Sea vs Air Freight: A Real-World Cost & Time Breakdown

“Should I go sea or air?” is the question we answer every day. Here is a concrete example you can reuse for your own routes.

The shipment

• Origin: Los Angeles, USA
• Destination: Hamburg, Germany
• Weight: 250 kg · 1.0 CBM · general cargo
• Declared value: $5,000

Sea Freight (LCL)

Port-to-port transit: ~26 days. All-in cost including customs, pickup, delivery and insurance: roughly $680. Best for: non-urgent, cost-sensitive cargo.

Air Freight

Airport-to-airport transit: 3 days. All-in cost: roughly $2,100. Best for: time-critical, high-margin or perishable cargo.

The rule of thumb

Calculate your inventory-holding cost plus your time-to-revenue. If the delta between air and sea is less than that value, ship air.