Top 5 Common Types of Cargo Found in the Shipping Industry

These days, you may think about “shipping” in terms of online shopping, or more accurately as the fee that most of us wish to avoid, hence why we wait for special promos or deals on our favorite sites. 

However, thanks to globalization, and the advancement of transportation and logistics technology, pretty much anything and everything you buy has been shipped in some way shape, or form throughout the Philippines, be it through trucking services, sea freight, or air freight. This article is a short overview of some of the major types of cargo.

1. Food Stuff and Other Perishable Goods
Being able to ship food and other perishable goods, such as medicine and medical supplies is one of the many ways modern society has been able to flourish, and its absence has been felt worldwide thanks to the spread of the pandemic, which has stopped many sea freight and air freight services dead in their tracks causing mass shortages.

Food and perishables tend to spoil quickly, which is why time is of the essence. This often requires faster modes of shipping such as air freight, or shipping methods with temperature controls such as refrigerated trucking services, especially in places such as the Philippines with hot climates

2. Container Cargo

Let’s (literally) get the big one out of the way. This is the reason why sea freight is notable for being one of, if not the most economical means of shipping. 

This is commonly how large quantities of goods such as electronics, clothes, toys, large machinery, vehicles, and other types of nonperishable goods are brought to the country before they are brought to store shelves and/or homes throughout the Philippines by trucking services

3. Crude Oil and Fuel

Since there are little if any natural oil reserves on local soil, the Philippines relies on foreign imports often via sea freight in order to quite literally fuel our economy. 

And thanks to a myriad of factors, such as conflicts between neighboring countries, As well as the ongoing fight against man’s common microscopic enemy, fuel prices have hit an all-time high as a result of a severe imbalance between supply and demand.

4. Dry Bulk

This refers to a type of cargo usually shipped via sea freight that does not fit into traditional container cargo. Oftentimes, this can be loose in nature and require being stored in sacks or bags, like sand, loose cement/gravel, salt, sugar, grains, and similar loose objects.

5. Pets and Livestock

This may seem quite unexpected, and arcane. But that is how many species that we have come to love as pets and rely on as livestock and beasts of burden. Fortunately, thanks to modern husbandry practices and advanced transport, the process is way less stressful than it used to be in the days of old. So you can rest easy knowing that your animals are treated with utmost care. And since the Philippines has some of the strictest, and most effective (if well implemented) policies regarding the import of especially exotic fauna and flora, the damage of invasive species that arrive on sea or air freight imports to the native ecosystem is heavily mitigated if not completely stopped.

 

To wrap up, this is by no means an extensive list of commonly shipped cargo. However, you can learn more about the intricacies of sea freight, air freight, and trucking services in the Philippines if you contact us today!