Volumetric weight & CBM: how shipping from China and Dubai to Uganda is priced
If your box from Guangzhou or Dubai is light but bulky, the carrier won't bill you by the scale. They'll bill by the space it takes up. Here's exactly how that number is calculated for both air and sea freight, with a free calculator at the bottom of the page.
Air freight: the volumetric weight formula
Every airline uses a dimensional-weight divisor. For commercial cargo flying into Entebbe from China and Dubai, that divisor is 6000:
Volumetric weight (kg) = (L × W × H in cm) ÷ 6000 Chargeable weight = max(actual weight, volumetric weight)
Worked example. A carton of phone cases measures 60 × 40 × 50 cm and weighs 7 kg on the scale. Volumetric weight is (60 × 40 × 50) ÷ 6000 = 20 kg. The chargeable weight is 20 kg, not 7 kg — the box is paying for the space it occupies in the hold.
Sea freight: CBM (cubic meters)
Ocean carriers don't use a divisor — they bill by the volume your cargo occupies in the container. The unit is CBM (cubic meters):
CBM = L (m) × W (m) × H (m)
A 60 × 40 × 50 cm carton is 0.60 × 0.40 × 0.50 = 0.12 CBM. Ten of them ship as 1.2 CBM. For loose-cargo (LCL) shipments from China and Dubai to Uganda, you're typically billed at a per-CBM rate with a 1 CBM minimum.
Which one will I be charged on?
- Air freight: the higher of actual weight and volumetric weight (kg).
- Sea LCL: the higher of CBM and weight-equivalent (1 CBM ≈ 1000 kg for most ocean rates).
- Sea FCL: a flat rate per container (20ft/40ft) regardless of how full it is.