Guide
Air vs ocean freight.
The choice is rarely about speed alone. It is about the value of the goods, how dense they are, and what a delay actually costs your business.
Side by side
| Air freight | Ocean freight | |
|---|---|---|
| Transit time | 1–7 days door to door | 18–40 days port to port, plus inland legs |
| Cost per kg | Highest — priced on chargeable weight | Lowest, especially for a full container |
| Volumetric divisor | 1 m³ ≈ 167 kg chargeable | 1 m³ ≈ 1,000 kg chargeable |
| Best cargo | High value, perishable, urgent, low volume | Bulky, heavy, low value per kg, planned volume |
| Schedule reliability | High — frequent departures | Moderate — port congestion and blank sailings |
| Carbon per tonne-km | Highest of all modes | Lowest of all modes |
Finding your break-even
Compare the freight difference against the cost of the extra weeks at sea. Add up the capital tied in inventory in transit, the safety stock you must hold to cover a longer lead time, and the margin lost if you stock out. When that number exceeds the air premium, flying is the cheaper decision even though the invoice is larger.
As a rule of thumb, shipments under roughly 500 kg with a high value-to-weight ratio usually favour air. Dense, low-value cargo almost always favours ocean. Between the two sits sea-air, where cargo moves by vessel to a hub and flies the final leg.
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