Sea transportation from USA to Europe

The U.S. economy remains the world's leading economy. And despite numerous domestic problems, the situation will not change for at least 1-2 decades. Two other industrial centers comparable in economic development are China and the European Union. It is obvious that they are simply forced to trade with each other.

It is equally obvious that there is no overland route from the U.S. to either China or Europe. Given the conflict situation with China, the main ocean trade routes to European countries have become even more important. And therefore it makes sense to consider this direction of cargo shipments from the U.S. more carefully.

The main advantages of shipping from the U.S.

Is it any wonder that the sea shipping from the U.S. has long been the main way to deliver goods around the world. They are many times cheaper than the alternative of road transport, and this is not the only advantage. The overall share of maritime transport in the United States reached in different years 85-90%.

And this figure is equally valid for imports and exports. The logical conclusion is that the North Atlantic shipping lane that connects the U.S. and Europe is deservedly considered the largest in the world.

Important

There is simply no viable alternative to sea freight shipments from the U.S. to Europe. And it's not just the lack of overland routes to Europe and the high cost of air transport.

Transportation by sea has several other significant advantages, among which should be noted the following:

• Versatility, which is due to the lack of restrictions on the types and dimensions of goods;
• load-carrying capacity of seagoing ships that is incomparable with other types of transport;
• diversity of the latter in terms of both design features and functional purpose;
• well-developed infrastructure of ports and logistics centers that ensures efficiency of loading and unloading;
• high level of safety of goods transported by sea, both in terms of unlawful acts and spoilage or damage from natural calamities and emergencies;
• unified legislation governing international cargo transportation, which minimizes paperwork and other formalities.

There are only two disadvantages. The first and the main one is low transportation speed. The second one is tight connection to port infrastructure, and the number of ports capable of receiving serious international ships is rather limited.

Ocean Freight and Requirements for Types of CargoSea Freight from the USA to Europe

Cargo shipments by sea from the U.S. are governed by international regulations. In general, they provide the following classification of cargo:

• General. A broad category that includes containers, equipment, lumber, tare and other similar cargo. Container-carriers, dry-cargo ships, roll-on/roll-off vessels and similar vessels are used for carriage.
• Bulk cargoes. These are cargoes transported in liquid state. These are oil, oil products, liquefied natural gas, wine, vegetable oils, chemicals, etc. Carriages are performed by tankers and gas carriers.
• Bulk. Includes coal, ore materials, mineral fertilizers, grain, crushed stone and other similar cargoes, which in most cases are transported unpackaged. Bulk carriers are used for their transportation.
• Regulatory. A category of cargoes requiring special conditions of temperature, humidity, or ventilation. These include, for example, frozen and perishable products, including vegetables, meat, fish, fruit, etc. Transported using refrigerated containers or refrigerated ships.
• Dangerous. Includes 9 classes of cargo, the transportation of which involves compliance with enhanced safety and security requirements. For example, explosive or flammable substances and materials. Their carriage is usually effected in special containers with increased security level and is accompanied by execution of appropriate documents.

This list is difficult to call complete, since international shipping from the U.S. by sea allows the transportation of almost any cargo. And the scale of the United States economy allows it. Among the most popular cargoes transported to European states, you should note the following:

• products of different machine-building industries - automotive, aviation, heavy industry, etc;
• equipment for power engineering enterprises;
• electrical engineering;
• pharmaceutical products;
• coal and liquefied gas.

Main directions of delivery from the American continent

A characteristic feature of maritime cargo transportation, mentioned above, is the binding to the port infrastructure. That's why the general direction of cargo transportation from the U.S. to Europe with some conditionality can be divided into three main routes - Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltics. Their starting point is usually one of several of the largest ports in the United States, which include:

• Tacoma;
• Norfolk;
• Charleston;
• Jacksonville;
• New Orleans;
• Houston;
• Los Angeles;
• Portland;
• Long Beach.

In some cases, for example, for multimodal cargo, it is easier and more convenient to use the port of Canadian Montreal. It is important to note that some of the above cities, such as Los Angeles or Portland, are located on the west, i.e. Pacific coast of the United States.

But the peculiarities of ocean freight - cheapness and low speed - allow for the shipment of goods from the opposite side of the United States from the Atlantic Ocean.

The final point of the route is the following ports:

• In Germany - Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Bremerhaven.
• In Scandinavia, Kotka (Finland), Malmö (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), Rotterdam (Holland), Antwerp (Belgium). The last three states are not formally related to the Scandinavian Peninsula, but traditionally belong to this direction of transportation.
• In the Baltics - Klaipeda (Lithuania), Riga (Latvia), Tallinn (Estonia) and Gdynia (Poland).

Multimodal Transit Through Europe

Multimodal transportation between the U.S. and Europe is becoming more and more popular every year. The main reason for this development is the limited nature of maritime transport, which can only deliver cargo to a port.

At the same time, the final recipient of the goods in most cases is located at a considerable distance from the coast, so that further transportations are performed either by rail or by road.

Europe has a very advantageous geographical position, as it is located between the major world players. On one side is the U.S., on the other China and Russia. That's why European Union countries are actively involved and develop multimodal transit cargo.

The first stage is sea delivery from the U.S. on the above routes. And the second - further transportation by rail or road to Russia, Kazakhstan, China, other Asian countries.

The obvious advantages of multimodal transportations contribute to this, the most significant of which are

• reasonable cost, achieved by cooperation with a single logistics company;
• short terms of solving problems and solving any arising issues, which is achieved by this scheme of work;
• efficiency, provided by an optimally constructed route;
• delivery of cargo to the end user anywhere in the world;
• minimization of paperwork and other formalities.

Speed of delivery

As noted above, maritime transport is difficult to call fast. Therefore, one should not be surprised that delivery time from the U.S. to Europe often reaches 25-30 days. This does not include customs clearance and overland transportation time to and from the final port.

How much does it cost to ship from the U.S. to Europe

The cost of shipping from the United States to European countries is determined individually. This is not surprising, as the final shipping price depends on many factors. Some of the most influential of them include:

• The route of delivery and, above all, its length;
• cargo type;
• transport container;
• requirements for its transportation;
• The ship used for transportation;
• calendar time of shipment;
• transport company selected for cooperation;
• the need to arrange for multimodal transportation and other such factors.
• The easiest way to find out the approximate cost of shipping from the United States to Europe involves the use of online calculators.

Such services are freely available at various thematic Internet-resources devoted to the transportation of goods, as well as on the sites of all the leading logistics companies. The exact price of cargo transportation is determined as part of the negotiation of the terms of cooperation with the selected transport organization.

Bottom line

Shipping from the United States to Europe is the largest transportation route in the world. No other destination compares with it in terms of traffic volume.

The reasons for this lie in the size of the U.S. and European Union economies and the obvious advantages of maritime transport. The main advantage is cheapness, and versatility and absence of restrictions on the characteristics of transported cargo. A bonus is a developed port infrastructure, which is present both in Europe and the U.S.