From Skies to Seas: Why Canadian Exporters Are Rethinking Freight Mode Strategy After 2024

For years, the speed of air cargo justified its premium price tag. Perishable seafood from British Columbia, precision components from Ontario's manufacturing corridor, and pharmaceutical shipments from Québec all found their way onto commercial and dedicated freighter aircraft with little hesitation. Yet something has shifted fundamentally in the post-2024 trade environment. Across Canada's export community, a quiet but decisive migration is underway — away from the tarmac and toward the open ocean.

This is not a story of desperation. It is a story of strategic recalibration.

The Economics That Changed Everything

The airfreight market endured extraordinary turbulence between 2021 and 2023, with rates spiking as high as four to five times pre-pandemic benchmarks on key transpacific and transatlantic lanes. While prices retreated somewhat through 2023, they never fully normalised. By mid-2024, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that global air cargo yields remained approximately 40 to 50 percent above 2019 levels on several major corridors — a reality that forced Canadian CFOs and logistics directors to scrutinise their freight spend with renewed urgency.

Ocean freight, by contrast, experienced a different trajectory. After the extreme rate spikes of 2021 and 2022, container shipping rates moderated considerably through 2023 and into 2024, creating an increasingly favourable cost differential for shippers willing to accept longer transit times. On a per-kilogram basis, ocean freight can run anywhere from six to twelve times cheaper than air for comparable cargo volumes — a differential that becomes transformative when applied to high-volume or heavy commodity exports.

For Canadian exporters moving goods in the range of 1,000 kilograms or more, the financial argument for ocean freight has never been more compelling.

Case Study: Pacific Seafood Exports Rebalance Their Logistics Mix

Consider the experience of a mid-sized British Columbia seafood processor — a company exporting frozen salmon and halibut to markets in Japan, South Korea, and the European Union. For years, time-sensitive perishable products meant that air was the default choice for premium cuts destined for high-end restaurant and retail buyers.

Following a comprehensive logistics review in early 2024, the company identified that a substantial portion of its frozen export volume — particularly commodity-grade product moving to secondary processors in Asia — did not require the speed premium of air freight. By shifting approximately 60 percent of its total export volume to refrigerated ocean containers (reefer units), the company reported annual freight cost reductions exceeding $800,000 CAD, while maintaining air freight only for time-critical, high-value premium cuts.

The key insight: not all cargo within a single product category requires the same mode. Segmenting shipments by urgency and value unlocked significant savings without compromising service to priority buyers.

Case Study: Ontario Machinery Manufacturer Discovers the True Cost of Speed

An Ontario-based manufacturer of industrial machinery components serves buyers across Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Historically, smaller replacement parts and urgent orders moved by air as a matter of course. A 2024 internal audit revealed that roughly 35 percent of all air shipments were not genuinely time-sensitive — they had simply been defaulted to air because no one had formally evaluated the alternative.

By working with a freight forwarding partner to establish a rolling ocean consolidation programme — grouping smaller shipments into less-than-container-load (LCL) consignments departing weekly from the Port of Montréal — the company reduced its freight expenditure on those shipments by approximately 70 percent. Transit time increased from two to three days (air) to fourteen to twenty-one days (ocean), but advance planning and modest safety stock adjustments at destination warehouses absorbed that difference without disruption.

The manufacturer's logistics director noted that the exercise prompted a broader conversation about inventory strategy — one that ultimately improved their supply chain resilience rather than diminishing it.

Supply Chain Resilience: The Argument Beyond Cost

Cost savings alone do not fully explain the post-2024 modal shift. Supply chain resilience has become an equally powerful motivator for Canadian exporters.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of over-reliance on any single freight mode. Air cargo capacity is intrinsically linked to passenger airline operations — when passenger travel collapsed in 2020, belly cargo capacity evaporated almost overnight. Canadian exporters who depended heavily on passenger aircraft cargo holds found themselves stranded with no alternative infrastructure in place.

Ocean freight, by contrast, operates on a dedicated, purpose-built global network of container vessels, terminals, and intermodal connections. While ocean freight has its own vulnerabilities — as port congestion and labour disruptions have demonstrated — the sheer scale and redundancy of the global container shipping system offers a degree of structural resilience that air cargo cannot match.

Many Canadian exporters are now deliberately building dual-mode freight strategies, maintaining ocean freight as their primary lane while preserving air relationships for genuine emergencies. This approach reduces cost while distributing logistical risk across two independent infrastructure systems.

Quantifying the Trade-Offs: A Practical Framework for B2B Decision-Makers

For Canadian exporters evaluating a modal shift, the following benchmarks provide a useful starting framework:

Transit Time Differential: Transpacific ocean freight from Vancouver to major Asian ports typically runs fourteen to twenty-two days. Air freight on the same route runs one to three days. Transatlantic from Montréal to Northern Europe runs approximately twelve to eighteen days by ocean versus one to two days by air.

Cost Differential: Ocean freight rates for a standard 20-foot container (TEU) from Vancouver to Shanghai have ranged between approximately $1,200 and $3,500 USD through 2024, depending on market conditions. Air freight for an equivalent cargo weight on the same route can cost ten to fifteen times more.

Break-Even Volume Threshold: Most logistics analysts suggest that ocean freight becomes clearly superior for cargo weighing more than 500 kilograms, or for shipments where transit time flexibility of two weeks or more can be accommodated.

Inventory Carrying Cost Consideration: Longer ocean transit times require higher safety stock levels at destination, which carries its own cost. Exporters should model the full landed cost — including inventory carrying charges — before declaring a winner.

The Role of an Experienced Freight Partner

Navigating the modal shift from air to ocean is not simply a matter of booking different transport. It requires a thorough understanding of ocean carrier relationships, port dynamics, customs brokerage requirements, and documentation protocols that differ substantially from air freight processes.

At Ocean Impex Canada, we work alongside Canadian exporters to assess their full freight profile — identifying which cargo lanes and product categories are genuine candidates for ocean optimisation, and which genuinely require the speed of air. Our team provides mode-specific routing analysis, carrier selection guidance, and end-to-end documentation support to ensure that the transition from air to ocean is seamless and strategically sound.

The shift from skies to seas is not right for every shipment. But for a growing number of Canadian exporters, it is the most significant logistics decision they will make in 2025 — and the savings and resilience benefits they discover are reshaping how Canada connects to global markets.