo is immediately transported to the warehouse for further processing and distribution.

Make sure that when you work with a bulk shipping solutions provider, you’ll be able to communicate with them, especially regarding how the entire process works. Complete all the necessary paperwork and follow the rules and regulations of the destination of the orders.

What are the items you can transport via bulk shipping solutions?

Transporting orders from one country to another is always a tedious task. It never goes easy as you’ll have to comply with all the regulations of each country. These vary depending on solids or liquids. Read on and learn more about the different products you can ship.

Solids

There are three states of matter, and solids pertain to the objects that we can grasp. These objects form a distinct shape that can be measured.

These could be books, paper products, equipment such as cranes, plastic containers, or even cooking utensils. You can also ship grains such as wheat, rice, oats, and chemicals that may be helpful for your small business. If you’re in the creative scene and craft your own products, resins, copper, limestone may be shipped in bulk.

Liquids

On the other hand, shipping liquids require tanks that are uniquely designed for the sole purpose of transporting these liquids. A number of liquids that you can transport include cooking oils, natural gas, fruit juices, and dairy products such as milk. Other businesses engage in the transport of hazardous materials. Some tankers are made to handle and contain these liquids and prevent spillage while in transit. 

However, if you ship in smaller quantities, some rules apply. Make sure you study and take note of the prohibited items for shipping. If you’re worried about shipping your materials or your products, then let Stallion Express help you.

Cost of Bulk Shipping

When you think of bulk shipping, you may think that it could get expensive, depending on the quantity of how much you want to ship. Actually, the cost is computed in dollars per tonne of cargo. But, other freight forwarding companies charge per diem freight rates.

In the middle of 2019, the daily Capsize rates increased from around $20,000 per day to more than twice the amount, which is $48,000 for Capesizes with the capacity of around 180,000 deadweight tons (DWT).

Factors that affect the cost of bulk shipping solutions

Different factors help determine the cost of bulk shipping. We will be sharing the four main factors that affect the cost. Those factors are dimensions and weight of the package, freight classification, gross weight, and distance traveled.

Dimensions and weight of the package

These influence the cost the greatest. Shipping companies will require the most accurate dimensions and weight when they calculate the price. When you drop an item off in their office, expect that they will measure it and weigh it on their scale. Then they will inform you about the details and the price.

Freight classification

Aside from its dimensions and weight, the shipping company checks if the products will be susceptible to damage, especially during handling and shipping. Products that require more careful handling will be classified into a higher shipping class, resulting in higher shipping rates.

Gross weight

Shipping rates vary according to the gross weight or the dimensional weight, whichever is bigger. This has become the standard formula in considering the density of the shipment in relation to its cost.

To illustrate:

If you have a package that does not weigh much but takes a lot of space, it will be billed by its dimensional weight.

Distance traveled

One of the factors that influence the shipment’s overall cost would be the distance it will travel. If you think of a kilometer basis, that does not work with bulk shipments. They instead consider where the specific group of products originated from.

Why should you choose bulk shipping solutions for your business?

Bulk shipping plays an important role, especially in businesses, to get the materials they need in time. This also allows them to save up on shipping costs when grouping their customers’ orders according to area. Remember that in bulk shipments, products are usually classified as solids and liquids. Four factors remain vital in determining the total cost that businesses incur.
When your business is in line with agriculture or other similar industries, you’ll benefit a lot from utilizing bulk shipping in your transactions. Most eCommerce companies work in various niches, and some will not work well with bulk shipments. With Stallion Express, we will help you transport your customers’ orders and help you track them with ease.

Pramod Bhat