Air Charter Service moved almost 65 tons of energy machinery from Shanghai to Chicago. After looking at both charter and scheduled services, the broker’s Time Critical team put together a complex Next Flight Out (NFO) operation, consisting of 20 scheduled flights.
ACS Time Critical chief executive, Robert Alleman, commented: “One of our customers came to us with 65 tons of machinery that they needed to get from Shanghai in China to Nashville, Tennessee. Having a wide range of premium cargo services available to our clients really paid off in this situation – we looked at both charter and NFO options separately to decide on the best option for the customer. Due to a number of factors, including the wait for all flight permits, we came up with a comprehensive 20-flight NFO solution.
“The solution involved going into Chicago rather than Nashville, which wasn’t much further away than its final destination. This option was the logical choice as it offered more frequent flights and better-suited handling capabilities – processing the cargo quicker – as well as it making the whole operation more cost effective. We were able to find the customer an entire solution the same day as their enquiry – a total of 20 separate scheduled service departures, flying over the course of several days, with the first departing just a couple of days after confirmation. “To stay on top of all the departures and arrivals, especially at nighttime, we enlisted the help of our 24 hour operations team, along with ACS colleagues across the world in different time zones and we had all hands on deck to get them all over the line.
“In a little over a week, all the cargo had arrived, in time for the customer’s deadline, and for less than the cost of a full charter. The years of NFO expertise really paid off on this job. Whilst a single flight is the norm, these kinds of requests really test us. The operation is a prime example of the benefit of having the ACS network and range of premium cargo solutions – customers don’t necessarily come to us for a specific service, they come to us to move their cargo, knowing we have the options to find the optimum solution.”
