Sea Freight, Export Agents - Rates And Info

[Smithson]

We've been shipping by air for a long time, customers have asked for sea freight but I've avoided it for several reasons:

- Too much effort on my part for which I'm not compensated, this includes delivering to the port, extra documentation

- Orders are too small, making for little savings, considering the flat rates for documentation etc.

I now have a customer who is talking big and wants to ship by sea.

So I'm trying to get some info for shipping to the UK, Canada and Australia. Roughly how many cubic meters are needed to make it worth while compared to air freight? How long does shipping take to the countries mentioned?

Export agents or anyone else involved in sea freight can PM me or post replies here.