Chargeable weight & volumetric weight calculator
Free, no sign-up. Enter your pallet or carton dimensions and gross weight, pick air, ocean LCL or road, and see the chargeable figure the carrier will bill — plus what the rounding rules add on top. Copy the link to send the same breakdown to your forwarder.
Air freight bills on the greater of gross weight and volumetric weight. At the IATA factor of 6000, one cubic metre is treated as 167 kg, so anything lighter than 167 kg per cbm pays on volume.
Pieces
Chargeable weight breakdown
- Total pieces
- 4
- Gross weight
- 368 kg
- Volume
- 4.656 cbm
- Volumetric weight (÷ 6000)
- 776.05 kg
- Density
- 79.03 kg / cbm
- Break-even density
- 166.67 kg / cbm
Charged on volume
788.5 chargeable kg
Exact figure 776.05 — freight $2,680.90
Rounding adds $42.33 (1.6%)
Every dimension is measured to the outermost point and rounded up to the next centimetre, then the chargeable kilo is rounded up to the next half kilo. Legitimate on a tariff that says so — an overcharge when it does not, and it repeats on every shipment.
Indicative planning figures. Your air waybill or LCL tariff governs the actual dim factor, minimum charge and rounding rule.
The three rules that decide the bill
Air freight. Volumetric weight is L × W × H in centimetres divided by the dim factor. At the IATA factor of 6000 a cubic metre counts as 167 kg, so anything below 167 kg per cbm pays on volume. Express couriers use 5000 — 200 kg per cbm — which is twenty percent more on the same light cargo, and it is a quote term, not a law.
Ocean LCL. Groupage bills weight-or-measure: the greater of cubic metres and metric tonnes, one revenue ton per cbm. The break-even is 1,000 kg per cbm, so almost all LCL pays on volume. Watch the whole-ton rounding and the one-ton minimum on small consignments.
Rounding. Dimensions are measured to the outermost point of the load, including pallet overhang and shrink wrap, and each one is rounded up. The final figure is rounded again. On a repeating lane that quiet uplift is worth more than most disputed accessorials — which is exactly the pattern our freight invoice audit looks for.
Related: the accessorial decoder for what lands after delivery, the landed cost calculator to fold this freight figure into duty and total cost, and the demurrage calculator for the container clocks. You can also embed this calculator on your own site for free.
Indicative planning figures only. Your air waybill, tariff or service contract governs the dim factor, minimum charge and rounding convention that actually applies.