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Services

Sea-Air Logistics—a resilient alternative to conventional shipping via sea or air alone

Lower costs without sacrificing speed

Find the intersection of on-time and on budget. Sea-Air Logistics combines the speed of air cargo with the lower cost of sea freight for a seamless experience.

With pre-booked capacity, your Sea-Air shipments receive priority treatment, from immediate discharge to top stowage. Arrivals are synchronised so goods consistently arrive on schedule.

Turn around cargo without delays—to destinations worldwide. Shipments from ports in Asia typically sail to the hub and are trans-loaded to an aircraft within a matter of hours.

Top view of a plane and a vessel on and above the ocean — Top view of a plane and a vessel on

An optimised sea and air cargo experience

Even if you have yet to consider making the transition, it’s never too late to start reaping the rewards. Diversify with Sea-Air for planned or unplanned cargo volumes across multiple origin/destination pairings.

One side benefit is using the longer transit time as free storage on the water. If you normally ship by air but can wait the added 2-3 weeks, delaying the transit of planned shipments saves on warehouse costs.

Operating on ocean carrier express services, the emphasis is on lead time (i.e. last on, first off priority). Terms and conditions with carriers are stringent and require fixed availability at the destination to ensure containers are loaded on the scheduled vessel and not rolled.

With roughly two weeks’ notice from origin to port, there is ample time to secure the air freight booking. For major destinations, fixed allocation terms with the airlines commit capacity from transit hubs. Any missed uplifts are quickly managed with alternate flights.

The Sea-Air flow

Priority handling and up to 50% less CO2 emissions.

A more resilient supply chain

Sea-Air Logistics ensures your products are where you need them to be.

When traditional air freight weighs down your bottom line, Sea-Air offers speed at budget-optimised rates.

Get nimble alternatives that meet any shipping challenge—from airport congestion to capacity shortages—and mitigate your supply chain risk.

The advantages of dual-mode transport

Synchronise sea freight arrivals with dedicated air uplift capacities
Monitor shipments via myKN to react to changes quickly
Support for your carbon reduction goals
Average 30% cost savings compared to regular air freight
Average 50% faster transit time compared to traditional sea freight

A close-up of a tablet displaying the MyKN app — A close-up of a tablet displaying t

Seamless synchronisation boosts performance and reliability

Our dedicated control tower team manages the precise movement of your cargo to minimise transit time. Sea-Air shipments move in dedicated sea containers with the highest equipment and space priority. They are the first offloaded at the destination port, saving 18–24 hours for discharge.

During sea transport to the hub, your shipment is assigned air freight space. Using a mix of blocked-space agreements and free market capacity, your cargo is uplifted without dwell time.

A world map showing Kuehne+Nagel airside hubs — A world map showing Kuehne+Nagel ai

Gain new insights in under six minutes

Robin Knopf, Global Head of Sea-Air, shares his experience in this brief interview.

Safe cargo arrival

Using sophisticated handling procedures, we safely transfer your freight between touchpoints. Air freight Unit Load Devices (ULD) assemble cargo into a single unit for ultimate protection.

Meet sustainability targets

Sea-Air offers lower emissions than moving cargo by air alone. Flights emit 44 times more CO2 than a ship carrying the same cargo over the same distance. (Source: Move Hub April 2021)

Deliver as scheduled

With strict provisions, courier-style planning and generous uplift capacity you can lock in your on-time arrival.

Sea-Air Logistics—a resilient alternative to conventional shipping via sea or air alone

Lower costs without sacrificing speed

An optimised sea and air cargo experience

Making the change is easy

The perks of the sea leg

Managing your time

Air cargo stays on schedule

The Sea-Air flow

A more resilient supply chain

The advantages of dual-mode transport

Seamless synchronisation boosts performance and reliability

Gain new insights in under six minutes

Safe cargo arrival

Meet sustainability targets

Deliver as scheduled

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Europe

South Central America

North America

Middle East and Africa

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