Freight to Israel

Shipping freight to Israel can take several forms. 
The most popular ways to ship freight to Israel include air cargo and sea cargo.

Shipping freight to Israel via air cargo is very quick – usually taking 7 – 10 days from door to door, but is very expensive.  As fuels prices have jumped, all airlines have added very large fuel surcharges.  Fuel surcharges are currently higher than the actual cost of the air freight!  As the price of oil continues to rise, this trend is expected to continue although there were periods in the last year when the fuel surcharge dropped very significantly.

Charges for air freight include a calculation of both weight and volume and rates are quoted in “chargeable” kilograms. 
Shipping freight to Israel via air cargo is calculated the same way. 
The airlines, when charging for air freight will charge according to the real weight only if it is more than 167 kgs per cubic meter. 
If the actual weight is less than 167 kg per cubic meter, they will charge for 167 kgs per cubic meter.

As a rule, personal effects are relatively high volume and low weight so air freight to Israel is almost always calculated according to “chargeable weight.”

Ocean freight is far and away the most popular way to send household goods, personal effects and even commercial shipments to Israel.

Significantly less expensive, ocean freight to Israel is almost always calculated according to volume. 
The shipping line charge by weight on the rare occasion when one sends more than 1 ton per cubic meter. 
This is almost never the case with personal effects, but rather with materials like printed material, stone or bricks.

Of course, ocean freight to Israel takes much longer than air freight to Israel.
While air freight generally takes 7 – 10 days from anywhere in the world, ocean freight timing is very much influenced by distance and can take as much as two months from the West Coast of the US via ocean freight to Israel.