For the longest time we have spoken about the challenges in trucking services in the USA. Particularly, the absence of a sufficient pool of drivers. Driver shortages have impacted many parts of the trucking industry. Whether it’s profitability, overall performance, or rates.
Combine that issue with an airport that is inundated with freight they cannot handle effectively, plus lack of labor and new screening rules that add to the complexity of cargo handling overall.
“Why would I sit 8 hours in line to make a pick-up of 200gks when I can do two local roundtrips at the same time, but make much more money?”, an owner operator might ask.
It is getting harder and harder to find trucking companies to make airport runs. And those that are left are introducing higher rates. We see this especially in the minimums and the trucker is no longer shy in charging for waiting time.
Over the road trucking rates have gone up more than 20% over the last year on some routes. One thing is the price, another thing is the compliance. We need TSA trained drivers to do pick-ups of airfreight.
At Shipco Airfreight we find that we are often spending much more time coordinating the pick-up and airport transfer than the actual airfreight portion. Thankfully, through our domestic trucking division we have access to over 60 truckers we can choose from + plus our local ‘heroes’ at each airport.
If a pick-up is delayed one day, or if you cannot find an available transfer trucker this can translate into huge delays and expenses. With today’s pandemic influenced flight schedules, there might not be availability to fly again until days out at higher rates.
By booking the pick-up with Shipco, you leave the challenges to us. We will do all we can to help you so you can focus on other things.
For the 98% of the airfreight we handle through our screening facilities, the transition to 100% screening has been smooth. The problem lies with the ‘hard to screen’ commodities such as drums. A false positive alarm might shutdown a facility for hours. No one can afford that. Consequently, the off-airport screening facilities will not screen it and many airlines will not receive the freight unscreened.
What to do?
Well, it looks like alternative measures are underway which will allow the off-airport screening facilities – such as Shipco – to make the ‘hard to screen’ commodities ready for dispatch.
Last week Shipco Airfreight experienced an unprecedented increase in activity on our booking platform with a record number of bookings!
On our online rate portal Air2Z, all you need to do is simply put in the origin zip-code, weight/dimensions, known/unknown shipper, and destination. Air2Z will then list all options for that shipment including schedule, carrier, price, etc.
Press ‘Request Booking’, and the booking will be created automatically and sent to our Shipco Airfreight team for processing with the trucking company and airline. Next step? You can track and trace and even view pictures of your shipments.
For more information on Air2Z, please contact rgraves@shipco.com
