All Water Service

Often we think a container is moved by a vessel across the ocean, and then transported by a different mode (such as by truck or by rail) until it reaches the next port or the destination. But sometimes, other transportation modes are not needed at all beyond ocean freight vessels. And it turns out that in some shipping trips, some containers need to be moved on water only. And when you have ocean freight moved only by water and not loaded to other types of transportation, this is considered to be All-Water Service.
 
It should be noted that All-Water Service is not available by every carrier, nor is it available at every port. It all depends on the situation. For example, if you have a container that you are shipping from Shanghai and the destination port is the port of Houston. In that example, the vessel would travel across the Pacific Ocean and then through the Panama Canal to get to the Port of Houston. That can be All-Water Service. However, if you want to ship that same container from Shanghai to New York, you would need to ship to the West Coast of the US and then use some sort of a land bridge, like a rail, to get to New York. Usually, a land bridge is faster but would cost a shipper more money. Therefore, All Water Service might be great international container shipping option that some shippers might want to explore when possible.