The trade-off in one sentence
Sea freight sells space and air freight sells time: ocean moves cargo for a fraction of the cost per kilogram, while air compresses a six-week journey into days. Every mode decision is really a question of which of those your business needs more, shipment by shipment.
Side by side
| Sea freight | Air freight | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per kg | Lowest — the default for dense or heavy cargo | Multiples of sea; billed on chargeable weight |
| Typical transit (Asia–SA) | Weeks (door-to-door 5–7) | Days (door-to-door 5–10) |
| Best for | Stock replenishment, machinery, furniture, raw materials | Urgent parts, high-value goods, perishables, launch stock |
| Shipment size | From a pallet (LCL) to full containers (FCL) | Small to mid-size consignments; large loads get expensive fast |
| Schedule reliability | Good, but exposed to port congestion and blank sailings | High — more frequent departures, faster recovery from disruption |
The mistakes we see most often
- Comparing freight cost instead of landed cost. Duties, VAT and destination charges are the same either way — on high-value goods the air premium can be a small slice of the total.
- Ignoring the cost of waiting. Six weeks of stock sitting on the water is six weeks of working capital. For fast-moving or seasonal goods, that carrying cost belongs in the comparison.
- Forgetting volumetric weight. Air freight on bulky, light cargo is priced on volume (cm³ ÷ 6000), which is why a “light” shipment can get a heavy quote.
- All-or-nothing thinking. Splitting one order — an urgent slice by air, the balance by sea — is often the cheapest way to hit a deadline without airfreighting everything.
Practical default: ship by sea unless the goods are needed within a month, are worth a lot per kilogram, or a stockout would cost more than the freight difference. When in doubt, ask for both quotes — we price them side by side as standard.
What about road freight?
Within Southern Africa, cross-border road freight is the third leg: door-to-door trucking to and from neighbouring countries, either as a full truckload or shared. It's frequently combined with a sea or air leg into one multimodal move — something we plan as a single journey, not three separate bookings. See our services.