Ocean Freight

Ocean freight is the most common mode of transport that importers and exporters use. In fact, a full 90% of goods are shipped by ocean freight and sea freight. The other international freight transport modes (courier, air freight, express) are all faster, but they are also more expensive. Smaller shipments, and products with a high value, generally go by these other modes.

Why Ship By Sea?

• Capacity and Value – One container can hold 10,000 beer bottles! And ocean freight is cheaper. As a rule of thumb, any shipment weighing more than 500 kg is too expensive for air freight. For light shipments, use this chargeable weight calculator to work out whether your shipment will be charged by actual weight or dimensional weight. For live international shipping rates see our FBX index.
• Fewer restrictions – International law, national law, carrier organization regulations, and individual carrier regulations all play their part in defining and restricting what goods are considered dangerous for transport. Generally, more products are restricted as air cargo than as ocean freight, including gases (e.g. lamp bulbs), all things flammable (e.g. perfume, Samsung Galaxy Note 7), toxic or corrosive items (e.g. batteries), magnetic substances (e.g. speakers), oxidizers and biochemical products (e.g. chemical medicines), and public health risks (e.g. untanned hides). For further information check out the Hazardous Material Table.
• Emissions – CO2 freight emissions from ocean freight is minuscule compared with air freight. For example, according to this research, 2 tonnes shipped for 5,000 kilometers by ocean freight will lead to 150 kg of CO2 emissions, compared to 6,605 kg of CO2 emissions by air freight.

Ocean Freight Services

Ocean and sea freight services break down to two further options: a full container load (FCL) and a less than container load (LCL). With LCL, several shipments are packed into one container. This means more work for the forwarder, there’s extra paperwork involved, as well as the physical work of consolidating various shipments into a container before the main transit and de-consolidating the shipments at the other end. This gives LCL three disadvantages:

• LCL takes more time to deliver than an FCL shipment. It’s typically recommended to allow an extra one or two weeks for LCL.
• There is an increased risk of damage, misplacement, and loss with LCL.
• LCL costs more per cubic meter.

Since shipping rates are lower for FCL, it may be worth using a full container once your shipment is large enough, even if your goods do not fill a full container. The tipping point for upgrading from LCL to FCL (the smallest sized container is a 20 footer) is somewhere around 15 cubic meters.