How do international freight shipping methods affect lead times and costs?

For orders being shipped from Asia to the United States, we offer three options prioritized by lowest cost and lowest emissions, to highest cost and highest emissions.

  1. Ocean freight to the nearest port. The most cost-effective and lowest emissions option, but also the slowest. On average it takes an additional 2-4 weeks on top of our standard lead time to get to the East Coast compared to the West Coast using this method.
  2. Ocean freight to Los Angeles. Transferring to truck freight in Los Angeles can save time but adds to the expense. Ground freight from Los Angeles can reach most destinations in the continental US within 5 days. This can be a good compromise for shipments going to the East Coast that are time sensitive, however it increases shipping costs by 3-5 times depending on volume.
  3. Air freight. The fastest option but also the most expensive and least environmental as it generates 47 times the carbon emissions compared to ocean freight (MIT). Typically reduces the overall lead time by 3-7 weeks compared to ocean freight. Costs up to 10 times more than ocean freight. 

We do offer partial shipping via air upon request, in cases where you may need a smaller quantity of units shipped urgently. Whenever possible we recommend using the first option (ocean freight to the nearest port) to minimize costs and carbon emissions.

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