Air freight versus sea freight – when to choose what

First Speed

The urgency of your cargo is the first factor to consider in deciding between air freight and ocean freight given the fundamental difference between sea freight and air freight is speed. Air freight typically range from a few up to 10 days, taking into consideration holding time at airports, routing and awaiting available aircrafts and handling at origin and destination. Ocean freight depends on distance and available services and range from a week to 70 days. See the transit time matrix under How long does it take? to get an impression of transit times by sea.

Second COST

The cost difference between sea freight and air freight depends on the trade and the cargo you ship. As the airplane capacity is typically limited by weight and the sea freight capacity by volume, the difference in price for sea freight and airfreight is less for light cargo than it is for heavy cargo. * Air freight price divided by sea freight price
For airfreight, the chargeable weight is usually calculated based on the dimensional factor of 6,000 cubic centimeter per kilogram ~ 166.67 kilogram/cubic meter. For sea freight, the standard is 1,000 kilogram/cubic meter. So in the above example, if you ship one cubic meter of cargo with a weight of 500 kilogram, you can expect air freight to be 18 times more expensive than ocean freight. If, however, your one cubic meter of cargo weighs only 100 kilogram, air freight is only 6 times more expensive than ocean freight.

Container Ship

This example relates specifically to the freight – which covers the airport-to-airport or seaport-to-seaport transportation. In addition, there are costs associated with handling your cargo at origin and destination, customs clearance and potentially pick-up and delivery. See the Shipping Process for a complete overview of the 7 steps. While customs clearance charges for ocean freight and air freight would not differ, other charges may. Since these depend entirely on local markets, it is not meaningful to include them in this example, albeit they will be part of your total end-to-end logistics cost.

ENVIRONMENT

Airfreight or sea freightThe environmental impact of air freight is massive in comparison with sea freight. Publicly available statistics document that 1,000 kilogram of air freight will on average emit 500 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) for every kilometre it flies on a modern cargo airplane (B747). In comparison, if cargo is shipped by sea on a modern container vessel the emission is reduced to 15 grams for every kilometre it sails.In comparison, a shipment of 200 kilograms moving from China to Europe will emit 900 kilograms of carbon dioxide if shipped by air and 54 kilograms of carbon dioxide if shipped by sea. This takes into consideration that the air route is 9,000 kilometres while the sea route is 18,000 kilometres via the Suez Canal.

Sea freight contract shipping lines with NBW International freight:

A.P. Moller-Maersk Group
Mediterranean Shipping Company
CMA CGM
China COSCO Shipping
Evergreen Marine
Hapag-Lloyd
Hamburg Süd
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation
Orient Overseas Container Line
United Arab Shipping Company
NYK Line
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines
Hyundai Merchant Marine
K Line
Pacific International Lines
Zim Integrated Shipping Services
Wan Hai Lines
KMTC
SITC