If you are in charge of shipping for your company, you have probably wondered if it would behoove you to switch to shipping your product by air. You already know that air freight is much more expensive than sea freight and that it is much faster than shipping by boat There are a few pros and cons of shipping by a plane that you may not have considered.
Air Freight is Better for Shipping Small Goods
According to the shipping professionals at Dedola, if you are only shipping a small load of lightweight items, it may be in your best interest to ship by air. Your customer will have your goods sooner and the more expediently they can sell your goods, the sooner they will need more.
When you ship by sea, a company will normally charge you by the container. You may end up wasting money if you pay for a whole container and only use a third of it. Most sea freight companies will let you share a container if there is another customer who only needs to use a portion of their container. However, a shared container is not always available. Your product may not go out right away if you choose this option.
Air Freight has a Better Chance of Arriving Safely
Air travel remains the safest type of transportation for both people and cargo. There are a lot of things that can happen on a long boat ride. Although shipping containers are fairly secure, they are not infallible.
Boats can take weeks to get to their destination and the cargo is not always as carefully monitored as it would be on a plane. Most plane rides are only a few hours long and your product will be well cared for while it is in transit. Find our more about air freight logistics here.
Planes are Smaller than Boats
If you have a large shipment, you may have to rent a whole plane and that can be very expensive. If you are shipping an even larger or a very bulky product. You may not be able to fit your product on a single plane. In this case, shipping by boat is a much better idea.
Consider the Weather
Although a boat may take a while to plod its way across the sea, ocean freight is not often affected by the weather. If you are shipping in the winter and your customer is expecting to get their shipment on a certain day, they may be disappointed if the flight is canceled due to bad weather.
When you are trying to pick a shipping method, you should consider such things as the distance from the airport or dock to the product’s final destination. If you are shipping to a warehouse that is near the docks, it may be much less expensive to ship your product by sea. If you are far from the dock, you will want to consider the amount of money that a truck will cost.
If your customers do not have large warehouses, air freight may be the best way to get the product to them as they will not be able to store things for very long or wait for a ship to come in.
The location of the customer, the kind of product you have and the amount of product you are shipping will all factor into whether you should ship your products by air or by sea.
