International air freight shipments represent an area of savings for both importers and exporters, but establishing weight breaks poses a challenge for many companies.

For smaller international shipments including samples, prototypes, components, and finished goods, at what point does your company ship parcel vs. air freight through your forwarder?

At what point do minimum charges from your freight forwarder make sense based on the shipment weight and trade lane?Typically, there are four pricing components to any door to door movement. These components include origin pickup and handling charges, air freight charges, customs clearance charges, as well as destination delivery charges.  Your forwarder may or may not itemize these charges on your invoice, but these charges make up the quote of any heavyweight international air shipment.  Also, since the air freight charge is typically affected by pricing weight breaks, it’s important to take into consideration that minimums may also be applied to each component.  These minimums have a substantial impact on determining whether parcel or air freight is the most economical routing decision.

Through our partnership with DHL Express, and as a DHL Authorized Reseller, PGL now has the ability to perform a weight break analysis in order to advise our clients on the most economical method of shipping international air freight.

PGL Parcel Delivery Vehicles

By performing this in-depth analysis, a routing guide can be established to both improve transit times and reduce cost.
Often, PGL’s analysis generates up to a 25% savings through direct cost improvements and suggests improved routing decisions, which allows our clients to become more competitive in today’s business climate.
PGL, one of the only international freight forwarders with a competitive lightweight and heavyweight international air freight solution, is uniquely positioned to assist our clients with these cost saving measures.

Through DHL Express’ door-to-door system, PGL’s international parcel solution includes customs clearance at much lower rates than offered through a traditional air freight service.

Once an analysis is complete, PGL creates a DHL Express account number for our clients under our heavily discounted pricing umbrella.

Established in 1969 as an international parcel carrier, DHL Express has the largest and most comprehensive parcel network in the world. Their door-to-door service is available in over 220 countries and territories, and boasts some of the fastest transit times in the industry. The relationship between PGL and DHL represents a tremendous value for our clients. Solutions can be customized and scaled whether you are a small startup or a Fortune 1000 company.
 
 
About the Author

biopic.kujawaChris Kujawa
Director of DHL Services
Chris.Kujawa@shipPGL.com

With 15 years of experience in logistics, Chris manages PGL’s DHL Authorized Reseller service. He also assists the PGL sales team in their efforts to provide solutions focused on efficiently managing international parcel movements. Read Full Biography