Whether you want to export something to another country or want to import something to your country, you will always have to work with a shipping company. The quality of service offered by these companies will have a huge impact on the success of your business. This is the reason why it is important to ensure that you have selected a reputable company, especially if you need help with ocean freight.
If you have just started out and going to send your first shipment, it is a good idea to educate yourself more about the whole shipping process. You will have to learn about different so many things, including shipping lines, freight forwarders, booking agents, and even customhouse brokers.
While you certainly need to pay attention to so many things, it is always quite important to determine what type of shipping container you need. Also called freight container, ISO container, intermodal container, hi-cube container, or sea can, a shipping container is usually a steel box used to move goods from one place to another in a safe and secure way. Shipping containers have been around for more than 50 years and are now an important part of modern container shipping business. In about five short decades, they have become so popular that most container ships now carry more than 50% off the cargo shipped by ocean freight. There were boxes used before the introduction of containers, but then Keith Tantlinger and P. McLean developed these modern intermodal containers, thinking that it would be much easier to lift only container from the vehicle and place on to a ship. Today, the picture of shipping industry is incomplete without containers.
Container shipping has many benefits actually. Increased efficiency is the biggest advantage because it is possible for a large container to carry well over 200,000 sea containers in a single year – a single voyage could take around 8000 containers. To move the same amount of freight, it would take hundreds of aircraft and trucks. Moreover, many people opt for ocean container shipping because it is considered the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation because it is not associated with high exhaust gas emission, which is usually true in case of road freight, rail freight, and even air freight. Since many companies now take advantage of high rate ships, they can further reduce the risk of CO2 emissions.
However, when it comes to sending your first shipment, you have to decide which one of those will work fine for you. To answer this question, you will have to consider your shipping need first. In case you usually need to ship cargo that can go into a standard shipping container, you do not need to think much about which way to go. But, you may want to opt for a ‘less than a container’ loads solution in case your cargo fails to fill the container. This solution usually works fine if your cargo is not that urgent. So, know your needs first and then compare your options to make a right choice.