Packing & delivery

Cartons and CBM before the quote

25 Oct 2026

Answer first: a delivered price cannot be built from a unit price and a guess. Freight is charged on volume, volume is decided by packing, and packing is a decision the buyer makes — usually without being asked. Ask these five questions with the drawing and the landed cost stops being a surprise.

The five numbers

1. Pieces per polybag. One bag each, or two, or a set in one sleeve? It changes the carton count directly.
2. Pieces per carton. Obvious and frequently missing.
3. Carton dimensions. External, in centimetres, after packing — not calculated from the bag size on paper.
4. Gross weight per carton. Some forwarders price on chargeable weight, which is the greater of actual and volumetric, and a light bulky carton is billed on volume.
5. How the bag is folded. Flat-folded uses the least volume and puts a crease where it is folded; stuffed with tissue or boxed individually uses three to four times the volume.

Why folding is a cost decision

A soft canvas tote folded flat is cheap to ship and arrives with a crease down the middle. The same bag stuffed with tissue holds its shape, needs a bigger carton, and can cost materially more to move — on a 5,000 piece order that difference can be larger than the difference between two suppliers’ unit prices.

On a structured bag that cannot be folded, an individual box is the only option, and the carton count roughly triples. That is not a negotiation point; it is arithmetic, and it should be visible in the quote before the order is placed.

What we send with a price

Unit price, carton count, carton dimensions, gross weight and total CBM, so a forwarder can quote against real numbers. Terms are EXW by default; FOB, CIF and DDP are quoted per project, because the destination and the Incoterm change the number more than the bag does.

And the one thing that moves freight more than packing: the date. A quote taken four weeks before the needed date buys sea freight; the same order two weeks out buys air, and air can cost more than the bags.

Orders start at 3,000 pcs, or 1,000 pcs per colour or size on stocked materials. Send the quantity, the destination and the date you need it by and the reply will include the CBM, not just the unit price.