Rates, Quotes and Fees for Ocean & Sea Freight Shipping: TopAlpha

In order to ship freight in large volumes, you need to consider 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?
By ocean freight transport, goods are shipped via shipping containers.

Importers and exporters most frequently use ocean freight. 90 percent of all shipments are made 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. In general, these other methods are used for smaller shipments, or for products of high value.

When ocean freight is too slow and air freight is too expensive, some freight forwarders offer express shipping.  حاويات الشحن البحري Faster and less expensive than air freight, this service can be nearly as expedient as air freight. This method streamlines ocean freight processes and ties in the faster ocean services with premium trucking services.

Why Ship By Sea?
Value and Capacity One container can hold 10,000 beer bottles! And ocean freight is cheaper. Any shipment weighing more than 500 kg is generally too heavy for air freight. If your shipment is light, you can use this chargeable weight calculator to determine whether you will be charged by actual weight or by dimensional weight. You can see live international shipping rates by visiting our FBX index.
In addition to international law, national law, carrier organization regulations, and individual carrier regulations, all contribute to defining and restricting what goods are considered dangerous for transportation. As a general rule, air cargo is more restricted than ocean freight, including: gases (e.g. lamp bulbs), all things flammable (e.g. ), toxic or corrosive items (e.g. batteries), magnetic substances (e.g. ), oxidizers and biochemical products (e.g. chemical medicines), and public health risks (e.g. untanned hides). See the Hazardous Material Table for additional information.
In comparison with air freight, ocean freight CO2 emissions are tiny. 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?
Speed planes move about 30 times faster than ocean liners; passenger jets cruise at 575 mph, while slow-steaming ocean liners move at 16-18 mph. There is no surprise then that a shipment going by air freight from China to the US usually takes at least 20 days longer.
Ocean freight requires more days to reach its destination due to congestion, customs delays, and adverse weather conditions. At present, tracking technologies in the air freight industry are often more advanced than those in ocean freight. It follows that ocean freight is more likely to get misplaced than air freight. This is especially the case when a shipment is less than a container load. Digitalization has, however, improved the reliability of ocean freight.
Protection Ocean freight is more likely to be damaged or destroyed than air freight. This is because it is in transit for a much longer time, and because ships move more easily. Don't worry too much about ocean cargo falling off ships. Despite urban myths stating there are 10000 container losses annually, it is actually 546 of 120 million movements that fall in the drink. Even less likely is piracy. Horn of Africa, Gulf of Guinea, and the Malacca Strait have been hotspots in recent years.
Ocean Freight Services
Further, sea freight is broken down into two options: full container loads (FCL) and less than container loads (LCL). Several shipments are packed into one container with LCL. 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 are delivered faster than LCL shipments. It's usually recommended to allow an additional one or two weeks for LCL.
LCL increases the likelihood of damage, misplacement, and loss.
LCL costs more per cubic meter.
Since FCL shipping rates are lower, it may be worth using a full container once your order is large enough, even if your goods do not fill the container. A 20 footer container is the smallest size container, so the tipping point for moving from LCL to FCL is about 15 cubic meters.

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

You can use the following rules as a guide to selecting the most cost-effective mode for most products:

Shipments over 500 kg are not economically feasible by air.
China-US shipments usually take 30-40 days, and ocean freight is around $2-$4 per kilogram.
Taking into account about $5-8 per kilo, air freight can be economically used in China-US shipments between 150 kg and 500 kg; the process will take about 8-10 days.
Air freight by express is faster but more expensive.
A package weighing less than 150 kg can be shipped by courier (express freight).

Your freight quote will include the following ocean and sea freight costs, rates, and charges:
These items will be included on ocean freight quotes and invoices: