Air Freight Door to Door

1. Assemble Shipment

The shipper will assemble the goods, packing materials and packing list.

2. Make Ready for Transport

At the warehouse, the goods are packaged and palletized in the most volume efficient manner possible and to minimise damage while it is transported. It is then labelled and the necessary documents (custom declarations, invoice, and further transport documents) are prepared and attached to the package. All of these are done so with instructions provided by the freight forwarder.

3. Order Transport

Afterwards, the shipper will contact the freight forwarder, and depending on the contract, land transport will pick up the goods from the shipper and bring it to the forwarder’s warehouse for further preparations before flying.

1. Receive Goods

The goods from the shipper are received at the forwarder’s warehouse and unloaded.

2. Make Ready for Carriage

The goods are checked for proper packing and repackaged if necessary. In addition, labels, the house Airway Bill (Contains information such as name of consignee, destination, aircraft flight details and details and value of the goods) and other documents are checked once again and import clearance documents may be prepared at this stage for the import clearance to come.

3. Custom Clearance for Export

The goods and appropriate documents for export are sent to the customs for clearance.

4. Consolidate and make Ready for Carriage

The goods are then sorted into their respective flights and consolidated with other goods. The goods that are going to be transported from the same airport-to-airport are usually consolidated together as larger volumes of cargo allow forwarders to negotiate for better rates with airlines. A master Airway Bill is then made for the consolidated cargo.

5. Delivery to the Airline

A truck is arranged to send the cargo from the forwarder’s warehouse to the warehouse of the handling agent who deals with the cargo for the airline.

1. Unload Truck

The truck from the forwarder’s warehouse will unload the consignment in the handling agent’s warehouse.

2. Building of Unit Load Devices (ULDs) and checks

The consignment is then sorted out and checked for the appropriate labels and documentation before loading. A ULD is a standardized air cargo loading equipment that is made to fit perfectly into the aircraft it is loading into. A ULD for the aircraft is then built with the consignment.

3. Load Aircraft

The ULD is then loaded up the aircraft via the ramp in a way that distributes the weight across the aircraft so that it is deemed fit for flight and in a manner that minimises damage to the cargo during flight.

4. Flight

The aircraft takes flight and lands in the destination airport near the consignee.

5. Unload Aircraft

The ULDs are then unloaded from the aircraft via the ramp once again.

6. Breaking of ULDs and checks

After the ULDs are unloaded, they are broken down into their individual consignments and checked for their labels and sent to their respective warehouses for further checks by the customs via trucks.

7. Load Truck

A truck sent by the handling agent in the destination airport will then pick up the goods and transport it to a warehouse for checks by customs.

1. Pick-Up from Airline

The truck from the airline will unload the goods in the handling agent’s warehouse.

2. Customs Clearance for Imports

The goods will then be inspected by custom officials, at which they can decide to hold or release the goods to their respective forwarders. The custom officials may pick goods at random and inspect it based on their submitted import documents to check if there are any discrepancies or items that are not declared.

3. Pick-Up Goods from Airline

After being released by the custom officials, their respective forwarders will be notified to pick up the goods from the handling agent and trucks will pick up the consignment and send it to the forwarder’s warehouse for breakdown.

4. Breakdown and Sorting

The consignment is then broken down and sorted into their respective shipments.

5. Delivery to Consignee

A van/truck will then send the shipment to the consignee’s location as agreed in the contract.

1. Receive Goods

Once the van/truck arrives and hands the consignee the good, the consignee has to sign a Proof of Acceptance to verify that they have received the shipment.

2. Unpack and Inspection

The consignee will then unpack the shipment and inspect the goods to ensure that the correct type and number of good has been sent and that there are no damages. If there are any issues, the consignee can fill up the appropriate forms and send the item back to the forwarder.