Determining Cubic Metres or CBM is the first step you should take in determining how to ship

your cargo. You don't want to be shipping FCL cargo as FCL Groupage cargo nor do you want
to be shipping FCL Groupage Cargo as FCL, unless obviously you have reached or exceeded the
break-even point of your cargo which I teach in the section FCL vs FCL Groupage.

The CBM of a consignment is always calculated

LxWxH

e.g. 3,20 x 2,45 x 1,56

= 12,23CBM

For Seafreight shipments, the idea is to calculate CBM in metres. If you have 320cm's
then convert it to 3,2metres before starting the calculation.
If you have 45cm's then your formula will have 0,45metres.

A 20ft General Purpose or dry container will pack a maximum of 33,2CBM whilst a 40ft
General Purpose or dry container will pack 67,7CBM.

A 40ft High Cube which will allow you more space to pack and will pack a maximum of
76,3CBM.
All of the above are subject to your line of commodity and how it is packed.

40ft General Purpose containers and High Cube containers are only to be used for larger volume
cargo and not larger weight cargo. In my article on cargo weights and road weight limitations, I
discuss this point further.

Also to bear in mind is the length of your cargo, you can't pack 13 metre steel pipes in a 40ft
General Purpose container as it is only 12,036metres in lenght. The proper equipment will be
required in this case.

For airfreight shipments, the method that the airline industry uses is the
Volume / Weight.

If you have 5 boxes that identical in size that are 23cmx34cmx56cm (LxBxH)
Presume that the actual weight of each of the 5 boxes is 10kgs.

What you will have to do first is separate the Volumetric from the Actual Weight.

Volumetric Weight Actual Weight

(23x34x56) div 6000 10kgs per box
= 43792 div 6000
= 7,30kgs per box

For 5 boxes : 7,30 x 5 For 5 boxes : 10 x 5

=36,5kgs =50kgs

The true weight needed to be declared to the airline here will be the actual weight
of the boxes of 50kgs.

Note: Airfreight is calculated in cm's not in metres as in seafreight.

Volumetric weight must be calculated by dividing by a denominator of 6000 in your formula

when calculating cubic centimetres (cm) or dividing by 166 when calculating cubic inches (ins)

Buttons
   
Specifications
Ligne
Ligne is a French word meaning line. It was in use prior to the French adaptation of the
metric system in the late 1700s, and is still used by French and Swiss wristwatch
makers to measure the size of a watch movement. (For example, Girard-Perregaux will
introduced a new 12 ligne chronograph movement.) In this usage there are 12 ligne to
one French inch (pouce). The standardized conversion for a ligne is 2.2558291 mm (1
mm = 0.443296 ligne), and it is abbreviated with the letter L.

In the eighteenth century the term ligne came into use among German button makers,
where is was used to measure the diameter of buttons. The consensus definition was that
a ligne was the measurement of a round wick, folded flat. In this sense it measures
1/40th of an inch.

Ligne : A button's ligne, refers to a button's size. The word ligneis a French word that became
the standard reference used by German button manufacturers in the early eighteenth century.
Ligne is the internationally recognized standard. Consensus at the time was that a "ligne"
measured the inside diameter of a "round wick folded flat." One inch is equal to 40 English
ligne, 11 French ligne,and 25.5 mm.
LINGE               =       MILLIMETERS         =              INCHES  
14 9.2 .362
16 10.5 .413
18 11.6 .457
20 12.5 .492
21 13.5 .531
22 14.2 .559
23 14.8 .583
24 15.0 .590
27 16.8 .661
28 17.8 .701
 30 19.0 .748
32 20.5 .807
34 21.5 .846
36 22.9 .902
40 25.5 1.00

Scale of Button Sizes

Buttons are measured by the English standard
of 40 lignes
per inch. Therefore, a 30 ligne button is 3/4"
diameter, a 45 ligne button is 1-1/8" diameter,
and so on. The diagram shows the size of a
button shell before covering.

Buttons Specifications
Material Used: ABS plated, Alloy Metal, Aluminum, Brass, Cast, Fabric Covered, Buffalo
Horn, Cow Horn, Ox Horn, Real Horn, Animal Bone, Coconut Shell, Wood, Imitation Pearl
Polyester, Imitation Shell Polyester, Melamine, Metals, Nylon, Natural Pearl, Polyester
Chalk, Polymat Polyester, Rubber, Natural Shell, Urea, and Natural Wood.
Application: General-Women's, Men's and Children's Wear, Toys, and Consumer
Goods.
Sizes Available (English Ligne-approx. mm)
12 Ligne-6 mm 20 Ligne-13 mm 40 Ligne-25.5 mm
13 Ligne-7 mm 21 Ligne-13.5 mm 44 Ligne-28 mm
14 Ligne-8 mm 24 Ligne-16 mm 45 Ligne-29 mm
15 Ligne-9 mm 28 Ligne-18 mm 48 Ligne-30.5 mm
16 Ligne-9.5 mm 30 Ligne-19 mm 50 Ligne-32 mm
17 Ligne-10.5 mm 32 Ligne-20 mm 60 Ligne-38 mm
18 Ligne-11 mm 34 Ligne-21 mm 64 Ligne-40.5 mm
19 Ligne-12.5 mm 36 Ligne-22 mm 65 Ligne-41 mm

Public Function NumberToWords(OrigNum As Double) As String

    'This function converts numbers to words. For example 101 -> One hundred and one
    'It uses standard English notation and will only accept positive long numbers
    Dim billionpart As Long
    Dim millionpart As Long
    Dim decimalpart As Double
    Dim tmpstr As String
    Dim intpart As Long
    tmpstr = Format$(OrigNum, "0.00")
    tmpstr = Right(tmpstr, Len(tmpstr) - InStr(1, tmpstr, "."))
    decimalpart = CLng(tmpstr)
    intpart = CLng(OrigNum - CDbl("0." & tmpstr))
    'Now int part is correct and decimal
    billionpart = Int(intpart / 1000000000)
    millionpart = intpart Mod 1000000000
    NumberToWords = HundredsToWords(billionpart) & IIf(billionpart <> 0, " billion", "")
    If millionpart > 99 Then
        NumberToWords = NumberToWords & IIf(millionpart <> 0 And billionpart <> 0, "
", "") & millionstowords(millionpart)
    Else
        NumberToWords = NumberToWords & IIf(millionpart <> 0 And billionpart <> 0, "
and ", "") & millionstowords(millionpart)
    End If
    'Now do decimal part bit
    NumberToWords = NumberToWords & " And " & CStr(decimalpart) & "/" & "100"
End Function