Need to Ship a Heavy Package Far? Tips to Choose Between Ground Freight & Air Freight
Posted on: 19 January 2018
If you have a heavy package that you need to ship far away, traditional shipping will not work for a package like this. Fortunately, you have other options, two of which are ground freight and air freight. Below is some information about each of these to help you decide how you want to ship your package. Before you make a choice, however, there are considerations you must make. For example, consider how quick you want the package to arrive and how much you want to pay. You also may want a shipment company that can ship the package on a direct route, as well as offer high security.
Ground Freight
With ground freight shipping, your package will be transported and delivered to the destination via a truck. There are different ground freight options you have.
One type is LTL (less than truckload) freight shipment. If you are only shipping one package this would be the option for you to choose. Because the truck will not be full, you will likely share the truck with other people that are shipping heavy packages. Because of this you are all splitting the costs, so this can save you money. It will take a little longer for packages shipped like this as the truck may have to make several stops to pick up packages during the route.
There is also FTL (full truckload) freight shipment, which is if you have enough shipments to fill an entire truck. This will cost more money as you will be the only one paying the costs. FTL freight does get to the destination much faster because the driver does not have to make any stops during the route.
No matter what you choose, most freight companies offer expedited shipping, such as have your package delivered within 24 hours. This is beneficial if you have a package that needs to get to a customer quickly.
Air Freight
Because packages are transported via a plane, you can send packages much further away, such as overseas with air freight. The route is planned before the package leaves. For example, the destination airport will be chosen. Once the package arrives at the airport a freight truck will pick it up and take the package to the destination.
Air shipping is much more expensive but is much faster. When packages are shipped via air cargo they are generally always on time. The only time they would be late is if the airport closed due to bad weather conditions. There is also tight security with air shipping. This is beneficial if the package you are shipping is valuable.
Talk with a domestic air freight company in your area about these options and they can give you much more information.
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