In this article, I'll give an overview of ocean shipping, along with the step-by-step instructions needed to arrange ocean shipping and actually receive the shipment. Air freight/air express is reasonable when ordering samples The first thing to consider with sea freight is whether you are actually better off shipping by air or air express. There are some notable differences between air freight and air express that we discuss in this article. But the general rule of thumb is that for shipments under 200kg, it is almost always cheaper and more convenient to ship via some form of air freight as opposed to sea freight. Air freight rates typically range from $5/kg to $10/kg, but without the high fixed costs common to sea freight. How much is the sea freight cost? For anything over 200kg or so, sea freight is usually your cheapest option. The basic cost of sea freight is high, but the scale is large. For example, your final cost to ship a 20kg box by sea may be $300, but for 200kg you w...