Cost-Saving Construction Concepts: A Construction and Contracting Blog

For manufacturers, retailers and anyone who needs to move goods from one location to another, finding the best way to complete that journey can be a challenge. For a short journey, loading a truck and driving straight to the destination could be a viable option, but if the final destination is overseas, the choices are more limited. Ultimately, you will need to decide between marine transport and air transport. There are advantages to both forms of transport, and your choice will be largely determined by what you need to transport and how fast it must reach the destination.

When is air transport the best choice?  

The one advantage moving goods by air has is speed. If you must move something fast, taking it by air is often the only option. With air transport, you can take the goods across the world in only a few hours. There are, however, two significant problems with flying. Firstly, flying is expensive. Moving anything by air will always be more expensive than taking the surface route, and you must either be prepared to pay the costs or be able to pass on those costs to your customers if they can bear them without making your goods too expensive.

The second problem that is often faced by those using air transport is the issue of space. An aircraft may look large, but it is surprising how rapidly that space can be filled, especially if you need to move large or bulky materials. In some cases, you may find that your goods must be stripped down or partially disassembled to allow them to fit comfortably inside the aircraft. Of course, disassembling something will require it to be reassembled when the destination is reached, adding further to the transport costs.

When is marine transport the best choice?

Everyone knows that marine transport will take a little longer than air transportation, but does that matter? Marine transport is cheap, reliable and fully trackable. You know how long the journey will take and where the ship is at every stage. There are further advantages when you use marine transport. Not only is there much more space on a ship, allowing bulky items to be stored intact, but there are none of the weight restrictions found on aircraft, so heavy items should cost no more to ship than lighter ones. Additionally, there is no need to split the load into multiple deliveries to stay within the set limits.

Contact a marine transport company to learn more.