Ocean, Air & Multimodal Shipping

Choose sea for cost and air for speed. Ocean freight is dramatically cheaper per kilogram and suits bulky, heavy, or non-urgent cargo, with transits typically measured in weeks. Air freight is far more expensive but moves in days, and it makes sense for high-value, perishable, or time-critical goods — and sometimes for lower-value cargo when the inventory cost of a long sea transit outweighs the freight saving.

FCL usually becomes the better choice somewhere around 13 to 15 cubic metres, though the exact crossover depends on the lane and current rates. Below that, LCL costs less because you pay only for the space used. Above it, a full container is often cheaper outright — and it is also faster and lower-risk, because the container is sealed at origin and not opened until destination.

Because LCL cargo has to be consolidated and deconsolidated. At origin the consolidator waits to fill a container with other shippers' cargo before it sails; at destination the container is stripped and each consignment sorted before release. Those two processes commonly add several days at each end, on top of the ocean transit itself.

Transshipment is transferring cargo from one vessel to another at an intermediate hub port, and yes, it adds risk to your delivery date. Each transfer is a point where the container can miss its connection, and a missed connection typically costs a week waiting for the next sailing. Direct services cost more but are more predictable — worth paying for when the date is tight.

A reefer is a refrigerated container with its own cooling unit, needed for any cargo with a temperature specification — food, pharmaceuticals, some chemicals and cosmetics. It requires a monitored power supply at every stage, including in port and on the road, and you must state the temperature set point and any pre-cooling requirement at booking rather than assuming a default.

Use a flat rack, an open top, or breakbulk depending on the dimensions. Open tops suit cargo that is too tall to load through the doors but stays within the container profile; flat racks handle loads that exceed the width or height envelope; genuinely oversized pieces move as breakbulk or project cargo. Anything protruding beyond the container envelope is rated out of gauge and charged for the vessel slots it blocks.

It means your container was booked and delivered for a sailing but not loaded, and has been carried forward to a later vessel. Common causes are carrier overbooking, vessel weight limits, a blank sailing, or documentation such as the VGM not being filed by cut-off. Cargo booked on the cheapest spot rates is generally rolled first.