Shipping an oversize load costs more than shipping cargo that fits in a conventional ocean container. That’s just a fact of life.
But the more you know about how the cost of oversize shipping adds up, the more easily you can find ways to shave some dollars off the total.
Let’s look at the factors that add expense to an oversize shipment:
Since 2015, U.S. imports of Polish goods have grown an average of 10% per year. Companies now recognize that they can buy high-quality products in Poland for less than the cost of similar goods sourced in Western Europe. The average shipping time from Poland to East Coast ports in the U.S. is 20 days.
Ocean is the cheapest way to transport cargo from the US to Poland, or vice versa. But for some shipments, “cheap” won’t do.
Say you’re shipping a sensitive product that can’t withstand three weeks on the ocean in summer or winter temperatures. Or say it’s crucial to deliver that product in just a few days. That’s when air freight provides the best solution.
One of the best ways to save money on international shipping is to load containers with as much weight as the law allows. After you load them, of course, you need to get that heavy shipment to the port, and then from the destination port to the receiver.
Those over-the-road trips can be tricky. It takes a special kind of service provider – ideally a heavy haul freight broker – to move a heavy shipment safely, legally and economically.
A major rail line in the New York Metro area was able to source the steel rail it needed in the UK. The company arranged ocean transport to the Port of NY/NJ, but transporting the steel rail from New Jersey to Connecticut was going to be a challenge since some of the rail sections were 132 feet long.
The term “project cargo” refers to a shipment that is crucial to a mission. Often oversize, overweight and/or high value, this shipment is likely to need several containers or other conveyances.
When you ship project cargo overseas, you can’t trust it to just any freight forwarder. The demands of project cargo require special expertise.
Many global shippers of dense, heavy freight fail to maximize container payloads and, as a result, inflate heavy freight shipping costs 20% or more. But by working with the right landside partners, heavy freight shippers can maximize container weight on the water to reduce the total number of container shipments annually – and still deliver door-to-door, without transloading.
Sometimes you have to load a truck with extra-heavy freight—for example, to transport large machinery to an ocean port. Sometimes it just pays to ship heavy—for instance, to save money on ocean transportation by fitting all the weight you can into a container.
Either way, it’s important to understand heavy haul freight rates and know what it takes to transport heavy freight over the road.
The coronavirus outbreak in China is first and foremost a massive human health crisis. But the epidemic has also caused big problems for supply chains and logistics networks.
Whether or not the coronavirus has impacted you, this disaster offers important lessons about how unexpected supply chain disruptions can undermine operations, and how to minimize that risk.
International shipping is a complex industry with a language all its own. The more shipping terms you understand, the better-equipped you’ll be to move your freight efficiently and economically. To get you up to speed on some key terms, here’s a quick international shipping glossary,
