Freight vs Courier
Courier, also known as “express” is basically a “door to door” service, where the courier company will get your goods from Point A (normally your suppliers or consolidators address in origin country) to Point B (Your delivery address in destination country).
They will manage all the processes required in getting the goods from A to B, i.e. local pick-up & delivery, customs clearing at origin & destination port, payment of taxes & duties (They will bill you for this bit separately), etc.
Popular courier companies are DHL, Fedex, UPS & TNT. Air freight on the hand is essentially am “Airport to Airport” service, as opposed to a “door to door” service.
This means, the carrier is responsible for taking the goods after they have cleared customs at the origin airport & delivering them to the destination airport. A customs clearing/forwarding agent is required at each end to clear the goods & arrange further delivery to your door.
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Since Freight Forwarders don't transport goods using their own trucks and drvivers, it is essential for them to have strong alliances with other transportation companies, who specialize in transportation of goods by truck, air and ocean. It's for this reason that the quality of a Freight Forwarder can't only be judged on its infrastructure, but also depends on the companies it has partnerships with. Freight Forwarders bridge the gap between their clients and multi-national companies. Apart from Air and Sea, they also use LTL, FTL and Intermodal (rail) to move freight.
In addition, there are various other tasks such billing, customs clearance, documentation, and international import-export legal issues, which are handled by companies like Global Forwarding. They have experts on staff who take care of all the requirements and logistics of ensuring hassle free transportation of your goods across borders.
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Freight shipping happens in a couple different modes, truck, train, air, and ocean. The most commonly used method though is truck.
For those shipping their item by truck, you will hear two terms used, LTL and FTL. An LTL shipment means it is “less than a truckload”. While an FTL shipment is a “full truckload”.
LTL shipments will typically be less than 10 pallets and under 15,000 pounds. If your shipment is more than this, it is more cost effective for you to pay for the whole truck with an FTL shipment.
Truck shipping will be a door to door service. Though this means that your shipment will end up at the curb or loading dock. You will have to pay for the extra service of inside delivery if you want further service than that.
Air, ocean, and train shipments are done to their hubs. This is because you can’t physically get a plane, train, or ship door to door. For these, you should expect shipments to be done from airport to airport, port to port, or station to station.
Freight shipping can give you significant discounts once your shipment becomes large or heavy. It can also let you ship more at one time instead of breaking up your shipments into many different packages.
It is also easier to get a volume discount if you plan on making more than one shipment
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Courier Services
Courier services are usually meant for packages that are 150 lbs or less. Examples of companies that provide courier services include FedEx, UPS, DHL, Purolator, TNT, Loomis, and Canpar. The main advantage of courier services are that they are extremely fast and efficient, provide routine customs clearance, and almost always provide you with the convenience of door to door service.
Freight Services
Freight service are usually meant for larger shipments - shipments in excess of 150lbs. The service is not nearly as quick as courier service nor is arranging the transportation however, it is actually the most cost effective way of shipping locally or cross country.
There are different types of freight services - Air, Ocean, and Truck. The most common one being truck load freight services.
If you are shipping a skid or pallet via truck freight, this is often known as shipping LTL - Less than truck load. For those that fill up an entire truck with their goods, they are known to be shipping FTL - Full truck load. LTL or FTL services are usually door to door.
Air freight and Ocean freight are usual airport to airport or port to port however some are able to extended their delivery range.
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Courier shipping refers to shipping for small consignments around the globe, especially those under weighing under 100 kilograms. These services are excellent for small commercial consignments.
Due to a decrease in international travel, demand for space is at an all-time high and some airlines are even converting passenger planes to cargo planes as a way of staying viable. Unfortunately, this has led to an increase in airfreight prices and lack of space and services.
Depending on the destination, traditional airfreight is best for dangerous cargo and shipments that have irregular dimensions or weigh over 100kg but should be booked ahead of time to secure space. With traditional airfreight for large consignments, you benefit from economies of scale, shipping more cargo but only paying one handling and clearance fee. ICE can handle both your traditional and courier consignments for you if they are strictly business to business.
There’s a marked difference between traditional freight shipping and courier shipping.
You’ll want to organise freight shipping if you’re transporting large volumes, or several items.
There are many different freight shipping options you can use, including LCL (less-than-container-load) shipping or FCL (full-container-load) shipping. You can read more about this kind of shipping in our LCL guide and our FCL guide.
Courier shipping services, however, are consolidated services that will often deliver parcels direct to the customers door and even residential addresses.
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Freight shipping and courier shipping are actually less alike than most people would think. Aside from the fact that both methods are used to transport items from one location to another, they are unique in their overall delivery methods. Today, let’s take a look at those differences and how you can choose the best option for your business.
Explaining Freight Shipping
Freight shipping works best for companies that need to ship large quantities of an item, or multiple items. The most popular freight option is LTL shipping. LTL is short for less-than-load or less-than-truckload. These are shipments that are not big enough to fill the larger 48-or-53-foot trailers. The reason LTL freight is so popular is because of its cost effectiveness. Companies are only paying for the space they use in an LTL trailer, not the entire trailer. The space is shared between multiple shipments.
The other freight shipping option out there is FTL shipping, which is short for full-truckload. This is when a company uses an entire truck that is between the sizes of 48 and 53-feet. This is a more expensive option for freight shipping and is usually only used when companies regularly ship full truckloads of product.
There are courier services, like Econo-Courier, operating today that also offer freight shipping. A trusted courier service can provide your company with an empty tractor trailer at your location. The driver can wait while it is filled and then make the delivery. If you need more time to load, the truck can be dropped at your company and filled at your convenience. Once the shipment is ready, the driver will return to secure the trailer before delivery.
Explaining Courier Service
The courier industry is a door-to-door service that offers same-day delivery to most places. Companies and individuals alike typically choose a courier over standard mail delivery because of the its quick delivery speeds and high quality services offered.
A courier service brings many advantages to the table compared to a freight service. One of those advantages is that the courier will personally hand deliver the item to its recipient. This reduces the chances of the item being broken or lost en route to its destination.
Do you have a delivery that won’t fill an entire tractor trailer, but don’t want to share the truck with other deliveries? A trusted courier service can provide your company with a smaller truck, such as a box truck, for the delivery.
Then there is Econo-Courier’s Man-In-A-Van service, which is perfect for companies that make regular deliveries. You can have a courier and a van assigned specifically to your company. This courier will become your company’s permanent delivery person for as long as you require the service, without having to actually add people to your staff or purchase vans for your fleet
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Alibaba vs Aliexpress: Shipping
Alibaba sellers/suppliers always go with Freight.
Aliexpress sellers/supplier go with courier/carrier shipping.
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