LCL is "less than container load" and FCL is "full container load".

International trade relies on the movement of millions of cargo containers -- giant metal boxes that can be loaded onto trucks or trains or stacked aboard giant cargo ships. These boxes are big enough that a particular shipment might not fill an entire container. In that case, the shipment is referred to as "LCL," or less than a container load. An "FCL," meanwhile, is a full container load.

When it's an FCL shipment, the shipper is charged a flat rate -- a set price per box, regardless of what's in it. LCL shipments, however, are charged by volume -- a certain amount for each cubic meter of cargo. Freight companies combine LCL shipments from different shippers, so that a 40-foot-long container with about 65 cubic meters of capacity might be filled with three separate shipments of, say, 13, 17 and 35 cubic meters.