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

In cases of high volumes of freight, you should consider ocean freight. 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?
Shipping containers are used in ocean freight transport.

Exporters and importers primarily transport goods by sea. 9 out of 10 shipments are sent by ocean freight or sea freight. In addition to the other modes of international freight transportation (courier, standard air freight, express air freight), each of them is also more expensive. In general, these other methods are used for smaller shipments, or for products of high value.

Some freight forwarders offer express shipping in case ocean freight is too slow, but air freight is too expensive. Faster and less expensive than air freight, this service can be nearly as expedient as air freight. It ties in with expedited ocean services and premium trucking services and streamlines ocean freight processes.

Why Ship By Sea?
One container can hold ten thousand beer bottles! And ocean freight is cheaper. Any shipment weighing more than 500 kg is too expensive for air freight. The chargeable weight calculator can help you determine whether you will pay by actual weight or dimensional weight for light shipments. Check out our FBX index for live 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. A greater number of products are restricted as air cargo than ocean freight, including: gases (e. 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. Public health risks (e.g. speakers), oxidizers, and biochemical products (e.g. chemical medicines) are also evaluated. untanned hides). To learn more, refer to the Hazardous Material Table.
Comparatively speaking, ocean freight produces very little CO2 emissions. As an example, this research shows that 2 tonnes shipped for 5000 kilometers by ocean freight will generate 150 kg of CO2 emissions, as opposed to 6605 kg when shipped by air freight.

ocean freight
What Are The Downsides Of Ocean Freight?
أسعار الشحن البحري للسيارات Ocean liners move at 16-18 mph, compared with passenger jets travelling at about 575 mph. So it's no surprise that shipment by air freight from China to the USA usually takes about 20 days longer than by ocean freight.
Port congestion, customs delays, and foul weather generally add more days to sea freight than to air freight. The tracking technology for air freight is often more advanced than that for ocean freight. Therefore, ocean freight is more likely to be lost than airline freight. It is especially important when a shipment is smaller than a container load. With that said, ocean freight is becoming more reliable due to digitization.
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. If your ocean cargo falls off a ship, don't worry too much about it. In reality, around 546 of the 120 million container movements per year fall in the water. Even less likely is piracy. Among the hotspots in recent years have been the Horn of Africa, the Gulf of Guinea, and the Malacca Straits.
Ocean Freight Services
There are two additional ocean and sea freight options: the full container load (FCL) and the less than container load (LCL). LCL involves packing several shipments into one container. This leads to more work for the forwarder, as there is more paperwork involved as well as actual physical work involved with consolidating shipments and re-consolidating them after the main transit. This gives LCL three disadvantages:

Shipping LCLs requires more time than shipping FCLs. A couple of extra weeks is recommended for LCL.
Loss, misplacement, and damage are more likely to occur with LCL.
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. About 15 cubic meters is the tipping point to upgrade from LCL to FCL (the smallest container size is a 20 footer).

Sea Freight Rates per kg
In general, LCL is priced per volume of goods, and not per weight.

Use these guidelines for selecting the most cost-effective mode of delivery for most products:

Air freight becomes uneconomic for shipments weighing more than 500 kg.
China-US shipments take around 30-40 days by sea, and ocean freight is around $2-$4 a kg.
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.
Express air freight can be faster, but is more expensive.
Packages that weigh less than 150 kg can go by courier (express freight).

The following are common ocean and sea freight rates and charges:
On ocean freight quotes and invoices, you should find the following items: