Sea freight is the most economic form of transportation for exporting products, when deciding whether to your goods via Air or Sea Freight consider the following:

• How often the shipping company sails between the export and import destinations

• The actual time it takes for your goods to get from the port of loading and the port of discharge

• Whether the vessel sails directlyto the port of discharge or will there be a transhipment where the products will be loaded on another vessel to the port of discharge.

• Will the vessel only call the port of loading or discharge if there is sufficient cargo to load on the vessel.

Types of Vessels used for exporting products

Container vessels are the most common merchant vessel, which has been designed specifically for carrying containers. Some of these vessels have their own container crantes and can load and offload their own containers.

Containers

Most containers today are of the 40-ft (12.2 m) variety and are known as 40-foot containers. This is equivalent to 2 TEU. 45-foot (13.7 m) containers are also designated 2 TEU. Two TEUs are equivalent to one forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU). High cube containers have a height of 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m), while half-height containers, used for heavy loads, have a height of 4 ft 3 in (1.3 m). When converting containers to TEUs, the height of the containers typically is not considered.

Container Preparation

All containers which are to be shipped will be checked by the shipping line which involves a physical and technical inspection to make sure that the units perform as required. The containers are cleaned by removing any solid matter, using hot water, detergent wash and steam if required. The container needs to be dry before being packed with products.