Why need to get cheap sea freight?
Container sea freight is an important cost for importers and exporters. The level of sea freight affects the final product cost of importers and exporters to a certain extent. For international traders with increasingly fierce competition, how to obtain competitive sea freight is a topic worth exploring.
Today, I will combine nearly 20 years of international freight forwarding experience to provide importers and exporters with several ways to obtain competitive sea freight rates from China to worldwide.
Method 1: Study the off-season conditions of the route
After studying the situation of the off-season in one or several routes, you can reasonably allocate your own delivery plan. Try to adjust the proportion of shipments in the off-season and peak seasons to save freight. For example, the Spring Festival is the most important festival of Chinese tradition. Generally speaking, shipping cost will increase before the Spring Festival. If you can convince customers to ship after the Spring Festival, then there will be a very large possibility of getting cheaper sea freight.
Method 2: Compare sea freight rates of different shipping companies to the same port
An important feature of liner shipping is the serious homogenization. There are many shipping companies going to the same port, and the prices will vary. For example, if you go to the port of LA, there are a lot of vessels. In this case, if the customer does not have special requirements, try to choose a ship that is cheaper without affecting the delivery.
Method 3: Search for SOC container services
Some destination ports, such as Boston, Phoenix in U.S.A etc. If we have shipments from China to the above mentioned ports, there are many SOC containers that can be transported.(SOC (Shipper’s Own Container) means that a cargo container is owned by a consignee) .Some shipping companies will give special discounts on SOC containers, such as APL ONE and other shipping companies. If you can find an agent or shipping company that provides these SOC container services, you will be ahead of the competition in price.
Method 4: Use the shipping company’s lock-in price service
For example, booking through MAERSK SPOT, you can lock the price one month in advance or even earlier. If you can clearly determine the future price trend, then booking in advance will help you lock in the price and get a better advantage. Once the market goes well, the price will rise, and you have already locked in the price and firmly grasp the price initiative.
Method 5: Use a fixed contract price to get a low price
On many shipping routes from China, some cargo owners or freight forwarder companies will have a large number of regular shipments each year, so that he can sign a very long-term contract with the shipping company. You can enjoy some discounts by using the following 2 ways:(1)Sign house bl to get better rates (2)Using the same shipper to get better rates. These 2 ways point to one way:using the contract they signed with line. Commonly,you can enjoy the contract rates just using same shipper name which listed in contract. So find these kinds of agents and use their contract rates and services.
Method 6: Splitting of Multimodal Transport by using overseas agents
In many places, the transportation mode of CY-SD(CY-DOOR) is popular, that is, the multimodal transport from the port of departure to the inland terminal. If all is operated by the shipping company, sometimes the price will be very expensive. If you entrust a reliable agent at the port of discharge to operate, you may be able to obtain the freight rate advantage in the inland commission. For example, shipment from Shanghai port to BAKU(Baku is inland door place), if it is shipped to POTI by the shipping company, and then POTI to BAKU will be transshipped by the appointed agent, the total price will have some space.
Method 7: Transport in a NOR container.
Many refrigerated containers used to transport fresh fruits, vegetables and seafood to China need to be transported from various ports in China back to the port of origin (such as Chile in South America). Empty container returns will greatly increase the cost of the shipping company. Therefore, the NOR container transportation method came into being. If you can use the NOR box to transport products to the Americas and Australia, you will also enjoy very favorable prices.
The above methods are often encountered in actual work. If you have other better methods, welcome to leave comments here.
