What's it for? | How does it work? | Request POD | Shipping Partial Cargo | Storage

E-Commerce and Remote shipping from the USA

With this online freight calculator, international e-Commerce order deliveries from the USA have become easy and more affordable.

No matter whether you buy or sell on the U.S. market. No matter where in the world you are. With this online freight calculator, you can manage relatively large e-commerce deliveries from the USA using economy LCL freight service at the convenience of your office or home or even on the go.

As soon as you've got a deal, just go on this online freight calculator and:

• Calculate the costs of your order delivery from the USA considering different scenarios in your business. No need to wait for price quotes. Get it in real-time. It's free, available 24/7, and there are no obligations.
• Not sure yet about the exact size and weight of your order? That's OK. Just roughly estimate. Your shipping cost will be adjusted to the actual weight-measurements of the order.
• As soon as you are ready, book your shipment online and get shipping instructions within 24 business hours. Submit essential shipping documents on this website. Receive your express release bill of lading in a PDF file and meet your goods.

Click on the picture to watch a three-minute video on YouTube about how the online freight calculator works.

This online freight calculator allows you to deliver from the USA goods packed in boxes and crates. If you ship goods in boxes, your boxes can be appropriately palletized for international transportation at the ocean carrier's freight terminal (CFS), obeying ISPM 15 regulations.

What's it for?

Most of the time, U.S. merchants support e-commerce order deliveries in the USA only. They ship orders within the USA for a reasonable fee or even for free.

Small and midsize U.S. businesses typically do not ship orders out of the U.S. They avoid being involved in procedures related to international cargo transportation. However, they never mind selling goods overseas. If an American Freight forwarder organizes international deliveries of goods sold to foreign buyers, they always welcome such a business.

AMID Logistics is such a U.S. freight forwarder.

What's more is that AMID Logistics offers to utilize the online freight calculator, making it possible to completely plan international freight independently 24/7 and book international deliveries after all the preparatory work is done.

Please note that our primary business is LCL freight. LCL means shipping from the USA relatively large cargo by sea that is appropriately packed for international transportation in boxes, crates, or stacked on pallets. We are not involved in airfreight. We do not ship motor vehicles.

How does it work?

With American Multimodal International Deliveries (AMID Logistics), shipping LCL freight from the USA abroad is easy and comfortable.

When purchasing goods from a U.S. merchant, you should clarify whether the purchase price includes the cost of delivery within the U.S. or not.

A. If Yes, the U.S. merchant provides deliveries within the USA, then:

1. Please select your destination in our online freight calculator. Then you will see the list of available freight terminals (CFS) where your order can be delivered for shipping overseas*. Calculate a price quote and, when ready, book the shipment online.
2. Upon your booking and deposit, you should receive our email with shipping instructions, typically in 24 business hours.
3. Read these instructions and, if everything is in order, deliver or ask your merchant to deliver your order to the freight terminal (CFS) in the U.S. for further international shipping**.

B. If Not, the merchant DOES NOT provide deliveries within the U.S., then:

1. When calculating a price quote on the website, select in the pickup options the option 'YES. PICKUP IS REQUIRED'.
2. Then book your international shipment via the quote and get our email with shipping instructions on the pickup.
3. Ask the American merchant to prepare your order for international delivery and follow the instructions. We will schedule the pickup with a U.S. domestic LTL trucking company. On the appointed pickup day, a pickup driver will pick up the order for further international shipping.

C. USING A THIRD-PARTY ON CARGO DELIVERIES TO CFS:

• Due to changes in FedEx and T-Force Freight detention and re-delivery policies for LTL cargo, effective Monday, October 3rd, 2022, CFSs are no longer be allowing deliveries or pickups from these two companies. This change has not impacted other FedEx divisions, such as FedEx Ground. Please make arrangements to use an alternative carrier to deliver cargo to a CFS. IF NOT POSITIVE, CONTACT CFS BEFORE ARRANGING A THIRD-PARTY DELIVERY.

All further shipping procedures will be the same as the procedures explained in this step-by-step guide.

*Please note that the most economical way to ship overseas is to directly deliver your order to an ocean freight carrier's terminal (professionally called CFS - Container Freight Station). Such terminals are listed in our online freight calculator in the upper case and highlighted. For example, PHILADELPHIA, PA. We do not recommend selecting Line Haul terminals that are listed in lowercase with an asterisk (*), (Allentown, PA*, for example).

And between those CFSs, most likely, the cheapest should be on the U.S. East coast - NEW YORK, NY, and on the U.S. West coast - LOS ANGELES, CA. 

**VERY IMPORTANT! If a U.S. merchant requests a third-party U.S. trucking company (UPS, FedEx Freight, etc.) to arrange an order's delivery to a freight terminal appointed in our shipping instructions (you have selected NO PICKUP REQUIRED), then upon receipt of our email with shipping instructions, please pay extreme attention to: 

• The freight terminal address and the contact information and;
  
  
• If the order is delivered directly to an ocean freight carrier's freight terminal (called CFS - Container Freight Station), then the CARRIER'S BOOKING NUMBER IS THE KEY NUMBER to recognize and accept the order at the CFS.
  
  As already mentioned above, CFSs are listed in our freight calculator in the upper case, highlighted, and WITHOUT asterisk (*) like ATLANTA, GA, for example. Do not confuse AMID's customer reference number with the CARRIER'S BOOKING NUMBER.
  
  
• If the order is delivered to a U.S. domestic line haul freight terminal (LH) for ground transportation within the USA to a CFS, your key document is a U.S. domestic LTL bill lading. The LTL bill of lading will be attached to our email with shipping instructions in a PDF file.
  
  Line hauls terminals are listed in our freight calculator in lowercase a WITH asterisk, like Akron, OH*, for example.

Ensure that the ocean freight carrier's booking number, which is the key reference number to recognize the CFS delivery, is in your delivery orders. Do not confuse the carrier's booking number with AMID Logistics's internal customer reference number!

If you receive an LTL inland bill of lading, then the number will be already on the bill of lading.

Your order will be recognized at CFS by BOOKING NO. The cargo will be accepted by the CFS for international shipping from the USA to the place of delivery in the destination country.

See where you can find the ocean freight CARRIER'S BOOKING NUMBER in the sample of our Dock Receipt:

Always be able to provide POD

If, in your cargo delivery, you use a third-party trucking company, such as FedEx Ground Shipping, UPS Freight, etc., always request a signature on delivery. I.e., when submitting a delivery order, always select the Signature Confirmation Option. Then you should be able to ask the trucking company for a formal POD (copy of Proof of Delivery with a signature on it). Online tracking does not consider POD.

The reason is that sometimes, delivery drivers drop off cargo at the gates of freight terminals unattended, without obtaining signatures on shipping documents. As a result, drivers could leave cargo at a wrong freight terminal or gate or deliver just a part of the cargo.

If a shipper cannot provide a formal POD, then freight terminals may reject any claims and will not initiate an investigation on missing cargo.

Shipping partial cargo. Combining two or more orders into one single shipment.

Some of our new customers request us to accept several deliveries. They need to combine all the deliveries into one international shipment and ship it from the U.S. overseas under a single sea freight bill of lading.

For example, you remotely buy several smaller orders on Amazon. You need to provide your Amazon merchants with an address in the USA, where all the orders should be delivered to. After that, you need to combine all the orders at the address to deliver from the U.S. abroad.

In respect of LCL freight service, that means that you want us to accept several U.S. domestic deliveries at a particular ocean freight carrier terminal (CFS - Container Freight Station) for the consolidation into one single international LCL shipment.

Yes, we do that all the time. Such international shipments are called "shipping partial cargo." However, shipping partial cargo fits for shipping relatively sizable cargo. Do not confuse shipping LCL partial cargo with a consolidation of small packages into boxes like at MyUS.com, etc.

If shipping partial cargo LCL fits your needs, then you have to be aware of certain conditions and limitations in shipping partial cargo.

Storage

With regular LCL shipments, each cargo delivery to a CFS is booked under one unique AMID's reference and carrier's booking number. Upon delivery, if shipping documentation is in order, the CFS will do its best to ship the cargo out of the U.S. as soon as possible, automatically, without any additional notice.

If, for some reason, your cargo is on hold at CFS, then Free Storage Time depends on CFS (sea freight carriers' freight terminals). I.e., CFSs with a short storage time do not support partial cargo. For example:

Saint George Logistics freight terminal in Los Angeles (LAX) DOES NOT SUPPORT PARTIAL CARGO due to extremely limited free storage time:

• 1st period: *4 business days free*
• 2nd period: (5th calendar day): $4.50/cbm/day, min $60.00 per day
• 3rd period: (11th business day): $7.00/cbm/day, min $105.00 per day

However, the Saint George Logistics freight terminal in New York (NY) may support partial cargo. As of 2022, the free stoppage is up to 21 days. You will be billed for storage on day 22 under all circumstances. The export storage rates will be invoiced as follows:

• Export storage free time: 1-21 days - cargo must be loaded in a container to avoid storage. Once over 21 days, storage is billed from day 1.
• Export storage period 1: 22-30 days $5.00 per CBM or 800lbs, min $10.00 per day
• Export storage period 2: 31 days and after $10.00 per CBM or 800lbs, min $20.00 per day
• All storage fees are subject to a $25 admin fee.

Conditions and Limitations in Shipping Partial Cargo. PARTIAL CARGO MUST BE APPROVED IN ADVANCE!

If you need to combine two or more cargo deliveries into one single shipment under the same ocean freight carrier's booking and our customer reference number, then it must be booked in advance, approved by AMID Logistics, and:

• SHIPPING PARTIAL CARGO IS LIMITED BY UP TO 3-5 DELIVERIES WITHIN 20 DAYS (IF CFS'S FREE STORAGE TIME ALLOWS THAT) to the same ocean freight terminal (CFS) under the same carrier's booking number. If the number of approved deliveries or/and the time limit is exceeded, then significant storage, handling, documentation, etc., charges will apply.
  Please keep in mind that each delivery, whether a big one or a small one, requires the same attention in handling. That’s why we limit accepting partial cargo by 3-5 deliveries. Increasing the number becomes time-consuming and sharply increases the risk of operational mistakes. If you need to accept and combine numerous deliveries, you should search for an agent in the USA who will do such a job. We do not provide such a service.
• Partial shipments are subject to AMID Logistic's partial cargo fee, which is $35 per every single additional cargo delivery on top of the first delivery. Ocean freight carrier's CFS storage, handling, documentation, etc., fees may apply as well.
• If, in your cargo deliveries, you use a third-party trucking company, then you must always be able to provide a formal POD. 

If you comply with these conditions, please quote and book your partial shipment on our website by selecting LCL: Shipping boxes, crates, and pallets.

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!: Shipping partial cargo must be approved in advance. At the time of booking, in the COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS line at the bottom of our online booking form or/and in a prompt reply to our email to your LCL Booking Request, YOU MUST ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:

1. How many deliveries should we expect?
2. How many merchants were involved? List your merchants.
3. What is the time frame for all the deliveries?
4. Do you understand that free storage time may be limited from 4 to 21 days?
5. Do you understand that the CFS may reject deliveries without the CARRIER’S BOOKING NUMBER on delivery orders?
6. Do you understand that the $35 fee will apply to every single additional cargo delivery on top of the first delivery?

Also, please keep in mind that shipping partial cargo doesn’t mean that CFSs will track, check out, and match shippers’ orders. Content checks in deliveries are NOT permitted.

CFSs should inform the shipper about each delivery by providing warehouse receipts for each delivery under the same booking number. When possible, they provide pictures on top of warehouse receipts for each delivery. However, basically, shipping partial cargo means accepting cargo under the same carrier’s booking number, storing it, and upon the shipper’s OK, palletizing and shipping to the destination under a single bill of lading.

Please note that some international ocean freight carriers do not offer partial cargo service for shipping cargo from the USA. Once again: shipping partial cargo must be approved in advance!

If AMID Logistics did not approve a partial shipment before we provided shipping instructions, then every single cargo delivery to CFS will be processed as such a single shipment.

For more details regarding shipping from the USA or any kind of partial cargo, please contact us in advance.