10 Min
Homepage
/ Blog
Sea freight, air freight & rail transport
There are different ways of transporting your products for both export and import. The individual types all have their advantages and disadvantages and each company must decide for itself what is best suited to the product in question. In the following article, three different options are explained and the advantages and disadvantages are described so that each company can decide for itself which mode of transportation it prefers and what needs to be considered.
Factors to consider when deciding on a mode of transportation:
Sea freight is a frequently used mode of transportation, which is partly due to the fact that it is cheaper than air freight, for example. With sea freight, the goods are shipped in containers and the company has the choice between whole containers or part of a container. This makes sea freight ideal for smaller and larger orders. If a company only needs part of a container, the price is usually calculated by the kilogram. If a product is needed quickly, then sea freight is not the right choice, as transportation by ship from China to Germany, for example, takes a month and it can also take a few days for the goods to be transported from the supplier to the nearest port and in Germany from the port to the company. Some Chinese suppliers offer to organize and coordinate the freight. This can be advantageous, especially for inexperienced companies, but it can be somewhat more expensive. Sea freight is very popular with entrepreneurs and logisticians as it is mostly very reliable and offers good value for money.
When things need to move a little faster, many companies opt for air freight. However, in addition to speed, transportation by air also offers a number of advantages, such as a high degree of reliability and security, which other modes of transport cannot offer in this form. Probably the biggest disadvantage, however, is the high price, as this mode of transportation is significantly more expensive than others, especially for larger quantities and a high weight of goods. The price depends on the weight of the load and the volume that the load takes up in the aircraft. The distance flown also influences the price. Overall, longer routes are understandably more expensive than shorter ones, but the volume of flights also plays a role. For example, flights to and from China are cheaper than routes that are flown less frequently due to the very high volume.
Probably the most environmentally friendly transportation solution is rail freight, due to its low CO² emissions. Probably the biggest advantages of this mode of transportation are that it is faster than sea freight and at the same time cheaper than air freight. On average, rail transportation from China to Germany takes 15 days, which is only about half as long as by ship. Compared to air freight, a company can save a lot of money, as it can be up to 70% cheaper. As a company, you can also differentiate whether you need an entire container or just a partial load for rail transportation, making it suitable for every shipment. As it is not calculated by weight, there can be significant savings for heavy goods. The connection of the producers to the rail networks is also usually better than the connection to the port, so that the delivery to the actual means of transportation is often faster and easier, which can save a lot of time and money. For these reasons, many companies see rail transport as a good choice for their shipments, especially from countries such as China.
