What is Bulk Freight?
Bulk freight is unpacked cargo directly loaded onto a carrier vessel in large quantities for shipping. In some cases, it is also referred to as the cost of delivering the mentioned cargo from one point to another. Bulk freight is usually transported by a ship, airline, truck, or any form of transportation that can hold and move cargo in large quantities.
Significance of Bulk Freight in an E-commerce Shipping and Delivery
Bulk freight allows companies to reduce transportation costs by moving goods in large quantities. Furthermore, it also provides flexibility, as companies can move and transport heavy appliances.
- Cost optimization: Goods such as grains and petroleum are moved using bulk freight. However, e-commerce companies can also leverage bulk freights and simultaneously ship large quantities of products. Undertaking such a move allows them to reduce the cost of middle-mile shipping, which later reflects on the overall shipping costs.
- Flexibility: Bulk freight provides a comparably larger storage volume. It allows a company to ship heavy appliances like washing machines, furniture, and more. A company can now ship products in bulk or ship bulky appliances.
Prerequisites of Bulk Freight and How It Works
Bulk freight requires products in considerable quantities to ship. Therefore, a seller must suffice the minimum number of units, or a shipping company can pool the products of multiple sellers’ products.
Generally, the products are collected, handled, loaded, and shipped through bulk freight by a shipping or freight company, where the participation of the manufacturer or the seller is not mandatory. However, if the products require sensitive handling, one should monitor the mentioned process or opt for a safer shipping mode since the products are not necessarily packed in bulk freight.
Use Case with Bulk Freight
Some use cases with bulk freight are as follows.
- Using bulk freight to load and ship 100 tonnes of crude oil using a shipping carrier.
Using bulk freight to pool 3,000 units of t-shirts, 4,000 units of jeans, and 11,000 units of sneakers from three different retailers and shipping them using a road carrier.