Air freight, in and out of Perth and Australia wide
Air freight forwarder in Perth
When the cargo has to be there this week, not next month. We are an air freight forwarder booking cargo in and out of Australia for businesses, and we tell you what it will actually cost before you commit.
Air quotes usually go out the same day, and inside 24 hours either way.
Air is the expensive option, and it is worth it more often than people think
A container of stock sitting on the water for five weeks is five weeks of money you cannot sell. Sometimes the right answer is to fly part of it and move the rest by sea freight, so the shelves stay full while the bulk catches up.
We will tell you when that is the case, and we will tell you when it is not. Talking someone out of an air booking they do not need is how you get the next one.
Air freight services, and what we move by air
General cargo, urgent replacement parts, samples and pre-production runs, temperature sensitive goods, and oversized pieces that need to be measured against the aircraft door before anyone quotes a price. In and out of Australia, most of it through Perth. Our air freight services cover the whole movement, not just the flight.
We run air cargo services in and out of every Australian capital. Air freight Australia wide is handled from the one office in Wangara, so you are not passed between branches to find out where your cargo is.
We arrange the pickup at the supplier, the road transport at both ends and the delivery to your door, so the air leg is not the only bit that is handled. A shipment that lands at the airport and then sits there is not a shipment that has arrived.
What air freight shipping costs, and why the number surprises people
Airlines do not charge by weight. They charge by whichever is greater, the actual weight or the volumetric weight, and that second number catches almost everybody out the first time.
A pallet of cushions weighing 40 kilograms can be billed as though it weighs 300.
Volumetric weight is the space the cargo takes up, converted into a weight. One cubic metre is usually treated as about 167 kilograms. Light and bulky is the expensive combination.
What follows from that is simple and it saves real money. Before you book, measure the cargo packed, not the product. Tell us the pallet dimensions including the pallet itself. If your supplier can pack it tighter or lower, that is worth more to your invoice than shopping the rate around.
We work the chargeable weight out with you before you commit, so the quote you approve is the number you get billed.
Send us the dimensions and we will do the sums
Pallet size packed, actual weight, where it is going and when it has to be there. That is enough for a real number rather than a range.
Four Incoterms that do not work for air freight
This one goes wrong constantly. Under Incoterms 2020 there are eleven rules, and four of them are written around the ship's rail. On an air shipment there is no ship.
Sea and inland waterway only
FAS · FOB · CFR · CIF
Do not use these for air. Importers ask us for FOB air prices most weeks.
Work for any mode, air included
EXW · FCA · CPT · CIP · DAP · DPU · DDP
FCA is usually the one you want on an air shipment.
It is not a small technicality either. If a contract says FOB and the goods go by air, the point where risk passes from your supplier to you is genuinely unclear, and that matters the day something arrives damaged.
If you are not sure which one you are on, send us the supplier's invoice and we will tell you.
Customs clearance and pre-clearance
Customs clearance is arranged through licensed customs brokers. We are not a licensed brokerage ourselves and we do not pretend to be. What we do is manage it, so you deal with us and not with three separate companies.
We pre-clear everything we move, sea, road and air. Pre-clearance means the entry goes in off your documents so the goods are cleared before they get here rather than after. Most forwarders wait for the shipment to arrive and then start. We do not.
On air that takes a lot more work at our end. A sea shipment sits on the water for weeks, so there is time to chase a missing invoice. An air shipment can be here in days. Same paperwork, a fraction of the time.
Which is why we ask for the supplier invoice and the packing list as early as you can get them. Send those and your goods leave the airport the day they land instead of sitting there on storage. Between 1 September and 30 April there is also the stink bug season, and air freight from the United States and China gets random inspections for it. No treatment is required, but a hold is still a hold. Here is what applies this season.
What we do not do
- Cargo insurance. We are not licensed to sell it in Australia, so we refer you to someone who is. Take it. It is a fraction of a percent of the value of the goods and the day you need it you will not care what it cost.
- Guaranteed delivery dates. Inspection selection belongs to the Department of Agriculture and to Border Force, not to us. We will give you a typical time and we will ring you the moment it moves.
Saying that plainly costs us a few enquiries and saves everybody a wasted week.
"We must make them feel safe, because it is a scary thing. They have invested a lot of money. They are already heightened by the time they get to us. We need to calm them down and make them feel safe."
Suzette van der Heijden
How fast you hear back
Most air quotes go out the same day, and inside 24 hours either way.
Where that does not happen it is usually because something is missing and we are waiting on a third party to come back to us. When that is the case you get a phone call rather than silence. We will tell you what is holding it up and when to expect the number.
On the freight itself we say typical rather than guaranteed, because a bad week is a bad week. Answering you is the part we control, so that one you can hold us to.
If a flight rolls, we ring you. You will not find out from a tracking page.
Tell us what you are moving
Unit 26, 110 Inspiration Drive, Wangara, Perth WA 6065.
Phone 08 9303 2110.
Tell us what it is, where it is going and when it has to be there, and we will come back to you the same day if we can and inside 24 hours either way. Or read more about Red Nav.
Request a Shipping Quote
Road Transport
Road freight offers a classic and flexible solution to transporting local goods.
Sea Freight
Shipping is the best method for moving large quantities of your product in a cost-effective manner.
Air Freight
When you want to get your cargo to your destination urgently
Moving Overseas
We can ship your personal belongings for you