How to Choose The Right Freight Service for Your Business?

If you are in the manufacturing business and want to export your goods to other countries, this freight service article is for you. We will discuss the three modes of freight services used for shipping abroad and also throw some light on choosing the best mode of shipment based on your type of business or shipping consignment.

Different types of freight services

For the domestic or local movement of goods, the best options for transport are road and railway. You can ship your goods internationally using multiple channels – for wholesale shipping or shipping to distant countries, the best option is to go by Sea or Air.

There are three types of freight services for International shipping:

Courier services

Companies like FedEx, DHL and UPS offer couriers that deliver from door to door. For shipping a small quantity, you’re most likely to go with a courier service. Personal items and gifts like rakhi, mithai and important documents are some products for which individuals or businesses use courier services.

Air

Traditional air freight is an established way to move goods worldwide. Your heavy cargo is loaded on a plane and flown to another country. Airfreight service is the fastest way to ship goods worldwide, but it might not be the cheapest.

Sea

Sea freight service is often the cheapest method of International shipping – but it takes the most amount of time. It can take months for your goods to arrive at your destination port and also includes the risk of mercurial sea weather which may lead to delays in delivery.

Which Freight Service Should I Use?

There are a few things to take into consideration when choosing the best method to ship your goods. We’d say these are mainly:

Price / Cost of shipping

The price/cost is the first factor you should look at before you ship because it may cause a big hole in your pocket. The sea is the cheapest and the air being the most expensive, your choice depends on how urgently you want your goods to arrive at the chosen destination.

Size / Volume of goods

The price you pay depends on how much space you’re taking i.e the quantity/size of the goods that you are shipping. If the goods are more in volume or large in size, the prices of the shipping will be much more by air or courier than the sea. For large goods or a big consignment, most exporters/importers choose sea freight services.

Process / Paperwork

There are too much paperwork and fees to be paid in shipping goods by air and sea. The best one where minimal paperwork is involved in the courier service. It provides door to door service, so you have lesser problems with locating your shipment.

Urgency of shipment

Depending on the urgency of shipment, you need to choose between courier, air or sea. By courier or air, it’ll take your goods roughly around 2-4 days to be shipped, but by sea, it’ll take the goods 6-7 weeks depending on weather conditions.

GoComet is the world’s best platform to make freight procurement efficient and fast. Our enterprise SaaS product is used by manufacturing companies to drive sharp reverse auctions bringing out the best possible end to end rates for international shipments.

Also check out our Freight Tracking Software and Sailing Schedule module.