Dense freight, honest timelines.
Casters are heavy for their size, which shapes everything about their shipping economics. This page covers how CASTOVELLA orders move — FCL, LCL, packing — and how lead times are quoted.
Quotation basis
Quotations are built FOB Ningbo by default — Ningbo is our home port and one of the world's largest container ports, with direct services to every major US gateway. Other bases (CFR/CIF to your port, or consolidation with other cargo) are quoted on request. Note for US buyers: your landed cost includes the import duty stack — read the tariff guide before comparing any two suppliers' FOB numbers.
FCL vs LCL for casters
| FCL (full container) | LCL (consolidated) | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Programme orders and mixed-line range building | Trial orders, samples-in-bulk, single-line top-ups |
| Economics | Lowest per-unit freight; casters' density means weight limits bind before cube on most lines | Higher per-unit freight, no container commitment |
| Notes | Mixed lines in one container are the normal importer pattern | Pneumatic wheels are the exception to every density rule — they ship air |
Freight rates: why we quote them per order
Ocean freight on China–US lanes is volatile — spot indices have swung by multiples within a year — so this page publishes no freight figures. A freight number printed on a website is a photograph of a market that has already moved. Your quotation carries the freight basis current at its validity window, and the validity window is stated with it.
Lead time: how we state it
- Sample lead time and bulk lead time are quoted separately — they are different production events.
- Bulk lead time runs from specification approval (and deposit, per the order terms) to readiness for loading, and is stated in the quotation for your order's actual quantity and lines.
- First orders on a line include sample verification time; reorders against a locked specification do not repeat it. Programmes feel faster from the second order onward because the specification work is already done.
Packing
Export packing protects treads and threads: unit packaging per the order specification, cartons specified for the product's weight class (caster cartons are heavy — carton specification is a safety item, not a branding one), and palletisation where the order calls for it. Private label packaging runs under the OEM programme specification.
Get the landed picture, not just the FOB line.
The quotation states specification, MOQ, lead time and expected tariff heading — the four numbers a landed-cost decision actually needs.