The advantages of ocean transportation are the large volume, low shipping cost, and extensive waterways. However, the speed is slow, the navigation risk is high, and the sailing date is difficult to determine, which are its shortcomings.

Liner

According to the mode of operation of ships, international shipping can be divided into liner shipping and chartered shipping.

Liner shipping

a. Features of liner transportation:

(L) Liner transportation has a fixed schedule, route, port of call and relatively fixed freight rate;

(2) The liner freight includes loading and unloading fees, so the port loading and unloading of the liner is the responsibility of the ship;

(3) The quantity of cargo carried by the liner is flexible, and the cargo owner can book the space on demand, which is especially suitable for the transportation of general cargo and container cargo.

b. Liner freight.

International ocean freight is regulated by the liner tariff, including basic freight and various surcharges. The basic freight is divided into two categories: one is the traditional freight charges for pieces and miscellaneous items; the other is the freight rates for containers. For groceries, there are also freight charges based on the commodity price or the number of pieces. For bulk low-value cargo, the freight rate can be negotiated between the ship and the cargo.

There are many surcharges in international ocean freight, including; over-length surcharge, overweight surcharge, choice of unloading port surcharge, change of unloading port surcharge, fuel surcharge, port congestion surcharge, detour surcharge, transshipment Surcharges and direct flight surcharges, etc.

In addition to the shipping costs mentioned above, container transportation costs must also include related service fees and equipment usage fees.

In addition, the liner company mixes different goods in the same package, and charges the freight based on the higher charge. If the package of the same ticket is different, the billing level and standard are also different. If the shipper does not separately specify the gross weight and volume according to different packages, the freight for the whole ticket will be charged according to the higher charge. There are more than two types in the same bill of lading. For different cargo names, if the shipper does not specify the gross weight and volume separately, the higher bill will be charged.

Charter transportation

Chartering refers to chartering the entire ship. Chartering fees are lower than liners, and direct routes can be selected, so bulk cargoes are generally chartered for transportation. There are mainly two ways of chartering, namely, fixed-trip chartering and time chartering. Scheduled charter. Schedule chartering is a chartering method based on voyage, also known as voyage chartering. The shipowner must complete the cargo transportation task according to the voyage specified in the charter party, and be responsible for the ship's operation and management and various expenses during the voyage. The freight of voyage charter ships is generally calculated according to the quantity of goods shipped, and some are calculated according to the charter amount of the voyage. The rights and obligations of both parties to the charter party shall be stipulated in the charter party: in the voyage charter party, the contract should specify whether the ship party bears the cost of loading and unloading the goods at the port. If the ship is not responsible for loading and unloading, the contract shall specify the loading and unloading period or rate, as well as the corresponding demurrage and dispatch charges. If the tenant fails to complete the loading and unloading operations within the deadline. In order to compensate the shipowner for the losses caused by the delay in sailing, the shipowner should pay a certain penalty, that is, demurrage. If the charterer completes the loading and unloading operations in advance, the ship will pay the charterer a certain bonus, called dispatch fee. Usually the dispatch fee is half of the demurrage fee.

Regular charter boats. Time charter is a method of chartering a ship for a certain period of time. It is also called a time charter. The ship party shall provide a seaworthy ship during the lease period stipulated in the contract and bear the relevant expenses for maintaining seaworthiness. During this period, the charterer can still dispatch and control the ship by itself in the prescribed shipping area, but shall be responsible for various expenses in the operation process such as fuel fee, port fee and loading and unloading fee.