You can’t buy that kind of thing by just putting it in a shopping cart and checking out on some website. You have to call, work with a salesperson for a company that specializes in the product, and then place an order. They’ll send you the product and an invoice with payment instructions. This will usually be a check or wire transfer. If it’s a big enough order, you also have to work collaboratively on logistics to receive it. How far they will take it and how far you have to go get it will depend on your contract. This can be as little as “you have to pick it up from our warehouse” or as much as “we’ll get it into your warehouse” They might take it as far as the nearest rail yard and you have to organize trucks for the last mile.

I wonder if anyone ever bought the 55 gallon barrel of sex lube that was for sale on Ebay?

If you actually want to buy a significant quantity of a product like that from overseas (which I’m assuming because you mention a ship load) you’ll need to find and contact an appropriate supplier and agree terms, which will probably involve them supplying the goods ‘free on board’ meaning they’ll deliver to a port or ship and it’s your responsibility from there. Then you need to contact a shipping company to arrange the actual transport. You’ll also need to liaise with the customs departments of both the source and destination countries to get the paperwork in order. If you can find an importer in your target country, you might be able to agree terms with them and have them handle all of that. Then you’ve judt got to get it from the port to where you need it.

Lots of good suggestions in this thread already, but I just want to bring up another option that may be more friendly for your budget: piracy. Do your research and try to identify a ship containing what you want that needs to pass near a pirate hotspot, then hire a group of freelancers (or use a broker) to take the prize. You’ll need to set up the logistics in advance, and make sure you take into account the other goods on the ship when negotiating terms. Don’t pay anything up front, as that’s a common scam. These pirate groups can secure their own weapons and boats, so find another group if they start trying to get you to fund that.

You’ll also need to organize transportation of the goods once you have the ship. Unloading a container from one of those big boats isn’t easy, especially if the one you want is at the bottom of a stack. Your best bet is to find a corrupt harbor master and bribe him. Without that, it could take weeks or months to unload your wax.

After that comes transportation, which may involve smuggling the goods across a border, forging paperwork, etc. That’s its own can of worms, but you’ll need to research the specifics based on your actual requirements.

wtf are you manufacturing?

Probably call up IGI Wax in Toronto and ask them.

For anyone interested in this type of trade, there is a website game called ‘entreprenauts’ in which various players operate shipping and storage companies, in addition to the mining and factory companies which need things shipped.

It usually turns out that buying raw materials is the easy part compared to finding someone with free space on a (container, dry bulk, liquid bulk, compressed gas) ship that will be traveling between the ports you need - and then you will be bidding against other people who need that cargo space

Doesn’t exactly answer your question, but the folks over at Donut bought a cheap truck from China and had to deal with the logistics of getting something shipped over. I think it’d give you at least a high level idea of how to coordinate getting things put in a shipping container and getting it sent over, and then receiving it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRG0Wai4sR0

It’s interesting seeing someone coordinate all of this, and how expensive it gets

You can get 24MT of corn in a 20 foot container. So step 1 is deciding whether you want 96 or 120MT. For comparison, a mid-sized container ship can carry 6000 containers.

The Maersk Triple E class ships can carry the equivalent of 20000 20-foot containers. In reality, a significant number of those would have to be 40 footers.

… dunno what you’re planning… but usually things are done in much smaller lots. Regular but more frequent shipments.

A ship full of wax is a lot of wax. You’d have to arrange for shipping - possibly international shipping…- and transport from the port to your warehouse etc.

There’s a lot of overhead for something you’re probably not going to be able to use much more than a few pallets at a time anyhow.

Assuming your making something to sell…Keep in mind there’s a lot of overhead for product you may go out of business before you can fully use.

Wholesalers

There are webshops for businesses. I know most fashion brands have those business to business sites but it is invite only.