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.

Due to the inevitable changes occurring around the globe and the need to quickly send and receive various items across countries, the airline industry has birthed a new way of shipment- air freight.

Air freights are basically cargoes on the shipment which are typified into various categories to make shipping more organized and easier. Some primary basis of categorizing air freight are:

Type of the item
How large is the item, in terms of the number of items in the shipment and size, and,
The number of days or hours it takes one shipment to arrive on its pointed destination.

Shipments, on the other hand, are categorized into the following:

Household goods include art pieces, furniture and other similar items which are primarily transported using Household Goods (HHG) carriers such as North American Van Lines and Bekins.

The “Express” category, on the other hand, include personal items and small business goods which are often considered as overnight shipment (or express shipment, express letters, and overnight express). Such transports are carried by shipment companies like FedEx Express, UPS and DHL.

Since most items falling under this category are relatively small and don’t normally weigh heavier than a couple of pounds, they often come in the carrier’s own packaging.

Service levels vary depending on the service offered by the carrier or the personal choice of the shipper. These normally travel by air and may be delivered on the exact day it was sent to the carrier or may take several days of travel.

Packages that are slightly larger and heavier than express items are considered as parcels. These include boxes of shipments, regardless of the content. Carriers like UPS and FedEx Ground provide the services for this type of cargoes. Parcels cover most of the business-to-consumer items and services and don’t often exceed 100 pound-weight category. Since these are relatively small, they often come on the shipper’s or carrier’s own packaging.

Types of services on this category also vary. However, a number of ground shipping can travel for 500 to 700 miles a day in around 3 to four days, depending on the service rendered by the shipper or the service option the customer chose. Such shipments don’t often travel by air, instead they move through road and rail.

Freight shipments cover the largest cargoes in the industry. It is subdivided into two major categories, mainly: LTL of Larger-than-truckload freight and TL or truckload freight.

Less-than-truckload shipments are also known as motor freights. These often cover the bulk of business to business transactions. The range of services vary from carrying 100-pound items up to those not exceeding 15 000 pounds. Since LTL trailers are just as long as 28 inches, most air freights of this kind cannot exceed this length.

Unlike with smaller packages, shipments don’t often come in company packaging.

Truckload freight covers larger shipments from 15 000 pounds to 40 000 pounds with a maximum length of 53 inches. This type of air freight differs from all other categories since these don’t normally stop along the travel and are not intermingled with other shipments. Most are frequently arranged via freight brokers and online marketplaces.

When availing this type of air freight, it is best that one understands in full all the terms covered including the claims, pricing and insurance.