ocean freight

Ocean freight, also called sea freight, is the movement of goods internationally by sea. Ocean freight is far and away the most popular option for shipping goods internationally. Roughly 90% of goods are transported around the world by sea. But while it’s popular, that doesn’t mean it is the only option or the best one, for that matter.

Ocean freight is the method of transporting goods through the sea. It is an important part of cross-border trade that lets people move massive amounts of goods between countries.

Ocean freight, reliant on a network of sea freight logistics, ensures efficient goods movement across international waters, bolstering trade relationships globally. While ocean freight certainly is not cheap when shipping small quantities, it scales really well. For larger shipments, it produces a better overall cost. This is why it has become such an important part of international trade. Despite this, ocean freight is much slower, as the typical time for the arrival of most shipments is between 40 to 60 days.

What are the pros and cons of ocean freight

As you have learned already, ocean freight may be popular, but it has both Advantages and Dis advantages that you can expect from ocean freight.

 

Advantages:

Sea transportation has important advantages that make it one of the main and most popular methods of transporting goods and passengers. Some of the advantages of this method are:

  • Safety: Containers protect cargo against damage and weather changes.
  • High capacity transportation: ships can send a large amount of cargo to distant destinations. It has become the most basic and popular methods of transporting goods and passengers.
  • Lower costs: Sea shipping is usually less expensive than air shipping. This is especially suitable for heavy and bulky goods that do not need to be packed and bear additional costs.
  • Less fuel consumption: Compared to air transportation, this method requires less energy and as a result has the least effects related to the emission of greenhouse gases.
  • Ability to carry various goods: Ships are able to carry various types of goods, including: liquid, dry, cold and shock-sensitive goods.
  • Ease of loading and unloading: Containers can be easily loaded and unloaded, which reduces time and costs.
Air freight

Disadvantages:

So far, you have learned about the positive aspects of sea transportation. But this method also has its own disadvantages and shortcomings, and every businessman can choose it or not according to his conditions. So if you want to know what are the limitations of using sea transportation, read this section carefully and learn about the disadvantages of water transportation.

  • Slow and long routes: Sea freight usually requires more time to load and unload and reach the destination. This may be problematic for urgent goods.
  • Timing costs: Improper timing and delays in shipping can add additional costs to businesses and cargo owners.
  • Environmental Impacts: Shipping by sea can have serious environmental impacts, including pollution of the seas through waste gases and untreated waste from ships.
  • Structural Defects: Some ships may have structural and hull problems that cause accidents and damage to the ship's cargo and crew.
  • Geographical restrictions: This is one of the other disadvantages of shipping by ship. The sea transport method may face geographical limitations, such as difficult access to small and shallow ports or weather effects on routes.

How to ship using ocean freight with Meran group

Ocean freight logistics relies heavily on the services of third parties called freight forwarders. Freight forwarders usually mean a third-party individual or company who picks up your goods, properly arranges them to be loaded and onboard for shipping, and eventually correctly delivers to the final destination. This is because it is usually necessary to have trusted eyes and hands that can help collect your goods from the seller, arrange shipping and place your goods aboard the ship.