With planning, significant savings can be had through coordinating purchasing and shipping to fill entire containers (FCL) rather than small bits at a time (LCL). There are a significant number of one-time costs for every import shipment. Spreading these costs out across many items reduces individual item costs significantly.
There are a number of pros and cons to Both Full Container Load (FCL) and Less-than Container Load (LCL). Unless you are dealing with large objects or large quantities FCL shipments need to be consolidated at source then get broken out at the destination. FCL shipments eliminate a number of freight handling costs and can normally clear customs much quicker.
Frequently, when we are procuring items in the same area, we can consolidate a number of orders from different manufacturers into one or more containers rather than several smaller LCL shipments. This saves on shipping costs and can reduce customs delays.