Your question is Freight Mode Trade-offs for Launch. Take a moment with it on the right.
Talk me through your thinking if you like. When you're confident, submit your answer and I'll grade it like a real screen (7/10 or better passes).
You are managing inbound supply for a high-priority hardware product launch with a fixed customer availability date. Some critical components are ready later than planned, leaving you to decide how much volume to move by air versus ocean. Air freight protects schedule but materially increases cost and can create downstream receiving bottlenecks; ocean freight preserves margin but introduces port, customs, and variability risk that could jeopardize launch readiness. You need to make a recommendation before final bookings are locked.
How do you balance the trade-offs between air freight and ocean freight when managing tight product launch timelines?