Streamlined, Secure, and Cost-Effective Freight Solutions
Full Container Load (FCL) Ocean Freight

Simplify your logistics flow and uncover new efficiencies with door-to-door FCL ocean freight solutions from Approved Freight Forwarders. We’ll help you streamline your ocean freight so you can move your containers quickly and cost-effectively anywhere in the world.

 

With Approved, you’ll experience a whole new level of ease: one freight bill, one point of contact who will manage your shipment from pick up to delivery, and one easy web-based portal for complete visibility and easy traceability throughout.

FCL Solutions for All Types of Freight

Experience the difference that a true logistics partner can deliver. Approved offers complete, door-to-door solutions for FCL ocean freight, tailored to meet your business needs.


Leveraging our decades of experience, we’ve developed a proven process for FCL freight solutions to save you time and money:

  • It starts with a holistic look at your logistics flow, which allows us to uncover potential efficiencies and streamline your freight.
  • Next, we’ll arrange for pick up at the most convenient location, anywhere in the world, on the schedule that works for you.
  • If you need assistance in wrapping or loading goods, our experts will handle it all with care.
  • We’ll move your container to the port, where it’s loaded for its ocean voyage. You’ll have access to real-time tracking to monitor your shipment the whole way.
  • Once the container is offloaded at the destination port, we’ll pick it up and arrange for delivery—again, on the schedule that minimizes disruption to your operations.
  • No need to deal with multiple vendors. Approved will deliver an all-in-one FCL solution—and we’ll make it easy for you.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We specialize in full-container load ocean freight shipments to and from:

Hawaii

Guam

Puerto Rico

Mainland USA

If you don’t have enough to fill a container, we also arrange LCL/ocean freight consolidations.

FCL Ocean Freight: Containers of All Sizes & Freight of All Types

No matter where in the world you’re shipping to—or what type of cargo you’re sending—our experts will create an efficient, cost-effective solution for you. No shipment is too challenging, too big, too heavy, or too unusual for us. We handle all types of containers for ocean freight, including:

20-ft. Containers
Payload: 55,127 lbs.

Tare: 4,850 lbs.
Capacity: 1,166 cu. ft
Interior Dimensions:

  • L: 19′ 4 ¼”
  • W: 7′ 89/16“
  • H: 7′ 10 7/32“
40-ft. Containers
Payload: 61,200 lbs.

Tare: 8,100 lbs.
Capacity: 2,390 cu. ft.
Interior Dimensions:

  • L: 39′ 5 3/8“
  • W: 7′ 8 ⅝”
  • H: 7′ 10 3/16“
40-ft. High Cube Containers
Payload: 62,975 lbs.

Tare: 8,550 lbs.
Capacity: 2,700 cu. ft.
Interior Dimensions:

  • L: 39′ 5 11/16“
  • W: 7′ 8 9/16“
  • H: 8′ 10 7/32“
45-ft. High Cube Containers
Payload: 61,431 lbs.

Tare: 10,650 lbs.
Capacity: 3,040 cu. ft.|
Interior Dimensions:

  • L: 44′ 5 11/16“
  • W: 7′ 8 9/16“
  • H: 8′ 10 7/32“
Specialized Equipment

Flat-rack and open top containers also available for moving bulky, heavy, and oversized loads, including machinery and vehicles

Man loading freight with a pallet lift
Put our experience (and assets) to work for you

With Approved, you’re not just getting an experienced freight forwarder who can create an efficient ocean freight logistics solution. You’re also getting an asset-based partner who will make it all happen with the highest attention to detail.

  • A One-Stop Shop for Your FCL Needs: Our owned terminals, fleets, and warehouses in Hawaii, Guam, and Los Angeles mean that we can create and deliver door-to-door ocean freight solutions with maximum efficiency while minimizing costs. Plus, by leveraging strategic partnerships in Puerto Rico, internationally and in other locations on the mainland U.S., we can create seamless solutions that bring new levels of simplicity to your supply chain.
  • Frequent Sail Dates for Optimal Logistics Flow: We keep your container moving with access to twice-weekly sails direct to all four major Hawaiian Islands, plus weekly sails to Guam and multiple sail dates each week to Puerto Rico.
  • Customized Solutions for Your Business Needs:
    Inventory management and distribution, transloading, final mile/white glove delivery, even efficiency analysis—we offer a complete suite of logistics services, tailored to fit your business.
  • Accountability & Ownership, from Start to Finish: When you use multiple providers to move your container, it’s easy to slip between the cracks. However, from the moment we take possession of your container, you can expect continuous accountability, ownership, and tracking, so you’ll always know exactly where your container is.
  • Careful Handling, Every Step of the Way: We’re proud to have one of the industry’s lowest damage and claim rates. When you trust your cargo to us, you can do so with the confidence that it will arrive in perfect condition—and on time.
Read More

For more than 20 years, we’ve worked with almost every vertical market to create full-container load ocean freight solutions that keep your business well-stocked at the most affordable rates available. We specialize in creating freight solutions for the following industries:

Retail


Food & Beverage

Construction

Hospitality

Energy


Automotive

group of three managers working in the conference room
Part of a worldwide network of shipping companies

Approved is part of The DeWitt Companies and offers additional benefits in both cost-savings and control via our sister companies in Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, and worldwide. We offer drayage, warehousing, and a host of other services at most locations, and we always create a shipping plan customized to your exact needs.

No matter where you’re doing business now, or where you’ll be doing business next, Approved FCL and LCL freight services team will help ensure your cargo arrives on time and intact.

Get a free quote on FCL freight shipping.

Ready to get started?

Get my free quote

FAQ About Full Container Load Freight

FCL stands for full container load. A full container load shipment travels in its own, dedicated container via ocean freight or intermodal freight.

FTL stands for full truckload. Like full container load (FCL) shipments, FTL shipments do not share space with other cargo. Instead, FTL shipments travel in their own dedicated trailer. However, since FTL shipments travel over the road, the space is called a truckload, rather than a container.

With an FCL shipment, no one else’s cargo is loaded into your container. You’re free to use the whole container as you wish.  

  • Main Advantage: You can use the whole container.
  • Main Disadvantage: You have to pay for an entire container, even if your shipment doesn’t fill that container.

Discover more about the pros and cons of FCL shipping.

In LCL shipping, your cargo is loaded into a container along with other shipments.

  • Main Advantage: LCL shipments can be less expensive, since you only pay for the space you need.
  • Main Disadvantage: LCL shipments can take longer, since the forwarder may need to wait for everyone’s shipments to arrive before sending the container.

Discover more about the pros and cons of LCL shipping.

On an absolute basis, LCL can be cheaper, since you’re only paying for the space you’re taking up. So, if you’re sending a single pallet of goods, it will be cheaper to send them LCL rather than sending them FCL in a dedicated container all on their own.

However, there is a tipping point where choosing an FCL solution makes more financial sense.

The best way to know is to reach out to one of our ocean freight experts. We’ll examine the size, weight, and density of your cargo and help you determine the best path for shipping it.

The cost to ship a full container depends on a few factors, including:

  • Exactly what you’re shipping, including the weight, the measurements, and the freight class of your cargo
  • The origin point: where the container will start, which may be a warehouse, a port, or another location
  • The destination: where you want the container delivered

 

With all that information in hand, our experts will put together a quote for your FCL shipment. Then you’ll know exactly how much your shipment will cost.

A container freight station (CFS) is a location where freight can be consolidated (brought together with the intention of shipping it to the same destination) or deconsolidated (separated out so it can move to its next or final destination).

Every full container load will have its own individual weight. That said, the maximum payload for most 20-ft. containers is around 55,127 lbs. (27.6 tons). For most 40-ft. containers, the payload capacity is around 61,200 lbs. (30.6 tons).

With Approved, it all starts by requesting a free quote. One of our ocean freight experts will get in touch to find out the origin and destination of your cargo, as well as what you’re shipping.

If this shipment is one of many, we’ll ask a few more questions to see if we can create some new efficiencies in your logistics flow.

Then, we’ll send you a quote with your ocean freight options. Once you accept, we’ll schedule the pick up to get your container moving.

Cargo ships take 5-9 days to reach Hawaii once they leave California. For island-specific transit times, check out our Hawaii freight schedules.

 

Absolutely! We ship containers to Hawaii twice a week direct to Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Hilo and Kona on the Big Island.

 

What kind of transit times do you offer for FCL ocean freight from California to Guam?

 

We offer weekly sails to Guam. Transit time from the Port of Long Beach to the port in Guam is approximately two weeks.

 

Once it arrives, your cargo will need to be unloaded from the ship. We’ll pick it up and move it to our terminal, then get it scheduled for delivery. Read more about our Guam freight services.

Freight leaves for Puerto Rico from several hubs in the U.S.—Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami, and Jacksonville.

Average Transit Times to Puerto Rico

Ocean freight from Los Angeles to Puerto Rico takes ~18 days
Ocean freight from Chicago to Puerto Rico takes ~10 days
Ocean freight from New York to Puerto Rico takes ~7 days
Ocean freight from Miami to Puerto Rico takes ~4 days
Ocean freight from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico takes ~3 days

 

Read more about our Puerto Rico freight services.