Chargeable Weight Calculator

Chargeable Weight Calculator

This is a free online Chargeable Weight Calculator, to help you calculate for a shipment, shipping by sea (LCL), by road (LTL), by air, or by courier/express methods.

To learn more about the concept of Chargeable Weight, imagine a real-life case where a 300kg shipment is charged by the airline for 400kg. It sounds absurd, but there is a reason for it.

The airline does not miscalculate the weight of the cargo. They only use the weight to calculate the freight, not the actual weight of the cargo (300kg). Instead, they use the weight converted from the volume of the package, in this example 400kg.

The problem for customers is that they do not understand when to use the actual weight, and when to use the weight converted from the volume?

If there is a general answer, it is: actual weight or converted weight, whichever is larger, the freight will be calculated accordingly.

Of course, there must be a specific formula and regulations in the calculation to ensure consistency and transparency in applying freight rates to each shipment.

More details will be presented in the next section below. First, an explanation of the term...

What is Chargeable Weight?

Chargeable Weight is the weight figure of the goods, which use to calculate freight amount. This weight is taken as the larger of two quantities: Actual Weight (AW), and Volumetric Weight (VW), or Dimensional Weight (DW).

Actual Weight (AW) is the weight of the goods that we often use, which can be measured by a scale. For example, a package weighs 10kg.

Volume (VW) is calculated by dividing the volume of the package by the conversion factor. This factor is 6000 for Air freight, and 5000 for express freight.

After knowing AW and VW, compare and see which number is larger, that is Chargeable Weight.

How to calculate Chargeable Weight for Air cargo shipments?

To calculate Chargeable Weight for Air cargo in general, the following steps are required:

1. Calculate the actual weight (AW). If the shipment consists of many different types of goods, then add up the total weight of all types. The unit of weight is kilogram (kg), or pound (lb).

2. Calculate the volumetric weight (VW). It is necessary to measure the length, width, and height of each unit of goods. For goods that are not rectangular, convert them to the surrounding box to get the size. The unit of size is: centimeter (cm), or inch (in). Then the formula is:

VW = (Length x Width x Height)/Conversion factor

Depending on the unit of size and unit of weight, the Conversion factor is different, specifically as follows:

Note: Normally in Vietnam we still use the units "cm" and "kg", then the conversion factor is 6000, and the formula to calculate VW will be:

VW = (Length x Width x Height)/6000

For example: A package has dimensions of 60cm x 20cm x 10cm, then the mass
VW = (60 x 20 x 10)/6000 = 2kg.

3. Calculate Chargeable Weight: After calculating the 2 masses AW and VW (same unit kg or lb), compare and take the higher value which is Chargeable Weight.

How to calculate Chargeable Weight for Express shipments

The above explains the formula for calculating Chargeable Weight for Air shipments. For Express shipments, the coefficient may not be 6000. Carriers such as DHL/Fedex/UPS/TNT apply different rates for different areas, refer to Shipit.com:

Centimeters / Kilograms:

• DHL: 5000 hoặc 4000 tùy theo tiêu chí quốc gia nhập khẩu
• FedEx: 6000 (mới) hoặc 5000 (cũ, vẫn dùng cho Châu Á) với các lô hàng quốc tế, 7000 với các lô hàng nội địa (Hoa Kỳ)
• UPS: 6000 hoặc 5000 tùy theo tiêu chí quốc gia nhập khẩu

Inches / Pounds:

• FedEx Express & UPS: 139
• FedEx Ground and UPS Ground: 139

How to calculate Chargeable Weight for LCL sea freight

With sea freight: the same method is used as Chargeable Weight in the case of containerized cargo (LCL), but the calculation is simpler than with Air or Express cargo.

With LCL cargo, just compare 2 quantities: actual weight (in Tons) and cargo volume (in CBM - Cubic Meters), the larger number will be used to calculate the freight. Therefore, in LCL shipping, you will see on the quote that the common unit is W/M (Weight or Measurement), which means that the freight and other fees will be calculated according to the larger number between tons and cubic meters.

For example: a shipment weighing 1.2 tons (AW = 1.2 tons) has a capacity of 1.5m3 (meaning VW = 1.5 tons). Then the freight volume will be the larger number between AW and VW, meaning 1.5 tons.

However, this concept of Chargeable Weight is less used in sea transport than in Air and Express cargo as presented in the above section.

The above formula can be a bit complicated, and users often do not remember what the conversion factor is. That is why Vinalogs has built this online Chargeable Weight calculator integrated on our website so that you can use it quickly and conveniently.

Hope this tool is useful to you.