Another freight discussion

[Geredis]

A good point in this thread raised was basing it in some part on the weight/dimensions of the vehicle.
Perhaps that should also add a extra charge.

I know this is all being done before the use of standardized shipping containers, but does size/weight really matter all that much, in the scheme of things? I mean, I figure most of the crates the cars are going into are more or less the same dimensions, and thus while weight might matter, size doesn't since even f you make a small car you still have, essentially, the same space being taken up on the ship/train you're using to transport the car from A to B.

Now, I know that smaller vehicle size also means smaller crates, and thus more crates means more cars, or more cars per the larger crates, but isn't it enough to simply assume 1:1, and that for whatever reason all containers are more or less the same size unless you're shipping what amount to oversized cars (vans, pickups, lorries, etc) and thus need more than the one or two or three or however many crates are being extrapolated as being 'normal' for transit?

I only ask since, being somewhat familiar with shipping (a relative works in inventory-control so I've picked up some through conversations there), that seems to be what makes the most sense to me, with of course there being reductions in fees as things like Conex come about and make the shipping containers reusable, even if they don't really modify the volume per single container in a meaningful enough way to, say, halve or third your shipping costs as you fit two or three cars into a single container.

As for the suggestion about 1000kg car costing half in shipping costs as a 2000kg car, you're definitely off on that. You see, for shipping, it's not weight that is often the issue (unless you're shipping things by air or on very small trains/boats where weight IS an issue) but volume...and as I just mentioned, the packing volume of a 1000kg car and a 2000kg car is going to be more or less the same. And this is because as I said, there's a certain standardization in packing so that every package is the same size, to make it easier to load, fit, and unload the materials being sent. Now, this does not say that there's no difference to the company doing the shipping between those 1000kg and 2000kg cars (there is), but the main difference is no tin price, so much as where on the ship or train they put the cargo for the optimum weight distribution since it's less about carriage weight and more about making sure that the merchant vessel or train car is not unbalanced and thus dangerous to work on/around.