Skyairtravel

Your Guideline for Choosing the Type of Air Freight Services You Need

One’s choice of air freight must be dictated by their immediate and long term needs which maximize the services provided by air freight companies. Obviously, one only has to avail of certain services that he truly needs.

There are various types of air freight services specially designed for specific purposes. While many may perform multiple objectives, it is still best not to tax yourself with money and time just by choosing the service that you don’t actually require.

Since not all packages have the same size, weight, type of delivery and duration of delivery, air freight industry has created various methods and categories wherein customers may choose their needed type of service. In this article we would try to discuss in brief the various air freight services that you may choose from. Please read on.

The simplest form of cargo shipment falls under the household goods category which include items such as furniture, house accessories and pieces of goods similarly typed in this section. Since these don’t normally require special services, your cargo may be delivered on the same day it was sent or depending on the service option chosen.

The second class of air freight is the express or overnight express delivery. These normally cover items such as mail letters, small envelops and other smaller items. Since they are relatively light, cargoes of this kind come in air freight company packaging. Two of the most notable air freight company rendering this service are the FedEx express and the UPS.

Depending on the available service options, prices and type of delivery may vary including the duration of travel. Most items in this category travel some distance through air and may go coast to coast in a couple of days or overnight.

The next category available is the ground or parcel shipment. Since items in this type are slightly larger and heavier than the first two categories, the shipping of items may take a number of days and may move anywhere from 500 miles a day to 700 miles. Most ground shipments weigh around 100 pounds or less and each item don’t normally exceed 70 pounds.

Depending on the service provider, parcel shipments may either travel by road, rail and air. However the latter is rarely offered.

This shipment covers most of the business-to-customer type of service and is often used by companies that make use of cash-on-delivery system of purchase.

When you need is the service of shipping much larger and much heavier stuffs, you might want to look into your options covered by the freight shipments.

Less-than-Truck-Load is the service that you must avail if you have cargoes of less than 15 000 pounds. Most shipments of this kind cover business to business shipment and are often referred to as motor freights.

This type of air freight service often comes in mixed freight environment which means that cargoes are combined with some other shipments and can be transferred from one carrier to another, depending on the type of service the shipper has chosen.

Shippers are required to arrange for their packaging since most air freight carriers don’t give any form of assistance in packaging the cargoes.
Meanwhile, Truckload Freights are the largest of this kind. They go anywhere from 15 000 pounds to 43 000 and length can extend up to 53 inches long.

This type of shipment is often mixed with other shipments in one equipment and arrives at the exact trailer they were shipped on.

During the early years of aviation, people were constantly looking for practical uses of airplanes. People were amazed with the machines that enabled men to fly, but the question of what to do with them plagued everyones mind. Of course, the uses for airplanes could not be limited to entertainment, because that would be wasting the huge potential of the technology on a pretty superficial industry. The air freight industry began with the journey of a bolt of silk from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio in November 1910.

That fateful trip gave birth to the airfreight industry as we know it today. After that event, everything just progressed to new heights for the air freight industry. One of the pioneers of the air freight industry is American Railway Express. The name of the company points out to the fact that before the advent of the air freight industry, cargo was usually transported by train.

The airfreight industry made a lot of conveniences possible. First, there was the matter of speed. Air freight sped up deliveries between businesses. This means that the air freight industry made it possible for businesses to acquire various merchandise when they needed it. This also saved a lot of money on storage. Before the advent of the air freight industry, businesses had to keep as much stock as possible. This helped them to meet orders in time. Because of the introduction of air freight, businesses could just fly in any merchandise.

During the 1920s, shipping of cargo via air grew more popular. In November 14, 1926, the National Air Transport Company was born. This company delivered the first air cargo in the United States in September 1, 1927. Many more companies were founded as promoters of the air freight industry. As the industry was still relatively young, these companies did not make much profit.

The air freight industry got to a slow start because of the fact that they had stiff competition coming from passenger carriers. Many established passenger carriers opposed the establishment of an all-cargo air freight industry mainly because they feared it would destabilize the air industry.

Another reason why the air freight industry did not grow as people hoped was that most businesses were unable to sustain the huge losses associated with starting an air freight operation. While some people attempted to remedy this by combining air freight with air passenger transport, they only succeeded in slowing down the industry.

The revolution of the air freight industry came about when a man named Fred Smith noticed that the common practice of combining air freight with passenger freight was highly inefficient. He proposed that air freights should have different flight patterns from passenger flights. He was successful in gathering funds mainly because of his proposal for a guaranteed next-day-delivery service. And so it was that in April 1973, the Federal Express began operations. Of course, the initial years of business were hard. However, after three years of flying cargo, the company was beginning to show profit.

By the 1980s, Federal express was a household name. This just goes to show you how far a truly great idea can take you. Today, the air freight industry is booming and companies make millions of dollars in profits. Thats a far cry from the way that air freight businesses lost money in the past.

Globalization, internet, improvements in communication and transportation and a number of other new trends has changed the world beyond our own reckoning. They have become so fused with our lives that our daily moves are largely dictated by the uses of all these.

Maybe these changes in times are inevitable. They seem to have been designed to accommodate our growing need for improvement and faster living. But when life gets too fast, what will come next? Well, at this rate we all can say that we have not reached our limits yet. Our lifestyle sure have changed a lot and everything else followed. Business, education, government- just to name a few.

Globalization definitely has affected businesses in ways that it eliminated both the non-performers while taking the best performers to newer heights. Thus, the survival of the fittest.

Those who found value in adapting to current trends have made themselves famed in the industry. Those who refused to take the risks of experimentation have failed and dripped down towards eventual failure.

You, as an ordinary citizen, a businessman or an individual who simply have to accept the changes must not get tired of kicking with the trends, unless you want to be counted off the performers.

Air freight industry is one such change that has affected people’s lives worldwide namely the consumers and the suppliers.

Air freight is hardly a new emerging business. It has actually existed since the early 80’s and has been growing since. However, it only realized its actual use recently when newer airplanes, cargo planes and systems have been devised.

There are basically a number of categories services that accommodate each type of air freight forwarding needs.

The Household Goods division is dominated by air freight forwarders such as the North American Van Lines and the Benkins. This primarily serves shippers who want furniture, and other household items be transferred or delivered towards end consumers.

Apart from the freight shipments, the most often utilized services of air freight forwarders is the express shipments which cover deliveries of express mails and items of same category. Top grossers in this field are FedEx Express and DHL.

The parcel division, on the other hand, carries boxed items to their recipients. Such services are render by air freight forwarders like FedEx Ground and UPS. Depending on the service level a shipper chose and the availability of service, parcels can be carried over 500 miles and above for around three days or more.

Beyond these services are the freight shipment. This is basically sub-grouped into two: LTL and TL.

Leading air freight forwarders in the LTL division include names like AAA Cooper, Southeastern and Old Dominion. While forwarders like Schneider and JB Hunt dictate the game in the TL field.

While shippers can directly contact these forwarders through their websites, such business are often recommended to pass through online brokers. These are the institutions that have the hold for all contacts and necessary information to keep shipments on time and at their best condition.