Ocean freight

The first booking decision is FCL versus LCL. FCL gives you the whole box, faster handling, and less damage exposure; LCL buys space by the cubic meter in a shared container and suits small, dense shipments. The crossover usually lands around half a container of volume, at which point FCL is cheaper outright.

Pricing is quoted per container by port pair and stacked with surcharges: fuel, peak season, port congestion, plus inland drayage at each end. Once the box lands, the clock matters: free time at the terminal is limited, and demurrage accrues daily when a container sits past it. Most manufacturers book through a freight forwarder rather than holding direct carrier contracts, unless they ship thousands of TEU a year.

The trade against air is cost versus time and inventory. Ocean can run an order of magnitude cheaper per kilogram, but a 4-to-6-week door-to-door transit means more inventory in motion and slower reaction to demand shifts. Schedule reliability is the metric seasoned importers watch: a quoted 21-day transit that actually lands anywhere from day 19 to day 35 forces buffer stock that quietly eats the rate savings.

Frequently asked questions

What is ocean freight in simple terms?

Ocean freight moves goods by container ship and is the workhorse mode for intercontinental trade. Capacity is measured in TEU, where a 20-foot container is one unit and a 40-foot box counts as two. Ocean is by far the cheapest way to move heavy intercontinental volume and also the slowest, with port-to-port transits measured in weeks.

What is the difference between FCL and LCL?

FCL, a full container load, gives you the whole box, faster handling, and less damage exposure, while LCL buys space by the cubic meter in a shared container and suits small, dense shipments. The crossover usually lands around half a container of volume, where FCL becomes cheaper outright. One 16-cubic-meter shipment quoted $1,990 as LCL against $1,730 as a 20-foot FCL that also transited 5 days faster and skipped deconsolidation.

When should you choose ocean freight over air freight?

Ocean freight wins on cost and loses on time: rates can run an order of magnitude cheaper per kilogram, but a 4-to-6-week door-to-door transit means more inventory in motion and slower reaction to demand shifts. In one comparison, 2,400 kg of enclosures from Ningbo to Chicago cost about $3,100 by ocean over 35 days versus $13,700 by air in 6 days, so the buyer aired the first 300 units to protect a launch and shipped the remaining 9,700 by sea.

What surcharges and fees apply to ocean freight?

Ocean freight pricing is quoted per container by port pair and stacked with surcharges: fuel, peak season, and port congestion, plus inland drayage at each end. After the box lands, free time at the terminal is limited and demurrage accrues daily once it runs out. In one case a missing customs document delayed pickup 9 days against 4 free days, adding $1,175 to a $2,600 move.

Why does schedule reliability matter more than quoted transit time?

Schedule reliability is the ocean freight metric seasoned importers watch, because a quoted 21-day transit that actually lands anywhere from day 19 to day 35 forces buffer stock that quietly eats the rate savings. Most manufacturers book through a freight forwarder rather than holding direct carrier contracts, unless they ship thousands of TEU a year.