Containers against alternative delivery methods

Transportation of goods by sea containers is gaining popularity every year. This is facilitated by the increase in production in China and other eastern countries, as well as other related factors. But are containers as ideal as many believe? We decided to understand the situation and describe all the main advantages / disadvantages of the delivery method.

The benefits of container transportation

Price. First, the rate for containers is lower due to volume. Secondly, due to optimization of costs, overloading is done by one crane, not by several workers, with documentation and clearance, there are fewer problems. Thirdly, containers are usually used for international shipping by sea – it is not fast, but always cheaper than railway transport or transportation by road.
Accessibility of transport. 20 and 40 foot containers are the recognized standard for “packing” cargo. It does not deviate from it. Hence, the chances of not finding a truck or railroad car with a suitable platform are minimal. You will order a container ship even in the most forgotten place of God, and he will definitely be there. It should be noted that containers for bulk and bulk cargo are also standardized.
Protection against theft and deformation. To begin with, the containers are necessarily sealed. But that is not all. They have a sturdy casing that protects the cargo much better than the eurofoor awning or even a closed box of a ten-ton.
So we get a cheap and simple delivery. Containers are better at multimodal transportation of standard cargoes, but they also have conspicuous disadvantages.

Essential disadvantages of containers

Speed. If you need to urgently deliver cargo, choose trucking or at least a relatively slow rail. Containers make sense to deliver only large quantities of goods or raw materials by sea, where the time depends not only on the speed of the vessel, but also on the weather, queues in the port. Delay is not a few days, a week, a month – it is considered quite normal.
Difficulties with loading. As we have already said, for loading and unloading containers, you need a crane, the speed of which can not be increased. Transport, can wait a few days for a queue for loading, a ship for unloading, and any technical trouble turns into a big problem. Find a crew of movers and move the contents, for example, of a car, into a tent body is cheaper and faster than dealing with a penalty for waiting.
Price. Yes, you did not misinterpret, container transportation can be expensive if it can not be loaded for return shipping. The fact is that the cargo owner pays for the lease of the container in two directions. Experienced logistics companies usually find the “client” on the opposite direction, compensating for expenses, but not in 100% of cases.

Total, having considered all the pros and cons, one can come to the conclusion that it is expedient to use containers only for the delivery of large quantities of goods / cargo in the format of multimodal carriage of sea-rail, sea-auto, or a combination. Also important is the direction – cost-effective popular routes (China, USA, etc.). Terms can be seriously disrupted, so for the carriage of goods whose arrival is critical day to day, they are not suitable.