size-a-shipment

name

size-a-shipment

description

Main entry point for freight volume questions. Takes a product's dimensions and an order quantity and produces a shipment brief - pallet quantity, container load, how many containers, cost per unit if a rate is known - by orchestrating the other skills in this plugin. Use when someone describes a product they are shipping or importing and wants to know how it packs and what it costs, rather than asking one narrow question.

Size a shipment

Turns "we're importing 5,000 of these, what does that look like?" into a brief that a forwarder or a supplier can be challenged with.

What to establish first

Ask for what is missing before computing, but do not interrogate — two or three questions, then compute and state the assumptions you made for the rest.

1. External dimensions and gross weight of the shipping carton. External, not the product's own size and not the internal cavity. If they only have the product, run packing-options first: the carton is an output, not an input. If they have a listing or a URL rather than figures, start with listing-dimensions — it retrieves the numbers, and more importantly checks them before anything is computed on them.
2. Order quantity. Or the range they are considering.
3. Where it ships from and to, roughly — it sets which pallet standard is realistic. A Chinese supplier builds to 1200 x 1000 (GB/T 2934) unless told otherwise; European suppliers to EUR-1 1200 x 800; North American to GMA 48 x 40 in.
4. Does it nest? Empty crates, buckets, trays and tubs stack into themselves and the load figure changes by a factor of three or more.
5. Any rate they already hold, and on what basis — per container, per m3, per kg.

Fair defaults when they do not know: 1800 mm pallet build, product stays upright, no nesting, 50 mm loading clearance, 5% derate on loose loads. State them.

Sequence

S=${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/freight.py

# 0. If the figures came off a listing, check them before computing on them
python3 $S verify --package 40x30x25 --dim-units cm --per-carton 12 \
  --unit 180x130x120 --unit-dim-units mm --gross-weight 6.5

# 1. Which pallet standard suits this carton at all
python3 $S pallet --dims 400x300x250 --weight 6.5

# 2. What each container holds, palletised and loose, and how many the order needs
python3 $S container --dims 400x300x250 --weight 6.5 \
  --container 20gp,40hc --pallet cn --quantity 5000

# 3. Only if the carton is still open: is there a better one
python3 $S options --dims 190x140x120 --weight 1.5 --pallet cn --container 40hc

# 4. Money, once a rate exists
python3 $S cost --dims 400x300x250 --weight 6.5 --container 40hc --units 5000 \
  --per-container 3400 --per-cbm 88 --min-cbm 2 --unit-price 4.20 --duty-pct 12

Do not do this arithmetic yourself and do not round the tool's output into something friendlier. The value of the brief is that every number in it is reproducible from a command.

The brief

Write it in this order, short:

1. The load. Units per pallet, units per container by both methods, and the pallet standard assumed.
2. The order. How many containers, how full the last one is, and whether FCL or LCL is the right shape.
3. The binding constraint. Volume or payload — and if payload binds, say the container ships part empty and more volume buys nothing.
4. Money, if a rate was given: freight per unit, landed per unit, freight as a share of goods value.
5. The one thing worth changing. Usually a carton dimension, a pallet standard, loose instead of palletised, or a quantity that moves to the next price break. One recommendation, with the figure that supports it.
6. What to put in the RFQ. Ask the supplier to confirm units per 20 ft / 40 ft HC and whether the load is loose or palletised, rather than asking what pallet they use. If it is palletised on wood, ISPM 15 heat treatment with the IPPC mark is not optional for most destinations, and the certificate should come with the documents.

Sanity checks before you present it

• Cross-check against the supplier's own figure if there is one. A gap wider than the derate means someone's external dimensions are wrong.
• A pallet built over about 2250 mm gross will not pass a standard container door, whatever the internal height says. The tool flags it; do not bury the flag.
• Rates are the user's, never yours. This plugin has no rate data and no network access, and a plausible-sounding invented freight rate is the one error here that costs real money.