Air, sea, road, or rail – which will deliver your cargo quicker?
Cargo air charters vs ocean freight, truck vs rail transportation – these are time-honored debates that continue to surround the transport of cargo. Some will contend that rail transportation is safer, that road freight services are cheaper, or that sea freight vs air freight is no contest, but it can be hard to see through the bluster and cut through to the truth of the matter.
Deciding how best to transport your goods is crucial – thankfully, you’re not alone! This article will break down the pros and cons of each method of travel, ensuring that you’re best placed to make the correct decision and get your cargo where it needs to be safely, on time, and with minimal fuss.
Air Freight Shipping
When it comes to air freight delivery services, the advantages are self-explanatory. Fundamentally, the most obvious point is this: planes are fast. If you have cargo that needs to be dispatched in a hurry as priority number one, then there really is no need to look beyond air freight services to meet your needs.
This might be the result of simple logistics – a contract that needs to be fulfilled at once, for example – or it might be due to your cargo being perishable. If you’re transporting food products long distances and need to ensure that they’re on the ground and safely delivered before they’ve had time to degrade, then clearly your mind is made up.
In addition to the obvious advantages provided by the speed of this mode of transport, air freight cargo also possesses another characteristic that makes it unique among its peers: accessibility. For surgical deliveries to remote locales, nothing beats an air-drop, making air freight shipping the most common mode of choice when humanitarian crises are involved.
Villages that have been isolated by flooding, with roads washed away and rail lines destroyed, have only one method of access when it comes to large scale cargo delivery: air. Beyond the common images that cargo air delivery evokes – a huge fuselage packed with crates of all sizes – air freight delivery services can also involve more nimble operators, such as smaller planes or even helicopters.
Most importantly of all, if your cargo is in any way precious then you will want to ensure that it’s kept safe. Air transportation is the safest way to send cargo anywhere in the world, making it the number one choice for the vast majority of international as well as domestic shipments, and a safe bet all round.
Maritime Transport
When it comes to shipping and transport, maritime really is the oldest player on the market – the clue is in the word “shipping”! The reason that air vs ocean freight continues to be a discussion even thousands of years after the invention of the latter is testament to the enduring appeal of transport by sea. While the advantages and disadvantages of sea freight are many, ultimately the number one point of appeal for most is, quite simply, cost.
The question “is shipping by sea cheaper than air” is frequently asked, and while exceptions to the rule always exist, on the whole the answer is a fairly straightforward “yes”. The vast size of sea carriers, their relatively inexpensive operational cost, and their sheer number mean that air freight vs sea freight cost is always going to be a losing battle for the former. That’s not to say that ocean freight is the cheap and nasty option, however, as there are numerous advantages to sending cargo across the waves.
Firstly, if your cargo is seriously oversized – think the blade of a wind turbine, or something similarly massive – then loading it onto a ship that’s the size of a small town will be much more straightforward than trying to cram it into the other three types of transport. Maneuvering these colossal beasts takes years of training and no small amount of skill, so when it comes to air freight vs sea freight the experience of the individuals involved is a characteristic that is shared.
Lastly, when it comes to sea freight vs air freight costs, it’s not all financial. The emission of carbon is a cost that must be paid by the planet in the long term, and sea shipping produces far less compared to some other modes. If you’re looking for the cheaper, slightly greener option – but you’re not in a hurry and don’t need to get anywhere remote – then sea cargo is the most likely option for you.
Rail Freight Transport
Turning to the overland options, road vs rail freight transport is another hotly debated issue, with proponents of the latter pointing to speed, distance, and safety as the key advantages of rail transport. To begin with speed, it’s clear that rail has the edge at the macro level: no traffic jams, larger speed limits, and more direct pre-established routes enable rail freight transport to hurtle along way ahead of its road-bound rivals.
Safety is an area where the benefits of rail transport shine in relation to freight road transport. The potential for road accidents is ever-present, and despite the efforts of freight road providers to mitigate its impact, railroad transport will always have it beaten. This is because transportation by rail has one key component that road transport services cannot match: the absence of people. The fact that most types of rail transport are conducted along specific freight lines, and even commercial passenger rails are driven by trained professionals, means that safety is an aspect of the road vs rail freight transport which is clearly weighed in the latter’s favor.
Transportation by rail is also preferred when it comes to vast overland distances, such as from one side of a country to the other, and this is because of the compounding effects of the other advantages of using rail transport. Rail direct transportation is faster and safer, so the further you have to go the further the advantages of rail transportation can be brought to bear as the wider the gap grows between it and road freight transport services.
Road Freight Transport
The types of road freight transport are varied and include a myriad of offerings under the umbrella of road transport services. From 18-wheeler trucks to nimble couriers delivering small parcels, road transportation advantages mainly lie in the customizability of what’s on offer. Whatever the size of your cargo, when you choose to transport freight by road, you can guarantee that you’re in complete control of it every step of the way, making it a great option for smaller, more localized freight that doesn’t need the range or speed of its rival modes.
Another key advantage of road cargo transportation services is their cost. Frequently, freight transportation by road is the cheapest way of getting cargo from point A to point B. While it might take a while longer than if it were to travel by rail, the fact that these routes are so well-trodden enables supply lines to provide savings to consumers that can make the transportation of goods by road a cost-effective and attractive solution.
In terms of international transport costs – a key consideration when deciding between rail or road transport – this is an area where the lines between these two modes of travel are blurred. This lack of clear demarcation between the two is also present in terms of speed. While rail transportation will get you from point A to point B faster, if point B doesn’t have a train station within 1,000 miles then you’re going to experience delays.
In contrast, road transportation often offers door-to-door delivery, next to no loading or unloading time, and optimized routes that aren’t at the mercy of where cargo rails were built in the past. All of this combines, for the consumer, at least, into a puzzling grey area, where it’s entirely possible that rail transportation is faster but, perversely, road freight takes less time. To put it simply, whether you go with road or rail transport depends on your cargo and destination, so weigh up which is more suitable based on these characteristics before you make your choice.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (…and ships)
Like the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the four streams down which cargo travel each have the potential to wreak havoc on your logistics. By carefully considering the specific requirements of your unique journey, you can avoid the pitfalls of these modes of travel and guarantee that what you send gets where it needs to be.
If any considerable distance is involved, if any amount of speed is required, and if any degree of safety is desirable, then the drawbacks of the other three solutions make clear the obvious choice: air cargo charter. Now that you’re settled on the method, it’s time to choose an experienced, reliable, and highly-acclaimed operator to fulfil your cargo needs!