How much does it cost to ship a container by sea?

When you first purchased a shipping container, you will have already had to select from several types of container. From brand new to rusty used container, now that your choice is made, it will have to travel so that it can bring your merchandise where you want it, and it's not free.

The cost of container transport will depend on several criteria such as the number of containers to be transported, their sizes, the region and the port where it must be delivered.

For long journeys, you will pay the transport price according to sea freight.

The cost of container transport will depend on several criteria such as the number of containers to be transported, their sizes, the region and the port where it must be delivered.

What is sea freight?

Sea freight is used in the transport sector to designate the long-distance transport of the majority of raw materials such as energy with oil, coal, ores or even gas but also foodstuffs and metals.

It may also concern miscellaneous goods transported in containers which make it possible to avoid any handling of the material in the container from departure until its arrival.

The multiplication of containers has allowed maritime flows to develop and allowed boats to be increasingly larger to transport large quantities.

Maritime freight is primarily intended to transport goods or people by sea but can also be involved in pre- and post-transportation from the place of production to the ship or vice versa.

The maritime routes that are used for transporting goods differ depending on the type of goods being transported.

Shipping prices 

Sea transport is the most competitive since it is often more competitive than sea or rail or even land transport.

It goes first. Take into account port and customs taxes which are different depending on the country and ports, and are used, among other things, to operate the port.

To calculate the paid unit for sea freight, the volume and mass of the container must be taken into account.

Indeed, we must compare these two units based on the theory of maritime freight. According to this theory, one m3 is equivalent to one ton. Thanks to this equality, we compare the volume in m3 and the mass in tonnes. At the end of the comparison, the unit retained is the one that is higher and is called the PU.

For example, if a shipper holds information from its export such as:

Volume of the goods = 65 cm000;

Mass of the goods = 66 kg.

They must first be converted into m3 and tonnes respectively. This will give 65 m3 and 66 tonnes. The comparison gives this 66 t > 65 m3. Thus, the paying unit is the ton. Likewise the number of PUs is 66. With this data, you can now calculate the basic freight.

The different taxes included in maritime freight

We must obviously not forget to take into account port and customs taxes which depend on the country but also on the port itself. We must also pay attention to port handling operations such as the unloading of containers or their storage. Some ports find themselves overloaded, like certain ports in the Mediterranean, and this leads to additional costs.

It will also be necessary to take into account the currency conversion rate which can also result in surcharges.