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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.

Our present day living is driven by the need to communicate, to be informed and to send various items worldwide. And due to time constraint and the immediate necessity to transfer everything in the fastest mode of transportation available, the airline and cargo industry devised ways of carrying cargoes while maximizing time incurred during the process.

Cargo shipment by air is now termed to as air freight service. Items shipped at this mode range anywhere from a couple of pounds to as much as 43 000 pounds. Therefore accommodating almost all items that need for immediate shipment.

Parcels and express letters are typically the easiest to ship due to relatively handy size and weight. For larger-sized items however, various methods of shipment are required for travel and services vary depending on the number of categories including:

The size and weight of the item
The duration (number of days) required for shipment
The type of item

There are four basic categories for shipments namely:

a. Household goods which cover items such as furniture and the likes.

b. Overnight express or express shipments that deliver personal and business items which are observably lighter and smaller in size. These often come in the packaging of the carrier or the service provider and are often delivered overnight or within a couple of days, depending on the choice of service the shipper agreed on.

Parcel delivery, on the other hand, covers those items that are typically boxed. The services vary and packaging may be provided by the company or should the shipper chooses, may be shipped on the box of their own.

The duration of delivery varies yet typical of this kind is the speed of 500 to 700 miles per day, providing it a coast to coast travel of around 4 days.

Beyond this types are the LTL and TL freights. These are the actual air freight services and obviously cover cargoes that need big-time shipments.

Items covered in this category often weigh 15 000 pounds to around 43 000 pounds and have lengths not exceeding 53 inches long.

For each type of service level comes different corresponding prices. Parcel and express packages have pretty simpler system of pricing as compared with cargoes covered in the Less-than-Truckload-Freight and Truckload Freight which have more complicated systems of pricing.

National Motor Freight Classification is the system of pricing that monitors and dictates what price must be given to each item depending on its loadability, density, mixability and a number of other factors.

Theoretically, fragile items require higher costs of shipment since they fall in the freight class 125 to 500.

Denser items such as industrial machineries and steel require lesser care yet take most of the weight falls under the freight class 50 to 85.

Generally, these freight classes have assigned prices for which the assigned class corresponds to the base rate given.

While most air freight service providers can be contacted directly, heavier cargoes require freight brokers for easier arrangements and for the facilitation of savings. Such brokers can be contacted through online marketplaces. They have the hand for directly arranging shipments at much lower rates since they act as intermediaries between carriers and shippers.

It is good to remember that when shipping cargoes with any type of air freight service chosen, you must know in full all the terms and conditions included.

In a fastly glabalizing world, there’s absolutely no need to tarry and be left behind in the rat race. Any measure to get into the next lap should be taken to maximize one’s resources and the logistics that says the need.

Shipping companies can no longer make use of the traditional (and almost obsolete) methods these days. Yes, shipment can still be done through rail roads and highways yet when time is the opponent, we can’t bargain to give away our investments to losses- especially those that neatly state the make-or-break shots for the company.

The global arena is much too open for anyone who has the means to take its opportunities. For already-established shipping companies, there is no other way to make things better but to fly on air.

You heard it right- on air.

This probably is the reason why air freight is becoming the ultimate and best means of making your stuffs travel.

From simple mails to huge military tanks, you are sure to find one way to ship everything you want. Air freight companies simply control the supply chain of various commodities and items that require faster delivery.

Freight is basically the term used for describing the cargoes are taken via air. Shipments then are categorized into various divisions to provide better services and to help separate a number of services into their own fields which require special treatments and conditions.

An Air Freight Company, like all other establishment of service, is one that makes fortune through linking you towards service providers or providing the services themselves. Some companies have all the machinery and facilities to offer you all kinds of air freight services. While others, who are relatively small or just chose to focus on some fields, can provide you customized services. These services may be their own innovation or may offer you some services that may not be found with other similar companies.

Since 1980, many are already speculating that trucking and forwarding business will be shifting to air services ones the global need arises. However, the realization of this sign only came recently when more advanced forms of plane cargoes, larger air planes and other modes of air transportation have emerged.

Air freight companies cut the coast-to-coast transit time by channeling services through air. There are basically some types of services that may be provided with you all by a single air freight company or by several companies that specialize in certain areas of air freight.

An air freight company normally separate shipment into categories using the following as their basis:

The item- as we have said earlier, air freight companies can ship anything from mail to equipments of any size. This must be specifically priced according to the system provided by National Motor Freight Classification.

The kind of cargo to be shipped- Say for parcel deliveries, it should only include items that are relatively small to be packed into boxes. Or for super cargo deliveries, items include cars, planes and a variety of larger equipments.

The duration or time it will take for an air freight company to ship the goods- A number of air freight companies offer overnight or next-day delivery. This normally applies for shipments of smaller items like mails and parcels. However, if we are talking of large items, the shipping of the item could take anywhere from 3 days up to the number of days indicated on the terms and conditions of a specific category.

Seeing the big picture, we can tell for sure that we now have some great solutions of shipping our stuffs. May it be your Christmas gift to a friend or shipment of supplies and facilities for your industry.