As of June 2019, the spot rate for shipping ocean cargo from Europe to North America was $2,044 per 40-foot equivalent unit (FEU). That’s 42 percent higher than the rate one year ago. Even on less expensive lanes, you certainly don’t want to pay more for shipping than you need to.
So how can you keep ocean freight costs as low as possible?
If you’ve done business mainly within the U.S., but now you’re starting to import or export, get ready to be thrown some curveballs. International freight forwarding is a whole different game.
Moving containers to or from Europe? You’ll face rules and situations that don’t come up when you ship from state to state. It’s important to work with service providers that understand all the subtleties.
As a rule, the less you handle cargo, the better. But when you move heavy cargo internationally, sometimes it pays to transload. The extra handling adds a bit of risk, but if the numbers work out and your service partners do the job right, transloading can sometimes save you money.
When you need to get a container to the port or rail terminal, or from port or rail terminal to its final destination, you have some choices to make. One of them is how to source that over-the-road move. Should you work with the steamship line that provides the international transportation? Or should you work with a trucking broker?
Before you decide, here are some important factors to consider.
Would you pay good money to transport empty space? No?
But that’s exactly what you do whenever you don’t load a container to full capacity.
Carriers charge by the box to move containerized freight. It makes no difference to a steamship line whether you squeeze all the cargo you possibly can into a container, or if you leave it one-third empty. The charge is the same.
There is a very costly misconception regarding ocean shipping that may lead global shippers of heavy freight to pay far more than needed. Specifically, steamship lines promote the idea that container weights must be limited to 44,000 pounds or less to stay within “legal” limits. Knowing the actual truck weight limits by state (see the chart further on in this article) can easily lead to six-figure savings for large-volume shippers of heavy freight.
In most selling situations, including logistics, the companies doing the “recommending” tend to suggest solutions that favor the products or services they sell.
Shippers of heavy freight are faced with this regularly when steamship lines, or local forwarders working with steamship lines tell them they must limit container weight to 44,000 pounds or even less – what they claim is the legal limit.
If you ship heavy cargo via ocean, you could be paying 20% or more than needed. And the reason might be your steamship line.
