Choosing the correct mode of transport can be tricky. It’s often a question of time and money. Do your goods need to be moved quickly? Or would you rather keep the costs down? You probably want to strike a good balance between the both. To ease your decision I put together a number of key factors to consider before making your decision.
How much money are you willing to spend on transporting your goods?
If you ask which mode of transport that will cost you the least, you will most likely get the answer that shipping by sea is cheaper than shipping by air. Typically, this is true. However, it’s not necessarily the case. This might depend on how logistic and transport companies charge for international shipping.
Airlines charge according to the chargeable weight of a shipment, which is based on the weight and size. That’s because large items with a light overall weight take up more space on an aircraft than a small, heavy item. Sea carriers charge per container rates for shipping in standard containers. The charge is usually based on the size of a shipment (even if weight can factor into the price). A factor that affects the cost of containerised sea freight is whether the goods require a dedicated full container (FCL) or can be consolidated with other cargo (LCL). In case of the latter, your price is often determined by its volume in 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.
Another factor to consider is the destination charges, such as customs and fees, which you have to pay regardless of which mode of transport you chose. Even if you find that the costs for shipping by sea is cheaper than the costs for shipping by air, the warehouse fees at seaports can be much more expensive than the warehouses at airports.
How quickly do your goods need to be moved?
When it comes to speed, airfreight is, without a doubt, the fastest way to transport your products across long distances. For many businesses, shipping it is a question of time rather than money. If the consignment is urgent, choosing air freight instead of sea freight could make up for the potentially higher costs, as shipments by sea often take weeks and shipments by air often takes days.
How important is it that your cargo reaches its destination in time?
When comparing the two, air freight tends to be the more reliable option for international shipping. Airfreight can get delayed due to poor weather conditions or other factors, but the airlines are very cautious about their schedules and often on top of them. As most airfreight flights run daily back and forth between major cities around the world, missing a flight doesn’t cause much of a delay for a cargo shipment.
Ocean lines tend to run on weekly schedules and the risks of something going wrong and the shipment getting delayed is considerably high. Missing a ship could place a shipment a week off. For many businesses a weeks delay could have serious cost effects.
How important is it for you to reduce your ecological footprint?
Time and money is important. But, we also have a responsibility for the world we live in, not least the environment. As environmental protection is an increasingly pressing issue all over the world, every business today needs to consider how they can contribute to a more sustainable future. This is also a way of changing the way the public looks at a company. In the end it might end up being a question of whether a company actually chooses you or not.
When it comes to this category sea freight always win the battle. CO2 emissions are much higher in air freight transport compared to sea freight transport. This causes cargo shipping by air to have a much larger carbon footprint than cargo shipping by sea.
I hope you got a better picture of the possibilities and limitations of air freight and sea freight after reading this! Perhaps I’ve made it a little easier for you to choose the correct mode of transport! Please let me know what you think about my article by leaving a comment in the field below. Or if you like it, share it on social media with the tag @Greencarrier.
/ Bo Sunnåker Greencarrier Freight Services
I would go with air freight. But I will not always do the same 🙂
It’s good to know a small mix of both is a good idea. I hadn’t thought sea freighting would be as good as it was. Know that I do though, I know where to go in the future.
Thank you for providing this information. I own my own business and I need to send some of my products overseas. I’ve been researching different freight shipping options and this article was most helpful. For my needs, I think air freight shipping is my best option.
You’re right in saying that a major difference between air and sea freight services is the guarantee that your cargo arrives on schedule. Obviously, both methods will do the best they can, but air freight seems to me to be the more reliable solution. Of course, if you can afford delays, then there’s no reason why you can’t consider sea freight. You simply have to decide for yourself what’s a dealbreaker.
Thank you for pointing out that speed has to be considered. As you said, how quickly the goods are shipped is usually more of an issue than cost. That being said, if you are consistently sending shipments that are, generally, the same size, it may save you some money to set up a schedule and use sea freight services.
Ideally, the best option would be to deliver within the country of origin rather than having to focus on shipping Internationally. Shipping by air versus shipping by sea also depends on what type of goods you are transporting as well as how quickly your goods need to be delivered. I would choose air freight services as it provides me the reliability and peace of mind in knowing that I don’t have to wait too long for an item to arrive at its destination.
Thank you very much for all of this information. I have some products that I want to ship overseas to another business, and I’m not sure if I should choose air freight or sea freight. What you said about air freight being the most reliable method really stood out to me. Reliability is very important to me.
Dear Susan,
Thanks for reading our blog article and we’re glad it was helpful for you in your decision.
Have a nice day!
Greencarrier Freight Services
Hey, Bo! I couldn’t help but notice the picture above the article. I’m an airplane enthusiast, so I’m always trying to learn aircraft models when I don’t know them. That plane looks like it’s manufactured by Airbus; do you know if that’s a modified A380? If it were up to me, I’d have everything delivered by air freight—you can’t get much faster than an airplane!
There are numerous ways in which retailers (or any other type of seller) can deliver a product that is being sold to customers if the distance is not so big. However, if the product has to be delivered to another continent, then you are basically left with only two choices, and that is going for either the ocean freight (transport the goods by ship) or the air freight (transport the goods by plane). These two options differ in many ways and choosing between them should depend on the situation.
It’s really up to the customers budget. I’ve done both air and see and can say that if they need something fast – Air , Ocean in any other way.
So big companies with huge stock piles will go for ocean 90% of the time, while urgent cargo is mostly Air.
I guess this is totally up to a shippers budget if you ask me. And of course time is also of the essence and with seafreight, the chance of experiencing delay compared to airfreight is much greater indeed.
Nice article and will come back every now and then!
Shipping by air or sea is one and the same. Both have their advantages and disadvantages in their respective field. But when it comes to carbon emissions I rather prefer shipping by sea than air. Thanks to the author for adding such points in the article.
Thank you for mentioning that it is generally cheaper to transport goods by sea. I have a lot of materials I need to ship to an offshore office and was about to ship by air. I will look into going with the sea to see how much I can save. Thanks!
Well, it depends on how fast you need your package to be shipped.
Time is money, so if the product needs to be shipped faster air freight is completely the way to go. With consumers wanting their goods as soon as possible, it’s no wonder companies like Amazon have developed their own air fleet to deliver the promises they advertise. There are so many good shipping companies out there that prices are becoming more and more affordable.
Thank you for the info.
Regardless of time, international shipping companies are often cheaper than air.
I know this is an old post, but still helpful. I think air freight is better than sea freight.
Great post!!
Such great information that provides an idea about a better choice for shipping. This really nice blog has great information.
Thank you so much fo sharing this information. Its really important to choose a right freight quote because it may impact your freight cost and also the time set for shipping.
I use air freight only when the volume of cargo is small or I want to have it received in days. For most of my shipments, I use sea freight and share a container with other people. Sea freight will save you some money only when you are shipping large volume cargo.
I like that you talked about how a shipment could be delayed up to a week if there is trouble on the open sea. I have been looking for ways to start shipping internationally soon. I can see how it would be nice to use an air service because delays usually don’t change the full schedule that drastically.
Making a choice between air and ocean freight one can consider the choice of air because it is less time consuming and the consignment reaches on time at the desired time.
Yeah, one needs to know his requirements and budget to ship the product to select which shipping is best for him.
Thank you very much for all of this information.
It is important when to use air freight or sea freight as a courier since there is a big difference. You could cut less on cost if you choose sea freight and you could lessen the travel of the goods if you choose air freight. They have both advantage and disadvantage. It is best to choose wisely.
Very good post
For years, I always used air transport services, but since I switched to shipping with by ocean, the amount of money I save a year is very large.
Although if we want speed in delivery, it will always be better to hire air freight.
Loved this article. Thanks for sharing such informative content. Namaste Cargo Nepal
Nice post. Thank you for sharing.