The time to consider ocean freight comes when you are shipping freight in high volumes. This is your guide to all things ocean, from choosing which mode is right for you to calculating costs and transit times.

Ocean Freight Meaning: What Is Ocean Freight?
The ocean freight transport is the shipping of goods by sea in shipping containers.

Exporters and importers primarily transport goods by sea. 90% of everything is transported by ocean freight and sea freight. Other modes of international freight transport (courier, standard air freight, express air freight) are also faster, but more expensive. In general, smaller shipments, and products of a high value, must be shipped by these other methods.

Some freight forwarders offer express shipping in case ocean freight is too slow, but air freight is too expensive. This service is often nearly as quick as air freight, but is typically less expensive. It streamlines ocean freight processes by identifying only the fastest ocean services and premium trucking services.

Why Ship By Sea?
The container holds a whopping 10000 beer bottles! And ocean freight is cheaper. Any shipment weighing more than 500 kg is too expensive for air freight. Use this calculator to determine if your shipment will be charged by actual weight or volumetric weight for light shipments. You can see live international shipping rates by visiting our FBX index.
In the case of dangerous goods, international law, national law, carrier organization regulations, and individual carrier regulations all play a role in restricting and defining who can transport them. There are more products restricted as air cargo than ocean freight, including: gases (e.g. lamp bulbs), all things flammable (e.g. For example, perfume, Samsung Galaxy Note 7); toxic or corrosive substances (e.g. batteries), magnetic substances (e.g. ), oxidizers and biochemical products (e.g., medical devices), and public health risks (e.g., pollution and industrial accidents). untanned hides). Check out the Hazardous Material Table for more information.
Ocean freight emits much less CO2 than air freight. According to this research, the transportation of 2 tonnes by ocean freight for 5000 kilometers will result in 150 kg of CO2 emissions, compared to 6605 kg of CO2 emissions by air freight.

ocean freight
What Are The Downsides Of Ocean Freight?
There is about a 30x difference in average speed between airplanes and ocean liners; passenger jets travel at 575 mph, while slow-steaming ocean liners move at 16-18 mph. Therefore, it is no surprise that shipping by air freight from China to the US usually takes at least 20 days longer than shipping by ocean freight.
It takes more days for ocean freight than air freight due to port congestion, customs delays, and bad weather conditions. It is often the case that tracking technologies available for air freight are more advanced than those available for ocean freight. Therefore, ocean freight is more likely to get lost than air freight. Shipments under a container load are particularly vulnerable to this. Digitalization is making ocean freight more reliable.
The risk of damage or destruction of ocean freight is higher than that of air freight. Because of the longer transit time and because ships move around more, it takes longer. Shipment TopAlpha You shouldn't worry too much about cargo falling from ships. According to urban myth, ten thousand containers per year are lost in the drink, but actually it's more like 546 of 120 million movements per year. Even less likely is piracy. The Horn of Africa, the Gulf of Guinea, and the Malacca Straits have been hot spots in recent years.
Ocean Freight Services
There are also two options for ocean and sea freight: full container loads and less than container loads. The LCL method involves packing multiple shipments into one container. Moreover, this means more paperwork for the forwarder, in addition to consolidating many shipments into a container and de-consolidating them after the main transit. This gives LCL three disadvantages:

FCL shipments are delivered faster than LCL shipments. An additional one to two weeks is typically recommended for LCL.
It is possible to damage, misplace, or even lose LCL products.
LCL costs more per cubic meter.
Considering the lower shipping rates for full containers, it might be worth using a full container once your shipment is large enough, even if your goods don't fill a full container. LCL to FCL upgrades are typically achieved at a point around 15 cubic meters (the smallest size container is a 20 footer).

Sea Freight Rates per kg
Except for particularly heavy goods, LCL is mostly priced per volume, not by weight.

The following rules of thumb should be used when selecting the best mode of transportation for most products:

When a shipment weighs more than 500 kg, air freight becomes uneconomical.
The cost of ocean freight is usually $2-4/kg, and a shipment from China to the US typically takes 30-40 days.
For about $5-8 per kilogram, a US-China shipment between 150 kg and 500 kg can be economically shipped via air freight and take 8-10 days.
The cost of express air freight is higher, but it is quicker.
A package weighing less than 150 kg can be shipped by courier (express freight).

The following are common ocean and sea freight rates and charges:
Ocean freight quotes and invoices will include these items: