What is a loading meter?
A loading meter is also known as LDM is a standard unit of measurement for transport by truck in Europe. A loading meter is equal to one meter of loading space of the truck’s length. The calculation to determine the number of loading meters is: length in meters x width in meters / 2.4 = number loading meters per piece. Add up each piece’s total loading meters and you have the total loading meter value for the entire shipment. Similar to the NMFC freight class system in the USA, European LTL truck carriers use the loading meter calculation to determine an adequate amount of dimensional weight for each shipment. A majority of the carriers use a minimum billing weight of 1850 kgs per loading meter. Therefore if your shipment is less than 1850 kgs per loading meter you will be billed at 1850 kgs per loading meter.
In addition to the loading meter weight rule, European trucking carriers also utilize a density weight rule which assigns a minimum weight per cubic meter of each shipment. A typical density weight rule is 333 kgs per cubic meter.
It can all be very confusing but in simple terms, each carrier will bill you based on the greater of the following three calculated weights. The actual weight of your shipment, the loading meter weight of your shipment, and the cubic meter density weight.
ExFreight’s Exfresso rating system automatically calculates all of these weights and quotes the proper rate to you so you don’t have to worry if you calculated it incorrectly. We make shipping easy.
