Express shipments. When every hour counts.

Urgent shipments

When the goods have to leave now.

When a shipment is truly urgent

Urgency is not measured in kilometres but in the cost of waiting. A production line at a standstill, a site waiting for a component, a trade fair opening in a few days, a sample that will decide an order: in these cases the cost of transport matters less than the time lost. For us an urgent shipment is one where collection, customs and booking are organised in parallel rather than one after the other. We start from a simple question: by when must the goods arrive, and what happens if they arrive later. From there we choose the solution, without promising what depends on flights, checks and customs that nobody can guarantee in advance.

Urgent air freight: the next flight out

For urgent international shipments the most common solution is air freight on the first available flight, known in the trade as next flight out. As IATA cargo agents we book space directly with the airlines, on passenger or cargo flights departing from Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate, where we have operational support. The shipment travels as a direct consignment, under its own air waybill, without waiting for a consolidation to close. We check space availability, acceptance times and the size limits of different aircraft, and we offer you the alternatives, for example a flight with a stopover that leaves earlier than a direct one.

Express courier, via partners

For documents, envelopes and small, light packages the most suitable service is often an express courier, with its integrated door-to-door network for collection, transport and delivery. We arrange it through partners in the sector, choosing the service according to destination, weight and urgency, and we follow the shipment and any customs formalities for you. The line between courier and air cargo is not fixed: above a certain weight or volume, or for goods that need special handling, a dedicated air shipment can be cheaper and easier to control. Couriers also often calculate volumetric weight with a different ratio from air cargo: another reason why we compare the two options.

Fast collection and in-house customs

In an emergency the first hours are the most valuable. We arrange collection from you as soon as the goods are ready, with a dedicated vehicle when needed, or we receive them directly at our hub in Brescia. Export formalities are handled at our in-house customs, under simplified procedures as an Authorised Economic Operator, without going through other offices: the goods reach the airport already cleared and ready for acceptance. Meanwhile we book the flight and prepare the air waybill, so that all the steps move forward together.

Documents ready before the goods

The most common delay in an urgent shipment is not the flight, but a missing or incorrect document. To leave straight away we need a commercial or pro forma invoice with a clear description and the value of the goods, a packing list with the weight and dimensions of each package, full collection and delivery addresses with a contact at the consignee, and the agreed Incoterms rule. If the goods are dangerous we need the safety data sheet; if they are subject to licences or authorisations, those come first. Preparing them while the goods are still in production saves precious hours: we tell you exactly what to prepare and in what form the destination country requires it.

Air security and dangerous goods, even in a hurry

Being in a hurry does not change the rules. Every package loaded on an aircraft must come from a secure supply chain or be screened before loading, and dangerous goods must comply with the IATA DGR and the conditions of the individual airline. A lithium battery, an aerosol or a chemical sample may need specific packaging, labels and declarations, and some goods are accepted only on cargo aircraft. That is why in urgent cases we ask straight away what the packages contain: finding out at acceptance means missing the flight. When scheduled flights do not accept the goods or have no space, we consider a charter flight with you.

A typical case: the spare part for a stopped line

One of the most common cases is a mechanical spare part for a machine at a standstill abroad. We told the story among our completed shipments: an engineering company had a production line stopped at a customer's plant in the United Arab Emirates, and the spare part was ready in Brescia by mid-morning. We collected it, completed export under simplified procedures in our warehouses and delivered it to Malpensa for loading on the first available flight, with space booked directly with the airline. In that case collection, customs and delivery to the airport all took place on the same day. It is not a promise that holds for every shipment, but it shows what can be achieved when customs and booking are in the same hands.

Urgent shipments in Europe, by road

Not every urgent shipment flies. For many European destinations a dedicated road service, with a vehicle reserved for your goods that leaves as soon as it is loaded, can compete with air freight, especially for heavy or bulky packages that would pay a lot on volumetric weight. It also avoids airport handling, air security checks and acceptance times. We assess road, air and courier case by case, and propose the combination that gets the goods to their destination most reliably.

What to do to leave straight away

Call or write to us saying it is urgent, with the collection address, destination, number of packages with weights and dimensions, nature of the goods and the time they will be ready. We get back to you with the available options and their costs, and from then on one contact follows the shipment through to delivery, with updates on the flight and the goods. Actual times depend on flights, available space, checks and customs procedures in the country of arrival: we tell you openly what is realistic, without promising times that nobody can guarantee.