Guide · 7 min read
How to specify a bulk fastener order for a container shipment
The eight pieces of information a fastener supplier needs before they can price a container, and what happens on site when each one is missing.
Start with the eight lines that make a quote possible
Most fastener enquiries arrive incomplete, and every gap becomes an assumption made by someone who has never seen your site. A quotable bulk enquiry carries eight pieces of information per line item.
- — Product type and description — hex bolt, tek screw, sleeve anchor
- — Diameter and length, in the units your drawings use
- — Grade or strength class — 4.8, 8.8, 10.9, A2, A4
- — Standard — DIN, ISO or ASTM, if your engineer specified one
- — Finish — plain, zinc, hot-dip galvanised, Class 3 or 4, stainless
- — Quantity, in pieces or kilograms, plus whether it repeats
- — Destination port or delivery address and the Incoterm you want
- — Required-on-site date, and whether it is a hard programme date
Quote by weight, order by piece
Bulk fasteners are priced per tonne but consumed per piece, and confusing the two is the most common costing error in African procurement. A tonne of M20 x 100 hex bolts is roughly 3,300 pieces; a tonne of M8 x 25 is closer to 100,000. If your bill of quantities is in pieces, convert before comparing prices, or ask the supplier to quote both.
For estimating, weight per thousand pieces is the number to hold. Ask for it on the quotation. It also tells you your freight volume, which on low-value high-weight lines can exceed the value of the goods themselves.
Consolidate before you compare prices
Five separate small orders from five suppliers means five freight bills, five sets of documentation and five customs interactions. The unit price you saved on bolts disappears into the third airway bill. Consolidating bolts, nuts, washers, screws and anchors into one container is usually worth more than a percentage point on any single line.
Consolidation also fixes the arrival-sequence problem: nothing gets fixed to the roof if the screws land three weeks after the sheets.
Decide the Incoterm deliberately
FOB looks cheapest on the quotation and moves every downstream risk and cost onto you. CIF covers freight and insurance to the destination port but leaves duty, clearing and inland transport in your hands. DAP puts the goods at your gate with one number, which is the only figure a project budget can actually use.
If you are comparing suppliers, insist that every quotation uses the same Incoterm. Comparing an FOB price against a DAP price is not a comparison.
Ask for the documentation up front
Mill certificates to EN 10204 3.1, mechanical test reports, a packing list keyed to the bill of quantities, and a certificate of origin. Customs authorities in most African markets will ask for the origin certificate, and your QA team will ask for the mill certificate. Requesting both after the container has sailed is expensive.