Businesses tend to use overseas production facilities as they are well known for being able to produce vast quantities in a short space of time.  Many businesses across all industries will use some form of foreign business usually in Asia.

In order to set up one of these schemes you will obviously need to arrange some way of transporting your entire product back to you or your target market.  Due to the large quantities it isn’t very cost effective to send them via regular international post as the entire shipment will likely not be sent at once and will be subject to delays that can occur in the country of origin and your local postal service.

Obviously for businesses this is not feasible and can cause delays which could harm your business, this is why ocean or sea freight shipping is an advisable option.  Freight ships with storage containers are the most common way of shipping vast quantities effectively.  It is less expensive as in most cases the charges are only for the ocean-crossing part of your shipment.  If you are able to collect your shipment from the shipment yard to your place of business you can save extra money on the cost of transport here in your company’s country.

The amount of time the shipment takes to get to you though can be long compared to air shipments, however because the cost is lower and sea freight being much more secure many businesses will opt to use it.  Obviously your business will need to take in to consideration that sea freight is not best for tight deadlines or immediate supply.

The time frames can be really long and so you really need to plan ahead if you plan on using sea freight shipping, for instance a shipment from the Indonesia to the USA can take up to eight or ten weeks and so you really need to consider this sizeable timeframe when choosing an international shipping method.  

Typically sea freight arrangements involve shipping companies that can link customers and suppliers to transport links.  They are able to get the cheapest and quickest delivery options due to their connections with cargo ships and since there are often issues with international customs when shipping goods they should be able to advise you on any costs or expenses you are likely to run across due to the importing or exporting of goods.