If you sell an item and you want to calculate the price of shipping the item from a location to its final destination, you can do it in two simple ways. Firstly, you can include the prices of freight in each item you sell, in which the buyer will believe that there are no hidden charges for freight, or calculate the exact freight charge of each item and include the total on separate invoices. By doing this, a potential buyer will only see the lowest prices. You need to note that freight shipping costs are often quoted on a port-to-port basis, and you will need to consider several elements in calculating such freight costs.

To calculate your freight shipping cost, you must include; The volume weight or the actual weight of your consignment (remember, this should be measured in tones or cubic meters), total weight of the pallets used in the transfer of your consignments, costs of loading and unloading especially used in the multimode transport, cost of the actual transport of items, port, or terminal fees, and shipping documentation fees. These are some of the most prominent components in calculating the cost of your freight shipping.

In addition to the components mentioned above, you may like incur some additional costs or charges depending on the terms of trade you entered into with the shipping company, the likely inclusions in terms of trade may cover areas such as cost of moving the items to and from the port, port costs, handling of the cargo, and some other documentation. These freight shipping cost items are usually hidden and may be difficult for you to have an estimate except you are familiar with the way things work at the destination port.

Looking at air freights, there are some other constraints as well as charges associated with transporting your items through the air and such charges may vary depending on the following conditions. Competition in routing, tariff classifications on items, availability of space at the destination point, and the willingness of the shipment forwarder to share its commissions. These are factors that often create complications at the destination points and in most cases, shipped items may remain at the destination for months or weeks just because of these hidden charges, it is important to be aware of these factors before calculating your freight shipping costs.

You can reduce your freight costs in a number of ways, one of such ways is to make use of a multimode transport agreement which will normally include both loading and unloading costs associated with changing between one mode of transport to the other, check and find the lowest rates offered by shipment carriers, and make sure you contact exporters and shipping association before making a plan to transport your items. You need to familiarize yourself with the minimum charges on freight, for instance air freight usually comes with 10-20kg while sea freight comes with 0.5 to 1.5 tonnes. Having these important tips in mind will help you reduce freight shipping cost significantly.