Sea, air, or express?
Enter what you are shipping and see the three modes compared on cost and time, with the chargeable-weight math shown in full. Every rate, divisor, and transit time is an editable example: replace each with a real forwarder or courier quote for numbers you can act on. The math is standard, the rates are yours.
Every figure here is an example. Replace each one with a real forwarder or courier quote for numbers you can trust.
FOB: Seller loads at their port; you run the main leg on.
Add a value for a rough insurance and duty context line. It is not a customs quote.
Carriers bill the greater of your actual weight and the volumetric weight of the space you take. Air and courier divide total volume in cm³ by a divisor; sea LCL bills revenue tons, the greater of cubic metres and metric tons.
| Mode | Actual | Volumetric | Chargeable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air÷ 6000 | 120 kg | 144 kg | 144 kg |
| Express÷ 5000 | 120 kg | 172.8 kg | 172.8 kg |
| SeaW/M | 0.12 t | 0.86 m³ | 1.00 t |
- Chargeable
- 1.00 t W/M
- Transit
- ~35 days
- Cost / kg
- $0.79
- Chargeable
- 144 kg
- Transit
- ~6 days
- Cost / kg
- $5.40
- Chargeable
- 172.8 kg
- Transit
- ~3 days
- Cost / kg
- $10.08
These are variable freight costs only. Sea and air also carry fixed fees, port charges, forwarder handling, customs brokerage, and destination delivery, that this instrument does not model and that dominate small shipments. Always compare against a full door to door quote.
At 0.86 m³ this is comfortably an LCL shipment. FCL rarely pays off until you approach half a container.
Usable volume, about 28 m³ for a 20ft and 58 m³ for a 40ft, runs below the nominal box size. Directional, not a quote.
For 120 kg at 0.86 m³, sea is the cheapest at $95 in about 35 days, and express is the fastest at about 3 days for $1,210.
Under roughly 200 kg, air or courier usually wins in practice: sea's low per cubic metre rate gets swamped by the fixed port, forwarder, and destination fees a small LCL shipment still has to pay.
Your cargo is light for its size, so air and courier bill volumetric weight, about 144 kg for air, not the 120 kg on the scale.
Cheapest per kilo, slowest by weeks. It earns its keep at pallet and container scale, where its fixed port and paperwork costs spread thin. For a few cartons, those fixed costs swamp the savings.
Days instead of weeks, priced on chargeable weight, so bulky-but-light goods cost more than the scale says. The middle ground for mid-size shipments on a deadline, still via a forwarder.
Door to door with no forwarder: the courier flies it, clears customs, and bills duty on arrival. Highest cost per kilo, lowest complexity. Often the right call for a first order in the low hundreds.