When calculating air freight rates, airlines typically look at two factors:\n
1. Actual weight of cargo.\n
2. Volumetric weight (dimensional weight). A shipment’s dimensional weight is calculated by dividing its volume (length × width × height) by a “dimensional factor” (dim factor).\n
What is chargeable weight?\n
The greater of the actual weight and volumetric/dimensional weight becomes the shipment’s chargeable weight (billable weight), which ultimately determines the air freight rates. The industry imposes this method to avoid shipping very light loads that take up much more space than their share of weight load for profitability reasons.\n
\nWhen using Alibaba.com Air Freight, our quote tool will calculate rates based on chargeable weight for you so make sure you are entering the gross weight by carton/pallet weight by carton/box/pallet or gross weight by total shipment. Quick note: for air freight quotes, we recommend entering the gross weight by crates/pallets/boxes.\n