Air Express, Air Freight, and Sea Freight are the three freights – and what it means for your businessshipping options available from China to the US. Air Express has the highest shipping rates whereas Sea Freight has the lowest shipping rates. Does this mean that Sea Freight is the cheapest shipping method from China to the US? Well, the fact that Sea Freight has the lowest shipping rates does not mean that it is the ideal shipping method for all goods. It is the cheapest if you are shipping heavy and bulky goods. On the other hand, Air Freight and Air Express are suitable for shipping light goods.
For a shipment that weighs less than 150 kilograms, Air Freight is the most suitable shipping method. Air Freight is the most appropriate for consignments weighing less than 500 kilograms. Sea freight has the best shipping rates from China to the US for goods that weigh more than 500 kilograms.
If importers decide to ship by sea, they have two more alternatives; Less Container Load (LCL) and Full Container Load (FCL). Goods are shipped as FLC when the shipper has a large shipment that can fill a 20ft or 40ft container. If the shipment is not large enough, it will be shipped as LCL, where the goods will be merged with other shippers' goods in one container. In FCL, a shipper pays for the whole container while in LCL, a shipper only pays for the space their goods occupy.
Weight and volume of the cargo
The weight of the cargo has to be measured to determine the shipping rates. The heavier the shipment, the higher the shipping rates. At times, a shipper can have a large but light cargo. In such cases, the volume determines the shipping rates.
When determining Air Freight shipping prices from China to the US, the actual weight of the cargo is compared with the volumetric weight. The procedure for calculating the volumetric weight is as follows:
Volumetric Weight = (L*W*H)/6000Safatrans - Transportation and Logistics Air Freight Page
If the volumetric weight is higher than the actual weight, the shipping rates will be calculated based on the volumetric weight. If the actual weight is higher than the volumetric weight, the actual weight will be the chargeable weight.
