What You Should Know About Air Cargo Carriers

Cargo is a technical term used to describe the cargo being shipped. Air freight is cargo sent by air. This can be done with standard passenger planes that ride in the cargo area or with specialized cargo planes dedicated to this specialized industry.

Air Freight Carriers

It is mainly divided into three categories: 

a) household goods, 

b) express delivery, 

c) parcel shipment

d) cargo shipments.

Each of them has a price depending on the system provided by the National Motor Freight Classification. Each class also corresponds to the goods that can be shipped. Let's say that for household items, only those that can be considered furniture and household items can come under the price ranges and services provided in this area. 

Express deliveries usually include items such as mail, commercial paper and envelopes. Packages, on the other hand, include items that are usually in boxes. Cargo shipping, however, covers all other large items that services operating in lower classes cannot accommodate.

Air cargo is divided into two categories: Less than truckload cargo, which generally accepts items that weigh less than 15,000 pounds and are exactly 28 inches or less in height. The other subcategory of freight shipments is Truckload Freight, which covers items weighing 43,000 pounds or less and no longer than 53 inches.

Shipments larger than these are usually carried on supercargo planes. These relatively large items, such as military equipment, airplanes and helicopters, are transported by the Antonov AN-225 – the largest cargo plane in the world.

For each type of air cargo, there are usually several air carriers that will do the job. Often, small items can be shipped on passenger planes that have been converted to air cargo carriers.

The Boeing 747-400 is usually configured as an air cargo carrier because it has enough space to accommodate items for forwarding. But since it was not designed as an air cargo carrier, there are some important limitations that prevent it from being fully used for this exact purpose. However, when used as an air cargo carrier, it can work well to deliver cargo of various types to their appropriate destinations.

Air carriers like Bekins and North American Van Lines specialize in delivering household goods. FedEx Express, UPS, and DHL dominate the express delivery field, but it's basically a game for everyone because this field seems to be the easiest path when you want to make a profit in the transportation business. The main air carriers in the parcel division (also known as ground shipping) are FedEx Grounds and UPS. While for the Less-than-Truckload and Truckload freight area, air carrier names such as Old Dominion, AAA Cooper, Averett Express, Roadway, Schneider and JB Hunt are the most reliable.

In the air freight industry, there are also middlemen in the field. They are often called freight brokers because they are the institutions that make agreements between shippers and air cargo companies. Brokers are reached through online marketplaces. They are the best source of discounts, as they have direct relationships with air service providers.

Major air freight brokers are CHRobinson, Hub Group, Twin Modal and Rockwell.

If you want better and easier access to the names listed above, it is best to find sources through online intermediaries such as Transcore DAT, Freightquote.com, and uShip.com.

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