Whether you want to transport your novel to your sister in the other city or want to deliver your few kg weighing order to your client in another country, we all know the process.
Get in touch with a shipping country and get your parcel delivered within a few days. But what about shipping heavy items at low prices? How are they done?
You might be planning to deliver truck spare parts or cars to your clients in other countries or have an e-commerce business and want to ship your products that are heavier than the average shipping weight.
Or you might be planning to establish a shipping company and want to know how the shipping of heavy items at low prices takes place.
If so, you are in the correct spot because we provide an elaborative guide for shipping heavy items at low prices. So, make sure that you stick to it to the extent and find your answers by giving it a thorough read!
So, let's get straight to our first heading about shipping heavy items without further delay.
Shipping Heavy Items Cheap: A Quick Rundown
Shipping heavy items at low prices are not similar to what transporting small products seems like. The delivery time, the pricing, the routes, and affecting factors, in short, everything is not even 5% the same as other shipments.
So, what exactly does it mean to ship heavy items for low prices?
It is a very common term in e-commerce shopping and international brands. They have to provide deliveries of small and heavy items to the address of their buyers in a pocket-friendly manner.
Shipping heavy items refer to the special kind of shipment that involves moving heavy items, mostly weighing more than 31 kg or 70 lbs, from their pick-up location to their destination.
Heavy items can be vehicles' spare parts, cars, sailboats, different machines, furniture, ammunition, large parcels, or anything that weighs more than the maximum weight value.
How Does Shipping Heavy Items In Cheap Prices Take Place - Different Transportation Options
In this era of digital evolution, the internet has given the industry of e-commerce a remarkable boost. Instead of visiting markets and bargaining with their retailers, people prioritize the online shopping experience.
But, every ease comes with many challenges, and so in this case. Visiting a website, placing your order, and paying online is effortless. But the real struggles start when it comes to shipping the order from your warehouses in China to the buyer in Jamaica in a limited time.
So, here we are discussing the top possible transporting option we have for shipping heavy items at low prices.
1. Maritime Cargo Shipment:
Maritime cargo shipment refers to the transporting of heavy items through ships. Depending on the products and items transported, it involves using different shipping cubes and containers.
It can take place on sailboats, ships, boats, cruise ships, or by other means through the ocean. The main features of maritime cargo shipment are as below:
- It is one of the cheapest ways of transporting light and heavy products internationally.
- The delivery duration can prolong due to ocean traffic and climatic factors.
- It involves different kinds of workforce like crew members, drivers, engineers, cranes experts, and other engineer resources.
- It requires the latest technologies and special machineries like cranes for loading and unloading shipping cubes and trailers and heavy trucks to drive the containers to the shipping company's warehouses.
- It is highly dependable on climatic conditions and extreme weather changes.
- Legal documentation of importers' and exporters' countries and clearance from customs officers are mandatory in maritime shipping.
There are different ways of getting maritime cargo shipment for your heavy items, like getting professional shipment company services, transporting the products by yourself, or hiring crew members for your transport. Surprisingly, almost 80% of the transport takes place through this shipping process because it saves time and is effective and protective compared to other methods.
2. Heavy Trucks And Trailers:
Heavy trucks or trailers transportation is a viable option if you plan to ship heavy items at low prices to another city or neighboring country. But if your destination location is at a great distance or on another continent, then heavy trucks and trailers might be challenging for you.
The features of shipping heavy items at low prices through heavy trucks and trailers are as below:
- It is a bit pricey as compared with other transport options.
- It can be prolonged due to various reasons, like traffic, climatic conditions, permits of the countries' governments, routes to secure the safety of the products, or inconvenience due to trucks' mechanical problems.
- Crane operators, survey teams, expert and licensed drivers, and other equipment to secure the shipping cubes.
- It is the best way if you want to transport the products to the rural areas.
- A little mishandling can cause damage to the natural habitats and surrounding structures like buildings, trees, houses, or mountains.
- However, if the location drop is near, it is the most cost-effective transportation option.
The transportation of heavy items at reduced pricing through heavy trucks or trailers depends upon different factors like speed of the transport, routes and its alternatives, legal documentation even if you are delivering in the cities within a country, the high prices of the drivers, damage of the nature and environment, extreme climate and chances of robbery. Even if you use the latest tools for your products' safety, the chance of robbery is always there due to road transport.
3. AirWay Shipment:
Courier services refer to airway shipment, either within the country or internationally, through airways like cargo planes. Mostly, the only availing option is to get the services from a shipping company. However, the process of airway shipment is a bit more complex than the above two discussed.
The features of shipping heavy items at low prices through airway shipment are as below:
- Getting an AWB (Air Way Bill) for this shipment is prolonged. It serves as the receipt of the goods, having all the details of the parties involved in this shipment, the shipper company, and the carrier's company.
- Airfreight involves the shipment through commercial or charter planes, being one of the major ways of trading goods and commodities between countries in the twenties.
- It is the most convenient and best option for deliveries with tight deadlines or distant destinations. You can deliver your heavy items anywhere in the world with an almost zero theft ratio.
- The customs departments of both exporters and importers countries have a vast array of options to deal with heavy and small items, mostly making the shipment quick and successful.
- The protection level of the products and items transported through the air shipment is higher than all other means of transportation because of the tight management at airports and other departments.
- The airway shipments have an uninterrupted journey of transportation: no checkouts, no traffic, or any other barrier. Just take off from the pick-up city or country and end the journey after reaching the destined city or country.
The biggest advantage of the airway shipment, right after timely deliveries and high protection of the goods, is no physical barriers or additional services needed.
Unlike the truck transportation or maritime cargo shipment, in which you had to pay additional for the crane services, your shipment doesn't require any additional charges.
But still, it is one of the most expensive ways of transportation, and its services are worth every dollar.
4. Rail Freight Transportation:
If you want a heavy ship item at cheap prices experience, railway transportation might solve your problem. Rail freight transportation delivers your order, parcels, or heavy or light items to other cities or countries through rail tracks.
It involves different shipping cubes and containers, depending upon the weight of the items transported.
The features of rail freight transportation for heavy shipping items for low prices are as below:
- The shipping cubes on the rails might be loaded on one train only or multiple at a time, depending upon the needs of the products. If you are transporting a single heavy item at a time and there are no other products for similar delivering routes, then a single train will be involved. Otherwise, multiple trains are also an option.
- The rail freight transport is a relatively less costly process and ensures great protection of the products because the shipping system of the rail freight is somewhat the same as in air freight transport.
- The delivery time in rail freight depends on the distance between the pick-up location to the drop-off city or country, the train's route, the checkout stations, and other physical barriers.
- Rail freight is time-consuming compared to maritime cargo shipment or truck and trailer transport.
Because it is land-based transport:
- Similar to other transporting mediums, climatic conditions greatly affect rail freight. But in this case, we are not speaking about heavy rain or storms, and we are pointing to the trenches that collapse due to erosion and other environmental problems.
- Rail freight might require additional charges for other mandatory services cranes usage for loading and unloading the shipping containers on the trains, driver and heavy trucks that take the shipping containers to the warehouses, and other motor transports needed for delivering the items to the delivery addresses.
In short, rail transport is a convenient and safer option for shipping heavy items at low prices compared to other transportation means. But, it is only workable if you have enough time for the delivery.
Trains have multiple check-in stations throughout their journey, which are more than the trucks transport have, resulting in time-consuming deliveries. But still, it provides great protection of the goods and is cheaper.
What to contemplate When Shipping Heavy Items For Cheap Prices?
We all know that in the case of shipment, especially in international transport, size and weight highly matter. Whether you deliver a single heavy product or a heavy parcel having multiple small products, moving it from one place to another all by yourself is certainly not a piece of cake. And this is exactly where shipping companies jump in!
- Freight Class Of The Product
The National Motor Freight Traffic Association proposed the standard classification of the products for freight transportation, depending on the product's density, stability, handling, and liability. It ranges from class 55 to class 500, and the lowest class, that is 5, refers to the heaviest weighing products (more than 50 pounds and less vulnerable to damage) to the highest class, class 500, includes the lightest products (weighing less than 1lbs and quite fragile).
- Types of equipment To Secure The Safety Of Products
A single shipping container, carried either by truck, trailer, or cargo ship, contains multiple products at a time. And to secure the safety of your products, you have to take every possible step to ensure their protection.
Although shipping companies offer packing services for the products, you have to be sure about the equipment like heavy tapes, chains, locks, seals, and other tools and strategies to ensure its safety.
Are Transporting Companies A Good Option For Shipping Heavy Items For Cheap Prices?
In simple words, YES! Getting professional help for shipping heavy items for cheap prices can bring revolutionary, finance-saving, and exceptional outcomes to your company.
Moving heavy items is certainly not a show of a one-person army, and you have to evaluate every little detail in transportation.
From documentation to the safety of the products, from the charges of crane experts to the tracking of dispatch products from the warehouses, an expert can give you an ultimate shipping heavy items experience in a cost-effective manner.
The Final Verdict
Whether your transport is within the country or international freight, your struggle begins right after the word "heavy items." And this is exactly why you need to be careful with every detail because a little inconvenience, and boom, all your efforts and time will be wasted. One minor trouble in the transporting journey can not only damage your million-dollar item but can get you in legal trouble.