CargoLifter would remove the transfer and, for some shipments, costly deconsolidations. The real demand isn't a trans-oceanic crossing. It's inland to port or vice versa. Of course a shipper could pay CargoLifter to move oversize cargo between ports, but the company admits it couldn't compete in this far larger market. There are already plenty of heavy-lift ships in the sea and they are not much slower than a dirigible, which takes at least five days to cross the Atlantic, and are cheaper to operate.
Aircraft are also in an entirely different category.
And the operators that fly these bulky behemoths don't see CargoLifter posing a threat. In fact, they see CargoLifter complementing their business. They only contribute to one another for the benefit of the customer. Perhaps the biggest similarity between CargoLifter and oversize cargo specialists like Volga Dnepr is their drive to carve out a new segment in the industry. Over the last dozen years, the An-124 and its unique dimensions have become accepted in many shipping circles as the only alternative for moving the largest, most complex types of urgent shipments.