Cheap Ways of Shipping to New York
Posted on October 21, 2024
I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a client planning an international move by air freight, she was worried because my quotation for her move to New York just seemed too cheap! So I thought that we would share our recommendations for cheap ways of shipping to New York.
So yes, traditionally all international moving was done by sea freight, as air freight was extremely expensive and typically most airlines would not accept large items such as sofas and beds, but to quote Bob Dylan “the times they are a-changing” .
Logistics, distribution channels and delivery supply chains have become more and more sophisticated over the past 10 years with companies like Amazon leading the way (particularly in technology), and with more and more cargo in the skies, planes are generally always full maximising efficiency and spreading the total cost of flight over the entire cargo. Carriers are also coming together and using handling “hubs” where labour, land and facilities are much cheaper.
At the time of writing, the prices for shipping around 100kgs from London to New York is £790.00 which is cheaper and obviously much faster than a door to door sea freight service. Do note however, that charges for air freight services are based on what’s called the “airline chargeable weight” – this is either the actual physical weight or what’s called the volumetric weight – whichever is greater. ‘Actual Weight’ is the physical weight of your consignment. ‘Volumetric Weight’ is a value derived from the size rather than the weight of your consignment, and may apply if your consignment is large but contains relatively light items.
Also note that the following items are prohibited: Lithium batteries, live animals, animal parts, human remains or ashes in any form, food stuffs, alcohol, bullion, cash & legal tender, precious and semi-precious stones (cut or uncut, polished or unpolished), firearms (including toys) ammunition, explosives, explosive devices, tasers, illegal goods, counterfeit goods, tobacco products, dangerous/hazardous goods (including but not limited to perfumes, aftershaves, aerosols), flammable substances, jewellery and watches and with individual values in excess of EUR 5,000, cash.
As a result modern air freight logistics has evolved from being a method to fill empty hold space on a passenger plane flying direct to a destination – to huge purpose built cargo planes making long round the World journeys collecting and dropping cargoes in multiple handling hubs.
FootNote: Click Moves provides international moving services, door to door anywhere in the world. More frequently we are promoting moves by air freight rather than sea freight as this mode has become very cost effective and is much faster than the traditional sea freight option