How to split container costs across products
A $2,400 freight bill and four different products — divide it wrong and you'll kill a profitable SKU and keep a losing one. Here's the method forwarders use.
Six methods, one click each: the platform re-allocates instantly when you switch — no formula surgery.
Save it as a real shipment →The five methods — and when each is right
$2,400 of ocean freight across four products, 28.4 m³ total
Costs follow container space, exactly how the carrier priced it. Right for almost every sea shipment with mixed product sizes.
Airlines bill the higher of actual and volumetric weight, so your allocation should too. Using actual weight alone under-costs bulky-light products.
Units works when products are near-identical in size; value suits insurance-like costs where exposure follows price. Both mislead for freight on mixed cargo.
Duty isn't a shared cost — each product generates its own duty from its own HS rate. Splitting a duty total across SKUs double-distorts everything.
The spreadsheet default. On this shipment it under-costs the bulkiest SKU by $51 — enough to make a loss-making product look marginally profitable.
Common questions
Which method do forwarders actually bill by?expand_more
Sea: per cubic metre (or flat per container, which volume allocation mirrors). Air: chargeable weight. Your allocation should copy your invoice's logic.
Do I have to redo it when costs change?expand_more
No — allocation re-runs automatically whenever a cost is added or edited, and switching methods is one click with every per-unit figure re-flowing instantly.
What about a mixed shipment (air + sea)?expand_more
Allocate each cost by its own method — the sea freight by volume, the air top-up by chargeable weight. Costs carry their own basis; they don't share one.
Allocate like a forwarder, not a spreadsheet.
A freight bill split the wrong way makes your best product subsidise your worst — and you'll never see it happen in a flat-percentage spreadsheet.