Coastal freight is an essential component of the supply chain and national economy. Without it, many of the products that we buy every day simply would not be available between the states of Australia. As such a large island nation, it’s expensive to transport items by road and freight.
Coastal freight makes it affordable and safe to transport essential products like coal, ore and liquid petroleum gas around our own country.
Here are a few things you should know about coastal freight?
Coastal freight is a method of transporting goods along Australia’s ‘ocean highway’ rather than via the road or air. It is not used as much as our rail and road links, and often much less than air, despite being often a more efficient and cost-effective method.
Shipping items via the ocean can be a huge cost saver. It’s often a lot cheaper than sending items by road because it is charged per container, which can often be many tonnes, instead of by weight. Road transport and air transport costs increase rapidly depending on how heavy or large the items you’re planning to send are.
Coastal freight is also a much more environmentally friendly way to send items around Australia, compared to other methods. In comparison to road and air travel, transport by sea is a much lower emitter of carbon dioxide.
Shipping by seas is also a very consistent method of delivery, with most travel routes offering highly reliable timings.
Coastal shipping has become increasingly important for relieving the congestion of roads and the pressure on air freight travel. With most supply chains now being disrupted, it has allowed the flow of items between states to continue and allowed for many of the roadblocks between states to be bypassed.
Ocean shipping services only accept full container loads, which means containers are used to ship your cargo exclusively. You’ll usually have a few size options to choose from and the container will typically drop off for loading by the customer before it gets dropped off at the depot to be unpacked at the other end.
If you have a full container of cargo that you need to send to another state of Australia, then you’ll generally find that its cheapest to send it on the ocean highway. In Australia where road travel can take a long time, the cost savings can be significant. Using ocean freight could save you as much as 65% off the cost of sending the same cargo by road.
If you don’t have a full container to send however, you might find road transport to be the less expensive option. Ocean shipping doesn’t cover as many supply routes as rail transport and road transport does as well, so if you’re trying to get items to a specific location you might find you have no other option but to send it by rail or truck.
All kind of transport have an important role in the supply chain. If you need to get items from point A to point B then it’s well worth looking into whether or not coastal freight is an option for you as this could end up saving a significant sum of money in the long run.
This method of transport is expected to continue growing rapidly and may soon become a freight option that we use much more regularly to send items around the country. If you regularly send large amounts of cargo, give it a try!
