01
Carrier space
Contracted allocations with major carriers on our core lanes, plus spot space when the market is softer than our contract.
Service 01 — Ocean
Ocean freight,
FCL & LCL.
Contracted space with major carriers on our core lanes, plus weekly LCL consolidations out of primary Asian and European gateways — routed to whichever North American port actually gets your cargo to its door fastest.
Full container, or a share of one.
If you are moving enough volume to fill a container, FCL is almost always the cheaper unit cost and the lower risk — your cargo is sealed at origin and nobody else's freight touches it. If you are not, LCL lets you pay for the cubic metres you actually use and still get door delivery.
The judgement call sits in the middle, and it is where most importers lose money. Somewhere around 12–15 cubic metres the economics usually flip toward a 20-foot container even if you cannot fill it, because LCL charges compound: consolidation, deconsolidation, CFS handling and per-cubic-metre destination fees add up fast. We will tell you which side of that line you are on before you book, including when the honest answer costs us the larger booking.
How we route into North America
A container bound for Toronto has three realistic paths: Vancouver and rail east, Montreal direct, or a US east coast port and truck north. Each has a different transit, a different cost and a very different exposure to congestion. We price the ones that make sense for your deadline rather than defaulting to whichever gateway we happen to have space on.
- Vancouver + rail — fastest from North Asia, but rail dwell can swing widely in peak season
- Montreal direct — strongest from North Europe and the Mediterranean, shortest inland leg to Ontario
- US gateways — often cheaper on the ocean leg, but adds a border crossing and in-bond paperwork
- Chicago — our Batavia facility sits inside the largest inland rail hub in North America
What we need to quote you
Origin port or door address, destination, commodity with HS code if you have it, gross weight, and total volume or container count. Cargo ready date helps us hold realistic space. That is genuinely all — we do not need a completed booking form to give you a number.
What's included
What an ocean booking covers
Every item below is handled by the same coordinator who quoted you — there is no hand-off to a different desk once the booking is confirmed.
02
Weekly LCL
Regular consolidations from primary Asian and European gateways, with CFS handling and deconsolidation arranged at destination.
03
Origin services
Export documentation, cargo pickup, container stuffing supervision and port charges handled at origin.
04
Reefer & special
Temperature-controlled equipment, out-of-gauge, flat racks and break-bulk for cargo that will not fit a standard box.
05
Marine insurance
All-risk cargo cover arranged on request. Carrier liability alone is limited and rarely covers your actual value.
06
Door delivery
Drayage, transload and final-mile delivery arranged on the same file, so one person owns the shipment end to end.
Questions
Before you book
The things clients ask us most often on this service. If yours is not here, call or email — you will get a real answer, not a callback form.
FCL means you book an entire container — 20ft, 40ft or 40ft high-cube — and it is sealed at origin with only your cargo inside. LCL means your shipment shares a container with other importers' freight, and is consolidated at origin and deconsolidated at destination. FCL is faster and lower risk; LCL is cheaper for small volumes.
Usually somewhere around 12 to 15 cubic metres, but it depends on the lane and the season. LCL is charged per cubic metre or per 1,000 kg, whichever is greater, and destination charges add up. We will run both numbers for you before you book.
Two to three weeks before cargo ready date is comfortable in normal conditions. In peak season — roughly August to October for transpacific — give us four weeks if you can. We can move faster than that, but space and rates get less predictable.
Yes. We are set up for both CBSA and US Customs entry, so the same file that covers your ocean freight also covers the clearance. That matters because most delays happen at the seam between forwarder and broker.
You hear it from us as soon as we see it, along with what it does to your delivery date and what the options are. We will not sit on bad news and hope the schedule recovers.
Get started
Tell us the lane.
We'll price it today.
Origin, destination, commodity and volume is all we need. A coordinator replies with an all-in rate inside one business day — with their name and direct line on it.
Phone
Offices
Toronto, ON · Canada
Batavia, IL · United States
Batavia, IL · United States