What is the difference between groupage and LTL?

Both share a truck between shippers. Rhenus draws the line at the hubs: groupage is consolidated at one hub and broken down at another, while LTL freight usually is not transferred between hubs. In practice the terms overlap, and LTL is the usual North American name.

What is LCL in shipping?

Less-than-container load: several shippers' cargo sharing one ocean container, each paying for the space it uses — typically per weight or measure, the higher of cubic metres or metric tons.

Term

Groupage

Groupage is combining part loads from several shippers into one truck or container, moved through a forwarder's hubs and split again at the destination for delivery. It lets small shipments travel at full-load economics. Road groupage is priced on chargeable weight; in ocean freight the same service is called less-than-container load (LCL).

Also called groupage shipping, consolidated freight, groupage freightUpdated 12 October 2026

How it works

Rhenus describes it plainly: smaller shipments from different customers are combined at one hub, travel together, and at the destination hub are forwarded individually. Each carrier sets limits on what counts as groupage — Raben's Lithuanian terms, for one, cap it at 8 pallets or 5,000 kg per shipment, with no unit over 1,200 kg.

How it is priced

Road: chargeable weight is the highest of actual weight, volume weight and loading-metre weight — in Schenker's German domestic terms, at 250 kg per m³ and 1,250 kg per loading metre.
Ocean (LCL): shippers share a container and, in Maersk's words, pay only for the space they use, measured in cubic metres; a Maersk LCL booking can be up to 20,000 kg and 60 m³.
LCL is usually charged per weight or measure (W/M): the higher of the volume in m³ or the weight in metric tons, 1,000 kg to the ton.

Worked example: two ways to weigh the same freight

Road: 2 Euro pallets, 1.2 m high, 600 kg · Volume 2 × 1.2 × 0.8 × 1.2 = 2.30 m³ → 576 kg · Floor 0.8 LDM → 1,000 kg · Chargeable = 1,000 kg

At Schenker's German domestic factors, the floor space decides the price, not the weight.

Ocean LCL: 2.4 m³ weighing 900 kg → W/M = higher of 2.4 and 0.9 = 2.4 · At a supposed USD 60 per W/M = USD 144

The mistake people make

Booking on estimated dimensions. Groupage carriers re-measure at the hub, and Raben's terms recalculate the price on the actual parameters when they differ — so a pallet that grew in packing arrives with a bigger bill.

FAQ

Groupage: common questions

What is groupage shipping?: Consolidating several shippers' part loads into one truck or container, moved through a forwarder's hubs and separated again at the destination for delivery.
What is the difference between groupage and LTL?: Both share a truck between shippers. Rhenus draws the line at the hubs: groupage is consolidated at one hub and broken down at another, while LTL freight usually is not transferred between hubs. In practice the terms overlap, and LTL is the usual North American name.
What is LCL in shipping?: Less-than-container load: several shippers' cargo sharing one ocean container, each paying for the space it uses — typically per weight or measure, the higher of cubic metres or metric tons.

Sources

On Traqo: CBM Calculator works out cubic metres and cubic feet for cartons, pallets and crates.

On Traqo: Chargeable Weight Calculator compares actual and volumetric weight under each carrier convention.

On Traqo: Loading Metre Calculator works out LDM and chargeable weight for pallets, stacked or not.