Rates, Quotes and Charges for Ocean & Sea Freight Shipping with TopAlpha Ocean Freight

When you start shipping freight in high volumes, you should think about ocean freight. Here are your directions on everything related to shipping by ocean, from picking the mode that's right for you to calculating transit times and costs.

Ocean Freight Meaning: What Is Ocean Freight?
خدمات الشحن والتخليص الجمركي TopAlpha Containerized sea freight transport involves the transport of goods by sea.

Exporters and importers primarily transport goods by sea. Over 90% of all shipping is done by ocean freight and sea freight. Other modes of international freight transportation, like courier, air freight, and express air freight, may be faster, but are also more expensive. These other modes are usually used for shipments of small sizes or for those with high values.

For shipments that are too expensive by air or too slow by ocean, some freight forwarders offer express courier services. While less expensive than air freight, this service is often nearly as fast. In order to achieve this, ocean freight processes are streamlined and only connect to faster ocean services, as well as to premium trucking services.

Why Ship By Sea?
Capacity and value One container holds 10000 beer bottles! And ocean freight is cheaper. Generally, air freight is too expensive for shipments weighing more than 500 kilograms. The chargeable weight calculator helps you determine whether you will be charged by weight or by volume for light shipments. Please refer to our FBX index for the latest international shipping rates.
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. In general, more air cargo is restricted than ocean freight, including: gases (e. lamp bulbs), all things flammable (e.g. As a result, items with a corrosive or toxic component (e.g., perfume, Samsung Galaxy Note 7). 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.
CO2 emissions from ocean freight are negligible compared to air freight. In this study, 2 tonnes shipped by ocean freight will lead to 150 kg of CO2 emissions while 2 tonnes shipped air freight will cause 6605 kg of CO2 emissions.

ocean freight
What Are The Downsides Of Ocean Freight?
Passenger jets cruise at 575 mph, while slow-steaming ocean liners travel at 16-18 mph. Thus, it should come as no surprise that an air freight shipment from China to the US usually takes 20 days longer than an ocean freight shipment.
Ocean freight generally takes more time than air freight because of congestion at ports, customs delays, and weather conditions. Tracking technology used for air freight is sometimes more advanced than that used for ocean freight. The odds of losing ocean freight are higher than those of losing air freight, so ocean freight is more likely to be lost. The situation is especially difficult when the shipment is less than a container load. Digitalization has, however, improved the reliability of ocean freight.
Unlike air cargo, ocean freight is more likely to be damaged or destroyed. The reason is the longer transit time, and the fact that ships travel more often. It's okay for ocean cargo to fall off ships. There are a lot more lost containers than the urban myth claims, as 546 out of 120 million movements fall into the ocean each year. Even less likely is piracy. Horn of Africa, Gulf of Guinea, and the Malacca Strait have been hotspots in recent years.
Ocean Freight Services
There are also two options for ocean and sea freight: full container loads and less than container loads. A LCL container contains several shipments packed together. The forwarder has more work to do, there is extra paperwork to be filed, along with the physical work of consolidating various shipments into one container before the main transit and dissolving the consolidation at the other end. This gives LCL three disadvantages:

FCL shipments arrive more quickly than LCL shipments. Normally, it is recommended that you allow one or two weeks for LCL.
LCL is susceptible to damage, misplacing, and loss.
LCL costs more per cubic meter.
Shipping rates for FCL are usually lower, so you may want to use a full container once your shipment is large enough, even if your goods do not fill the container to the brim. The tipping point between LCLs and FCLs (the smallest size of container is a 20-footer) is between 15 and 20 cubic meters.

Sea Freight Rates per kg
For all but exceptionally heavy goods, most LCL is priced by volume, not by weight.

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

Shipments over 500 kg are not economically feasible by air.
The shipping cost for China-US shipments is approximately $2-$4 / kg, and the shipping will take anywhere from 30-40 days.
An air cargo shipment from China to the United States of 150 kg to 500 kg costs $5-8 per kilo, and it takes 8-10 days.
While express air freight is faster, it's also more expensive.
The cost of shipping lighter packages (express freight) is lower than for heavier packages (courier).

Ocean and sea freight rates and charges you will see in your quote include the following:
Invoices and quotes for ocean freight should include the following items: