Imported goods are part of the daily lives of most people. In some situations, companies depend on them, and any delay can lead to businesses closing down, slower services, and can even lead health issues. For example, people will suffer if medicine doesn’t arrive on time. It is the same with construction materials or raw materials that are needed for businesses to function.
Transport, be it terrestrial, aerial, or aquatic, will be at the core of most businesses. It is essential to work with reliable transport and logistics companies to ensure the goods will arrive promptly and safely.
All the transport and cargo companies work based on weight, and it is essential to know the weight of the goods. According to Dedola – Air Freight Forwarder, it is not only important to know the weight of the cargo. A key factor is knowing the dimensions too, which will ease the transport and additional costs. Additional costs can come from overweight goods and products of larger sizes. Special trucks are needed to transport extra weight and larger dimensions of containers, for example.
When calculating how much it will cost to transport goods of a certain weight, it is important to consider more factors. Factors like the cargo’s weight, the packaging weight, and the distance, if it is a full container or shared with another buyer need to be considered. These can easily be checked, but a bit more attention should be paid to extra weight, which can be more expensive. The weight is calculated in different ways for each type of transportation. It is more complex for air freight because two kinds of weight need to be checked, and more about them can be read below.
Types of Weight
Before learning to calculate chargeable weight, it is important to know that weight can be of two types for air freight. This applies to airplanes because they have a limited amount of space, and weight affects fuel consumption. More weight will lead to more fuel consumption and a price increase.
Gross Weight
The gross weight is the total mass of the cargo. It includes the weight of the shipment and the pallets. For this type of weight, there is no complicated math, and you only have to weigh them to know the total weight.
Keep in mind that the weight of freight will be in pounds or kilograms depending on the nation of origin. It is good to know that 1 kilogram is equal to 2.205 pounds. Weighting in both pounds and kilograms is suggested to save time. The agent will check the weight before departure and print it on the air waybill.
The gross weight is measured using a large scale or, for containers, a weighing platform.
Volumetric Weight
This type of weight is also called dimensional weight and is based on the dimensions of the package. This is a more theoretical calculation since it involves conversions from cubic meters to kilograms. To discover the volumetric weight, all the dimensions of the cargo are needed.
This type of weight can also be in pounds or kilos. To find out the weight in pounds, the dimensional weight (volumetric weight), which will be in cubic inches, must be divided by 166. For kilograms, the cubic inch value needs to be divided by 366.
It can be done by multiplying the length by the width by the height (L x W x H), which will be in cubic centimeters. The cubic centimeters need to be divided by 6,000. Also, it can be calculated in centimeters for non-US territories.
The volumetric weight focuses more on the dimensions and the space needed in the airplane or any other type of transportation. This is important, especially in airplanes where the weight is crucial because some materials can weigh more even though they need less space. For example, 10 kilograms of raw iron will require less space in the container than 10 kilograms of avocados.
How To Do the Math
It is essential to understand the whole process of calculating volumetric weight. It is necessary to multiply the length by width by height. To better understand how the equation works, some information about it is required first. These are some essential terms:
- Lb or lbs: pounds
- Kg or kgs: kilograms
- Cft or ft3: cubic feet
- Cbm or m3: cubic meters
- Tonne or mt: metric ton 1,000 kgs / 2,204.6 lbs
For example, a company is shipping cargo from Boston to Chicago. In the shipment, there are three boxes of tea, and each weighs 10 kilograms. One box has dimensions of 50 x 40 x 40 centimeters. The actual gross weight of this transport would be three boxes multiplied by 10 kilograms each, and it will be 30 kilograms gross weight.
If each box sits on a pallet of 4 kilograms, this should also be multiplied by 3. So 3 boxes multiplied by 4 kilograms which is 12 kilograms. The total gross weight is 30 plus 12, which is 42 kilograms. This is the easier way to find the weight.
For the volumetric weight, it will be like this: The volume in kilograms using centimeters will be (50x40x40) x 3 boxes/6000, which will be equal to 40 kilograms. The volume in kilograms using inches will be like this, but first, you need to convert the dimensions of the box from centimeters to inches. 50 centimeters will be 19.6 inches, and 40 centimeters will be 15.7 inches. The calculation is as follows: (19.6×15.7×15.7) x 3 boxes/366 equals 40 kilograms.
Final Words
After the math is done, it depends on which weight is greater. If the gross weight is higher, then customers will pay for it. If the volumetric weight is higher, you will pay for it instead of the gross weight. Also, if people are not confident enough in their math skills, most freight businesses offer conversion tools that calculate the weight. It is only necessary to provide the proper dimensions and other data.
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