Quotes & Advice
Shipment tracking
We’re pretty sure that just about every person in the world would rather take a flight for journeys taking longer than a couple of hours, as opposed to being shipped or driven. The same ethos often stands when people are deciding how they want to ship their products. Transporting goods by land was the first method of shipping ever invented, and you’d think that would have given us time to perfect it. However, as humans have evolved and spread across the planet it’s become necessary to adapt our shipping transportation methods.
So, we took to the skies. Whilst air freight has only been around for about 100 years, it’s the go-to choice over sea or road freight for many different industries, like interior design and construction, electronics, and the automotive industry. Not only is it faster than sea or road freight, but it is best used for shipments of high values, and low volume.
Whilst air freight has its drawbacks, like the upfront cost, it makes up for it in other ways so you can enjoy more of the good stuff and less of the bad.
More reliability
Shipping by sea is governed heavily by the weather and the tides, and transport by land is subject to traffic and laws regulating conditions for drivers. Air freight isn’t controlled so heavily by external factors, and airlines tend to stick to a strict schedule, which results in reliable departure and arrival times.
Despite horror stories of lost luggage, it’s actually very easy to track shipments as your freight forwarder will be provided with information that can then be made available to you via their online track and trace system, email or of course a simple phone call if you prefer.
More speed
If the length of time long-distance transport takes drives you a bit crazy and you’re sick of having to wait days or even weeks, then you’ll probably be pretty happy to know that one of the biggest advantages of air freight is its speed.
Cargo planes cruise at a speed of approximately 900km per hour. This means that transporting cargo from one landmass to another just takes a few hours, rather than days or weeks.
More destinations
Many cargo-carrying airlines have worldwide networks, with dozens serving upwards of 200 places, and the top airlines flying to more than 300 destinations worldwide. This means that if you’re looking to shift your cargo via air, just about every location you would want to ship to will be accessible. Air freight is a great option for landlocked destinations and even very remote places.
Whilst most freight options and many companies give their customers the flexibility to ship their products worldwide, it can take large amounts of time to transport cargo from/to some places via land or sea. Air freight can transport cargo from/to a huge amount of places, in a shorter amount of time.
Less warehousing
Quicker transport times means less need for warehousing. It’s not as necessary to keep a huge amount in stock when you can have more products in as little as a day. Most cargo is cleared in a matter of hours, so you can cut down on your warehousing costs hugely.
Less unnecessary spending
Whilst air freight services are typically more expensive than shipping by sea or transporting by land, the savings made in other areas can balance out the upfront cost. Not only do you spend less on the packaging, storage in warehouses and wasted resources through late/damaged/missing cargo, but air freight also carries with it lower insurance premiums.
As the time in transit is minimal for air cargo, premiums can be generally lower than sea or land freight. Lower insurance premiums can mean huge amounts of savings. For companies delivering to customers that charge fines for late deliveries, or maintenance engineers that need to meet replacement parts to ensure a production line remains operational, the reliability and speed of air freight could be literally invaluable. So despite the upfront expense that air freight presents, it can also bring you more savings than you might have first thought.
If you’re curious to know more about how air freight could work for you contact us here at Pinnacle Freight. We pride ourselves on providing worldwide logistics solutions – not just in the air, but over land and sea too. For nearly 50 years we’ve been providing excellent services in road, sea and air freight, and proving ourselves to be a reputable and reliable freight forwarder.
Our experienced staff and in-house IT capability allow us to offer a first-class service in all areas of global logistics. If you’re U.K based, give us a call on 0845 6216 111 or drop us an email at enquiry@pif.co.uk. If you’re in the USA, call us on +1 757 306 1211 or email us at inquiry@pinnaclefreight.com. Alternatively, you can request a quote with us today.
