Types of shipping services include liner services, freight shipping, ocean shipping, and air freight via planes or ships. Shipping carriers can also offer refrigerated cargo shipping and transporting oversized cargo.
Businesses must weigh options and shipping costs to decide the shipping methods best suiting their needs, as each mode has advantages and drawbacks. The main differences between shipping options seen by customers and retailers are delivery time and cost.
Express shipping is faster but costs more than standard shipping. Choosing a shipping method depends on a variety of factors, most importantly weight, class, and destination. Shipping your items via water will always be a cheaper option than via air. However, shipping via water will take more time.
- Air: A plane can usually ship anything that can be shipped LTL.
- Train: While it’s often considered dated, train or rail shipping is still a viable and economical way to ship freight.
- Truckload
- LTL
- Ocean