Shipping Methods & Freight Options

One principle drives the loading stage, and it starts from a default: most of what SCS builds is CSC-plated and ships through the standard container system. Standard 20 and 40ft units, including dangerous goods containers, reefers and ISO-based site offices and accommodation, sit inside the ISO envelope and carry a CSC plate. So do our modular building systems, which are delivered as individual CSC-plated modules that clip together on site rather than shipped as one oversized piece.

Only a minority of genuinely oversized items, those that cannot be built or split to the ISO envelope, ship as project cargo. We pick the method at the packing-and-loading stage against the unit's dimensions, the destination and the route. A forwarder quotes space on whatever box it is handed; we engineer the unit for the method, in our own factory.

Most of what we ship fits the ISO envelope and moves through the standard container system, the cheapest and fastest way to move a unit because it uses ordinary container slots. These units carry a CSC plate, so they move as freight containers through CSC-compliant channels. The dimensions and ratings behind this sit in the ISO 668 and ISO 1496-1 container standards, which is why a standard shipping container, an ISO-based fit-out and a modular building module all share the same loading method.

FCL, full container load. FCL is the direct vessel load for any 20 or 40ft CSC-plated unit, and it suits high-volume runs. The unit is loaded, stacked and secured by the carrier under the normal container system. Every product we build on an ISO base ships this way, from standard boxes to DG units, reefers and modular building modules.

Open-top, crane-loaded through the roof. Open-top handles cargo that stays within the ISO footprint but exceeds internal height. The unit is crane-loaded through the roof and closed with a tarpaulin, and because it keeps the ISO footprint it stays CSC-platable. It suits over-height fit-outs and tall equipment that still fit the container plan.

Modular building systems. Large modular buildings are engineered as individual modules that ship CSC-plated as standard units and bolt together on site. Designing the structure as ISO-platable modules keeps it inside the standard container system, so a multi-module building ships and clears customs as ordinary freight rather than oversized project cargo, which is faster, cheaper and lower-risk than shipping one large assembled piece.

A minority of items genuinely exceed the ISO envelope and cannot be split into ISO-platable modules. These ship as project cargo on the method that matches their size, the route and the number of units, built with the lifting and securing points that make the method work. This is the exception, not the rule, and we engineer it in from the drawing stage so the move is safe and repeatable.

Flat rack. Flat rack carries genuinely over-width or over-height units that cannot travel as an ISO unit, secured with engineered lashing against built-in tie-down points, and is accepted at most major global ports. Where flat racks carry them, these units are built to the ISO 1496-5 platform-container standard.

Breakbulk. Breakbulk is for one-piece assemblies that exceed flat-rack limits. They are lifted into the vessel hold, so there is no width or height ceiling. It suits genuinely large single structures that cannot be modularised into ISO units.

Bulk vessel. Bulk vessel is a whole-vessel load for large rollouts of 100 to 500+ units. Most of those units are still CSC-plated; the bulk vessel simply dedicates space to the volume of a full camp or multi-unit deployment rather than booking individual slots.

Barge takes units to shallow ports, Pacific Islands and remote shores where there is no crane infrastructure, usually as the water leg before a road run inland. The detail sits on our remote site and last-mile delivery page.

For a large project, we combine methods: most units on standard CSC slots, any genuinely oversized item on flat rack or breakbulk, and a barge final leg where the site needs it, sequenced so the site receives units in the order it needs rather than landing all at once.

SCS quotes under Incoterms 2020. The Incoterm sets who carries cost and risk at each handover, and it is worth choosing deliberately because the two do not always transfer at the same point. The table above states the boundary for each term we quote, and we layer the SCS service options, door-to-port, barge and remote, and multi-site rollout, on top.

The method choice is driven by what the container standards allow, and most units clear it the same way: they are CSC-plated and ship FCL through CSC-compliant channels. Under SOLAS, a Verified Gross Mass is declared before vessel loading, including for the flat-rack and open-top out-of-gauge (OOG) containers used for the genuinely oversized minority. Loose breakbulk in the hold is not VGM-covered, but a unit on a flat rack is. Any oversized item ships with engineered lifting and transport method statements against its tie-down points.

What can and cannot be CSC-plated. A CSC plate certifies a freight container to defined stacking and racking loads within the ISO envelope, and the great majority of what we build, including modular building systems shipped as individual modules, is built to carry one. Only an item that genuinely exceeds the ISO envelope and cannot be split into ISO modules falls outside it. That minority ships as project cargo under engineered securing, the recognised route for out-of-gauge loads, with the transport survivability built into the unit rather than certified onto a standard box.