In life and business, there are always choices to make. When
it comes to international shipping, there are many choices. Of all these
choices, the most basic is the decision of what kind of transport to use: air
freight or ocean freight. Whether you’re a business that will be shipping
overseas all the time or an individual moving to a new country, deciding
whether to go with ocean freight or air freight is an important choice. There
are four key factors you should consider when making this decision.
1. Cost
You probably don’t have to be told to consider the costs
before an undertaking. As a business person, you consider the bottom line and
as an individual, you have a budget. Naturally, you’re going to want to know
which will cost you less, air freight or ocean freight. Typically, you will
hear that shipping by ocean is cheaper than shipping by air. And typically,
this is true; however, this is not necessarily Cargo Jet Plane the case.
To make the best decision, it helps to be educated about how
carriers charge for international shipping. Airlines bill you by what is called
a chargeable weight. Chargeable weight is calculated from a combination of the
weight and size of a shipment. Sea carriers charge per container rates for
shipping in standard containers (20’ and 40’ being the most common sizes).
While weight can factor into the price from sea carriers, their charge tends to
be based more on the size of a shipment. If you are shipping less than a
container load, your price is often determined by cubic meter. With larger and
heavier shipments, it is often much cheaper to ship by sea. As a shipment gets
smaller, the margin between the prices gets smaller and sometimes air will even
end up less expensive.Shippers should note that there are destination charges
to consider. Whether shipping by air or by sea, there will be customs and
destination fees. While the actual shipment cost of sea freight is usually
cheaper than the shipment cost of air freight, the warehousing fees at seaports
are many times more expensive than those at airports.
2. Speed
When it comes to speed, there is no question that air
freight is usually much Cargo Shipfaster. Since time is money, this factor
could more than make up for a higher cost of flying cargo. Many sea shipments
can take around a month to arrive while an air shipment takes a day or two. For
most business shipping, faster is better. When it comes to the individual
moving a household, it is often good to have the extra time to prepare for the
arrival of household goods in a new country. It should be noted that technology
keeps moving forward in the international shipping world. Ships are getting
faster. Canals have created shorter shipping routes. There are many ocean
freight shipments crossing the oceans and being delivered in as few as 8 days.
3. Reliability
Reliability is something we all look for in people,
businesses, products, and services. How does ocean freight and air freight
stack up against each other in this category? Air freight shipping has a much,
much shorter history than ocean freight shipping, yet air freight tends to win
the battle of reliability. Flights get delayed by weather and other factors,
but airlines tend to be very on top of their schedules. Ocean carriers are
notorious for being bad about this. It is not uncommon for ships to be off schedule.
For many, a day or two here or there doesn’t hurt; however, for many
businesses, a day or two could have serious cost effects. With airlines, there
are usually daily flights back and forth between major cities around the world.
Because of this, missing a flight doesn’t cause much of a delay for a cargo
shipment. Ocean lines tend to have weekly schedules. Missing the cutoff at a
seaport means a longer delay.
4. Environmental
Impact
Not everything is about the bottom line and convenience.
While the social awareness of environmental issues can change the way the
public looks at a company and affect its bottom line, we all have a
responsibility of taking care of the planet on which we live. It would seem
that ocean freight wins this category. CO2 emissions are much higher in air
freight transport than ocean freight transport. This causes cargo shipping by
air to have a much larger carbon fingerprint than cargo shipping by sea.
However, considering oil spills and the water ecosystems affected by ocean
freight, gives pause. Perhaps the jury is still out on this final factor.
Considering these four factors should help you
make the best decision for your cargo shipment.
3 comments:
I agree with what you stated here in your post, most especially in terms of speed, Air Freight Philippines is an example of Fastest shipment delivery.
Though both has its advantages and disadvantages. If you're in a rush and budget is okay, I guess choosing air freight over sea freight is more ideal. Since sea freight forwarding is ideal for transporting goods in a less costly kind of ways and time is well-planned.
Metro Combined, a freight forwarder that offers land, sea, and air freight forwarding in the Philippines.
I am quite impressed with all these details about the best factors for considering AIR vs. Sea freight. I think that Air freight is quite fast and safe and that’s why have already been using the ocean courier Delivery services Fort Worth. They always guarantee the delivery of my package in a short time period.
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