Currently, 98% of the total transport volume between Europe and East Asia is shipped via sea freight. Only 1% is accounted for by rail freight across the Eurasian Land Bridge. Nevertheless, interest in this alternative to container shipping is growing. This work addresses both modes of transport by providing the fundamentals of international freight transport, presenting sea and rail freight in a process-oriented manner, and then comparing the two modes based on costs and other criteria. The basis for the cost comparison is a real container transport of metallurgical rolls that was conducted.