Volumetric Weight

Volumetric Weight
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Every shipping method, whether it’s Air shipping or Sea shipping, follows some basic principles for packaging the products to maximize capacity and profits as well. Carriers follow volumetric weight formulas to enhance their capacity.

Have you ever experienced in your life that you tried your best to close the suitcase but failed to zip it because it was too full? 

This same thing happens while shipping your products because the space is very limited. It reaches capacity, and you have to leave out some of your stuff to close the ship, plane, container, or even your bag.

This same thing happens while shipping your products because the space is very limited. It reaches capacity, and you have to leave out some of your stuff to close the ship, plane, container, or even your bag.

In this article, we’ll guide you properly about what volumetric weight is and how to Calculate it. Most importantly, you’ll also learn how you can reduce volume

Volumetric Weight vs Actual Weight

Volume metric
volume metric in air freight

Volumetric weight is a logistic indicator that takes both dimensions and weight into consideration to estimate the density of a shipment. 

The quantity, also known as “dimensional weight” or “dead weight,” is obtained from a simple formula: divide the volume of a box by a “dimensional divisor.”

As stated on the weighing scale, the actual cargo weight is called Actual weight. A package, for example, weighs 100 pounds since the weighing scale shows as well.

As you may be aware, not all weights are created equal. Each item has its own weight. The weight of a commodity is mostly determined by its size and the material it is made of. 

The general perception is that light and soft products take up less room, however, this is not the case. For example, shipping a cargo of feather pillows costs more than shipping a cargo of smartwatches and phones since such soft and light things require more room.

To address this issue, shipping corporations have come up with the term ‘Volumetric Weight.’ It is a method used by freight-forwarding businesses to ensure.

They do not lose money while transporting lightweight and delicate items. Specific formulas are used to compute volume weight.

The actual weight, on the other hand, is the actual weight of the package based on its dimensions. The length, width, and height of the product are used to compute volumetric weight. 

As a result, an enormous delivery containing pillows may be heavier than a tiny container containing smartwatches and phones. 

How do find the Chargeable volumetric weight for Sea Freight?

 The chargeable weight for sea freight depends on the actual weight (also known as gross weight) and volumetric weight (also known as volume or dimension). 

Whichever has more weight? This uses an approximated weight depending on the dimensions, such as length, width, and height, of a package. 

Generally, large items, no matter whether they are lightweights, take up more space on the ship than small, heavy products. 

That’s the main reason, why sea freight charges on the chargeable weight. Charge weight is mostly used by sea freight shipments, local shipping companies, and brokers to calculate.

The sea freight or local shipping charges. Sea Freight Forward uses the dimensional factors (Length, Width, and Height) to calculate the volumetric weight of the ship.

Freight forwarders use the various dimensional factors, which are given below;
If you are looking for just the formulas,.

That are used to calculate the volumetric weight, Here we go: The general formula for calculating the volume weight for all packages is 366 cubic centimeters per inch, 6000 cubic centimeters per KG, and 166 cubic inches per pound. 

Using inches to calculate volumetric weight for air freight

The volumetric weight calculation for air freight is simply done by using the very simple formula, which is to multiply the length by the width and then by the height (L*W*H) in cm to find cubic centimeters. 

Then If you want to find the volumetric weight in pounds using inches, you have to divide the cubic inch result by 166.

And if you want to find the volume weight in Kilograms using inches, simply divide the cubic inch result by 366.

Using inches to calculate volumetric weight for air freight

Using centimeters to calculate volumetric weight for air freight

It is also very easy to find the volumetric weight calculation for Air Freight using Centimeters, Your job is simply to multiply the length by the width and then by the height (L*W*H) in centimeters to find the cubic centimeters, then simply divide the result by 6000.

Chargeable Weight

Chargeable weight is an equilibrium point where volumetric weight and actual weight are equal. kindly make sure that if the actual weight of the package is greater.

Than the equilibrium point, the air freight from China to the USA charges depend on the actual weight. 

Conversely, if the volumetric weight is higher than the equilibrium point,. Then the Air Freight from China to the USA charges depending on the volume weight.

Actual Weight depends on the scale.

  • or lbs.: pounds
  • KG or KGs: Kilogram
  • CFT or Ft3: cubic feet
  • CBM or m3: Cubic meters
  • Tone or mt: metric ton, 1000 kilograms/2204.6 lbs.

 

  • 1 inch = 2.54 CMS and 1 CMS = 0.3934
  • 1 lbs. = 0.4536 kgs and 1 kgs = 2.20562 lb.

 

  • 167 in3/lb. = 10.4 lb./ft3
  • Metric shipping factor examples:
  • 5000 cm3/kg = 200 kg/m3
  • 6000 cm3/kg = 166.667 kg/m3
  • 7000 cm3/kg = 142.857 kg/m3

 

Note: All dimension and weights are rounded off.

How to Calculate the Volumetric Weight to find the chargeable weight of Air Freight?

Case 1: The actual weight is greater than the volumetric weight.

Let’s suppose, Company A has decided to ship from China to the USA. The cargo consists of 10 boxes, each box weighs 40 KG, and each box has to measure 50*40*40 = 19.685 * 15.738 * 15.748 inches.

Actual weight = 40kg * 10 boxes = 400 KG

Volumetric Weight in kgs using centimeters = (50 x 40 x 40cm) x 10 boxes / 6000 = 164 kg

volume weight in kgs using inches = (20 x 16 x 16) x 10 boxes / 366 = 164 kg

Result:  400 kgs is greater than 134 kg, so the Chargeable Weight will be 400 kg, which, in this case, is greater than volumetric Weight

Case 2: The volumetric weight is greater than the actual weight.

Let’s suppose, Company A has decided again to ship from China to the USA. This time, the cargos has 2 boxes per carton; each box has a weight of 24 kgs and has to measure the same as the above;

Actual Weight = 2 boxes * 24 KGs = 48 Kgs.

Volumetric Weight in kgs using centimeters = (50 x 40 x 40cm) x 2 boxes / 6000 = 27 KGS

volume weight in KGS using inches = (19.6 x 15.7 x 15.7) x 2 boxes / 366 = 27 kgs

Result: 48 kg is greater than 27 kg. Hence, the Chargeable Weight will be 48 kg, which is also the Volumetric Weight.  

Is it possible to prevent Volumetric Weight?

Yes, it might be possible that you can reduce the volumetric weight. For reducing the volumetric weight, the first and foremost thing is to reduce the size of your package and make it as small as possible. 

Some shipping companies remove the large boxes from the products and repack them in small
boxes. As a result, the size of the products becomes smaller. 

Hence, it takes less space and maximizes the profit.

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