What Is Groupage in Logistics?

How Does Groupage Freight Work?

A groupage shipment leaves the shipper's premises and travels to a consolidation depot, where the carrier combines it with consignments from other shippers heading to the same destination region before loading everything onto one vehicle.

• The consolidation depot is the first handling point. The carrier collects consignments from multiple origins and assembles them by destination lane. Once enough freight has been gathered for a given lane, the combined load departs on a single vehicle. At the destination, a deconsolidation hub receives the vehicle, splits the load, and routes each consignment to its final delivery address through local distribution.
• Every groupage consignment passes through at least two additional handling points that a full truckload movement avoids — the origin consolidation depot and the destination deconsolidation hub. Each handling point adds time and a physical contact with the cargo. FTL collects from one address and delivers to one address with no intermediate depot stops between them.

How Is Groupage Priced?

Groupage in European road freight is priced by the loading metre — abbreviated as LDM. One LDM equals one linear metre of trailer floor space across the standard European trailer width of 2.4 metres. A shipper using 3 LDM pays for a floor area of 3 metres × 2.4 metres within the vehicle.

A standard European trailer holds 13.6 LDM of usable floor space. Each shipper in a groupage load pays for the LDM their consignment occupies, and the carrier fills the remaining floor space with other shippers' freight before the vehicle departs.

The LDM meter calculation determines which freight service fits a given consignment. Below 1 LDM, pallet delivery networks handle the consignment more cost-effectively than road freight consolidation. Between 1 and 13 LDM, groupage is the standard method. Above 13 LDM, the shipper occupies most of the trailer and a full truckload rate becomes more economical per unit than paying for groupage space across nearly the full floor.

How Does Groupage Transit Time Compare to FTL?

A groupage shipment takes longer than a full truckload on the same lane — typically 1 to 3 business days longer — because consolidation at the origin depot and deconsolidation at the destination hub add handling time that a point-to-point FTL movement does not carry.

FTL collects from one address and travels directly to the delivery address without stopping at intermediate depots. Groupage cannot replicate that directness — the carrier assembles the load from multiple sources before departure and distributes it to multiple addresses after arrival. Both the assembly and the distribution add transit time that a single-shipper direct movement avoids.

Pickup and delivery windows in groupage are approximate rather than precise. The carrier builds collection routes across multiple shippers before a vehicle departs, which prevents the exact time-of-day commitments FTL allows. A shipper requiring a guaranteed delivery window — specific hour, specific date — cannot depend on groupage to meet that requirement.

What Documents Does a Groupage Shipment Require?

• A CMR consignment note covers the full vehicle on every European road freight groupage movement. Each individual consignment within the grouped load has its own entry on the CMR — recording the shipper, receiver, goods description, weight, and LDM for every consignment on board. A commercial invoice and packing list accompany each consignment separately.
• For groupage shipments from Belgium crossing into the United Kingdom after Brexit, every individual consignment within the grouped load requires its own customs entry. A vehicle carrying twelve consignments to the UK requires twelve separate customs declarations — one per shipper, not one per vehicle. Each declaration needs a commercial invoice, packing list, commodity codes under the UK Global Tariff, and valid EORI numbers for both the exporting business and the UK importer.
• Shippers who assume groupage means one consolidated customs entry for the whole vehicle pay that assumption's cost at the border — delayed clearance on their consignment while the rest of the load continues to its delivery addresses.

What Is the Difference Between Groupage, LTL, and FTL?

• Groupage is the physical consolidation process — what the carrier does with the loads. LTL (Less Than Truckload) is the billing model applied when a shipper uses less than a full vehicle. In European road freight practice, both terms appear interchangeably, but they describe different aspects of the same service: groupage is the operation and LTL is the pricing structure applied to it.
• FTL — Full Truckload — removes consolidation entirely. One shipper books the full vehicle, one collection address, one delivery address, no depot handling between them. FTL is faster, timing is precise, and cargo is not touched at intermediate transhipment points. Shippers with volumes above 13 LDM per movement reach the point where a full truckload rate competes directly with the per-LDM groupage cost — at that volume, both options must be priced before the booking is placed.
• The partial truck load occupies the space between a small groupage consignment and a full trailer. A PTL shipment moves as a dedicated part-load on a vehicle rather than being consolidated through a groupage depot network, which carries faster transit and more precise timing than groupage at a rate between groupage and FTL. Direct shipping removes depot consolidation entirely — one vehicle, one origin, one destination — and represents the fastest road freight option for time-critical single-shipper loads where depot handling is not acceptable.

When Does Groupage Make Sense for a Shipper?

Groupage is the correct freight method when a consignment occupies between 1 and 13 LDM of trailer floor space and the shipper accepts a transit time 1 to 3 business days longer than a direct FTL movement on the same lane. The cargo must be palletised or crated — unit-loaded freight handles consolidation depot operations correctly; loose or unpackaged goods do not.

Three conditions make groupage the wrong choice. The consignment requires a precise delivery window — groupage time commitments are approximate and cannot be guaranteed to the hour. The cargo is fragile or sensitive to multiple handling contacts — each depot touch is an additional risk point. The volume exceeds 13 LDM — at that size, a full truckload rate is worth pricing before the groupage booking is confirmed.

How Does Go Trans Arrange Groupage Freight?

Go Trans arranges groupage freight across Europe through carrier partners DSV and DHL Freight, both of which operate established European groupage networks with consolidation depots across Belgium, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Belgium sits at the centre of the European road freight consolidation network — Antwerp and Brussels rank among the largest groupage hubs on the continent — and Go Trans arranges collections from Belgian origins into that network on every working day.

Shippers provide consignment details at the quote stage: dimensions, weight, LDM, collection address, and delivery destination. Go Trans matches the consignment to the correct carrier and service tier and confirms the collection slot before the booking is placed.