A practical rule that quietly saves importers money, especially on LCL (groupage / less-than-container): book at least FOB with your supplier, or go all the way to DDP (delivered to your door). Buying CFR/CIF "delivered to Rotterdam" looks clean and convenient, but it's where your landed cost often inflates. Nexport Logistics quotes you FOB or DDP and keeps the charges transparent in the Nexportal portal. It's the practical side of Incoterms.
Why FOB is the sensible default
Under FOB, the factory is responsible for getting the goods to the port, using its own local-currency carrier, and handing them to us. From that point we control the sea freight and the local charges here in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe. You see the real cost of each leg, in advance. Nothing hides behind a single "all-in to your city" number.
The CFR/CIF "to Rotterdam" trap (LCL)
When you let the supplier deliver CFR or CIF to Rotterdam, the factory arranges everything to the port. Fine in theory. But many factories have a standing deal with an origin forwarder (in China, India, etc.) who can move the box remarkably cheaply, sometimes at zero or even with a kickback to the factory. That margin has to come back somewhere, and it comes back at destination.
So the origin agent instructs the consolidator in the Netherlands to collect a set of destination local charges from you on arrival, sized to make the consolidation container profitable for them. The supplier quoted you a tidy "price per product delivered to Rotterdam", but "to Rotterdam" is the catch: you still owe local charges here, and on a prepaid LCL shipment those can be a multiple of what they'd be on a collect (FOB) booking. The genuine local cost on a collect booking can be a small fraction of the padded prepaid bill.
Where it doesn't apply: FCL
This destination-charge padding is an LCL phenomenon; it lives in the shared consolidation box. With FCL (a full container) it barely plays: the charges are far more transparent and it's your own box. FOB is still smart on FCL too, because the factory can hire a transport company in local currency to get it to the port.
The takeaway
- LCL → book FOB (you/we control freight plus transparent local charges), or DDP (one clean door-to-door price you can check).
- Anything in between (CFR/CIF to port) on LCL is opaque and tends to inflate your transport cost.
- FCL → the trap doesn't apply, but FOB still keeps origin transport in local currency and control on our side.
This is really a freight-terms (prepaid vs collect) question — see Incoterms for how each Incoterm assigns cost and risk.
How Nexport Logistics handles it
As a freight forwarder under the FENEX conditions, we control the sea freight and the Dutch/EU local charges ourselves. We'll quote you FOB (we run the main freight and destination charges transparently) or DDP (one checkable door price), flag a CFR/CIF-to-port LCL offer when we see one, and show every charge in the Nexportal portal, so your landed cost holds no surprises. Importing LCL from China or elsewhere? Email info@nexportlogistics.nl for a collect quote.
Related: Incoterms · Sea Freight · Customs Value · Importing Into The Netherlands