How Is Sea Salt Transported?

Sea salt in the Dead Sea.

Salt is carried in the world's oceans in its soluble form, completely dissolved in the ocean water. It spreads evenly throughout open bodies of water, but reaches higher concentrations in the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake because they are completely enclosed and have no way of exchanging water with less saline bodies of water.

How Sea Salt is Made

Sea salt is made by evaporating the water out of briny sea water, leaving the salt behind. This can be done with solar power by laying large pans of water out in the sun and letting the water evaporate, leaving the salt. Sea salt can also be made by baking the sea water at low temperatures in areas where solar power is less readily available, but it is more fuel-efficient to use solar power where it is available.

Where Sea Salt is Made

A large percentage of sea salt is made in and exported from Mediterranean countries because they have access to sea water with a large amount of salt dissolved in it, as well as natural access to the solar heat needed to produce sea salt. There are smaller sea salt producers as far away from the Mediterranean as New England, but the production costs are higher where there is not as much readily available solar energy for the evaporation process. You can also make your own sea salt at home by evaporating water out of sea water in your oven, set at the lowest possible setting.

Salt Crystal Transportation

Sea salt in bulk quantities is transported by sea freight. Sea freight is the most easily accessible form of transport available to sea salt producers, and large quantities of salt can be transported to distribution centers directly from the production sites. Once at port, sea salt is then transported in the same way as any other commodity--usually by rail or truck freight.

References

• Slate Magazine: Which Salt is Best?
• Chesterton Tribune: Grain and Salt Shipment