Sea Freight vs. Air Freight: How Should Your Business Ship Products?

Uh oh. Your business received another customer complaint about shipping delays. The more time your consumers have to wait for their products to arrive, the less likely they are to purchase from your business again.

If you want to ensure your manufacturer is sending products out on time, you have to choose the right shipping method. Sea freight vs. air freight are the most common options, but what are their differences?

Keep reading to find out.

Sea Freight vs. Air Freight

When it comes to sea freight vs. air freight, choosing a shipping method requires knowing a bit about both.

Every business has different shipping needs. What is right for a competitor’s business might not be the best option for you.

Take into account the following factors to help you make a decision:

Cost

For almost all overseas manufacturing companies, air freight shipments are more expensive than sea shipments with the same cargo volume. This is due to the capacity of one plane versus a ship.

Fuel consumption and higher operational costs also go into the high price of air freight compared to sea freight.

Transit Time

Shipping business goods should be completed in a reasonable amount of time to please customers.

Typically, air freight is best for city-to-city transport or direct routes between countries. Sea freight is preferred for shipments that need to go longer distances and span large oceans.

Because the air freight movement has advanced over the years, businesses prefer this method to reach their destination quicker. They just have to be willing to pay the higher costs.

Broekman Chartering offers both solutions to benefit business owners of all types.

Type of Cargo

Air freight is limited to the type of cargo it can carry because of capacity, weight, and safety factors. Sea freight has an overall advantage when it comes to cargo types because it can carry any goods.

Air freight is used to transport unitized cargo or single projects.

Sea freight can hold heavy equipment, project cargoes, and cranes among the traditional box or parcel freight.

Carbon Footprint

When you need to ship products overseas by ship or plane, it’s important to consider your carbon footprint. If your consumers care about it, your business should too.

Both options cause CO2 emissions, but air freight causes a much larger carbon footprint than ocean freight. This means air freight has more of a negative impact on the environment.

Which Freight Option Should You Choose?

Businesses have a lot of decisions to make including choosing between sea freight vs. air freight.

For something more affordable with less of a carbon footprint, ocean freight is the way to go. Plus, sea freight can carry all types of cargo while air freight is limited in its options.

The upside to air freight is that your products will ship much faster and arrive on time almost every time.

Figure out which factors are most important to your business to decide. Don’t forget to come back to this website for more business comparison guides like this.