Cheapest Freight Shipping Options for Shipping Heavy Items

If your business regularly ships heavy goods, it’s paramount that you find the most economical shipping method. Even a small reduction in costs can have a large cumulative effect on your bottom line. 

What shipping option you use largely depends on where you’re sending a load to and from. Here are the cheapest freight shipping options for heavy items. You may need one (most likely truck) or several, depending on your business’s supply chain and distribution.

Container Ship for Overseas

Container ships aren’t the fastest shipping method, but what they lack in expediency they make up for in economy. You won’t find a lower-priced option for moving heavy items between continents, and sometimes across large lakes even within continents. The number of containers that ships can carry, and their manageable operating costs make this a pragmatic choice for overseas shipping.

If your business imports heavy supplies or products from overseas, plan on a container ship. You’ll have to plan ahead since speed isn’t primary. The savings that your business will realize are well-worth planning ahead for — many businesses couldn’t import heavy supplies from overseas without relying on container ships.

Train for Some Overland

Trains are the most used freight shipping method to transport heavy loads over land. They don’t have the scheduling or geographic flexibility of trucks, but they operate much more efficiently. A single gallon of fuel can take a train much farther than it can a truck — and that means shipping costs are much lower.

Using a train will be the cheapest option if your business moves heavy loads substantial distances within the country or continent. For example, an imported load might be transferred from a container ship to a rail car. You should also consider rail if the business has a regular need for shipping heavy supplies between two particular locations.

Truck for Overland

When goods have to be taken somewhere that doesn’t have a train station, a truck is your best choice. Trucks can be used to move loads directly between locations or to take loads to/from train stations.

Trucks aren’t the most fuel-efficient, but they’re still an affordable freight shipping option. They’re the only pragmatic option in many cases.

Your business might send loads that take up entire trailers, or you may use less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping as an economical option when shipments aren’t that large. In either case, trucks will almost certainly be an integral part of your logistics. Expect to both receive and send loads over the road.

Get an Affordable Shipping Solution

If your business needs an affordable shipping solution, contact us at AMR Group for shipping heavy cargo. We have some of the most competitive freight shipping costs.

We’ve been in the freight shipping business for years. We have the expertise and network to help businesses ship all sorts of cargo, including heavy cargo. Our team will work closely with you to develop a custom shipping solution that works for your business’s budget and logistical needs.