Air Freight

Chargeable weight, and why a quote can change

Air freight is priced on chargeable weight, which is the greater of the actual gross weight and the volumetric weight. The volumetric figure uses the IATA divisor of 6000 cubic centimetres per kilogramme, so one cubic metre is treated as roughly 167 kilogrammes. Light but bulky cargo is therefore charged on its volume, and a shipment that looks inexpensive by the scale can price very differently once the dimensions are known.

This is the single most common reason an air quotation changes between enquiry and booking. Sending accurate outer dimensions and the piece count with the enquiry, rather than the net weight alone, gets a rate that will still be valid when the cargo is tendered. Where cargo is palletised, the built dimensions matter rather than the loose carton sizes, because the pallet is what the airline measures.

Airport-to-airport, door-to-door and consolidation

The simplest product is airport to airport: we book the airline, tender the cargo and the consignee handles import clearance and collection. Door to door adds pickup, export formalities, destination clearance and final delivery, which suits shippers without an agent at the far end. Between them sits airport-to-door and its reverse, and the right choice usually depends on where the receiving party has capability rather than on cost alone.

Consolidation can reduce the rate where the timing allows it, since space is bought in bulk and shared. It also introduces a build-up window before departure. For genuinely urgent cargo, a direct booking on a named flight is usually the better answer even at a higher rate, and we will say so rather than route an urgent shipment through a consolidation to protect a margin.

Dangerous goods, temperature and oversized pieces

Dangerous goods move under the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations and have to be declared, classified, packed, marked and documented by trained staff before an airline will accept them. Lithium batteries, aerosols, paints, adhesives and some cosmetics are caught by this more often than shippers expect, including when they are packed inside equipment. Tell us at enquiry stage: an undeclared dangerous good discovered at acceptance stops the shipment and can carry liability well beyond the freight cost.

Temperature-sensitive cargo needs the handling agreed in advance, whether that is an active container, passive packaging with a validated duration, or simply cool storage at the terminal between flights. Oversized or heavy single pieces are limited by aircraft door dimensions and floor loading, and a piece that fits a widebody freighter may not fit the narrowbody flying that route on the day, so we confirm the aircraft type before confirming the booking.

Documentation and transit time

The air waybill is the contract of carriage and, unlike an ocean bill of lading, is not a document of title, so cargo is released against consignee identification rather than surrender of an original. Alongside it the shipment needs a commercial invoice and packing list, the HS code, the Incoterm, and any certificate or permit the commodity requires. Security screening applies to all air cargo and can add time where a shipment has to be screened rather than moving under a known-consignor arrangement.

Quoted flight times are not door-to-door transit times. Acceptance cut-offs, screening, transhipment at a hub, customs clearance and final delivery all sit around the flight itself, and a one-stop routing can lose a day at the hub if the connection is tight. We quote a realistic end-to-end window and name the cut-off, so a shipment is not tendered an hour after the aircraft has closed.