Questions and answers

When shipping within the country:

• signed on both sides of the freight forwarding contract;
• signed on both sides of the forwarding contract; air waybill (AWB).

For international shipment:

• packing list, signed on both sides;
• freight forwarding contract signed on both sides;
• an order to the freight forwarder;
• an agreement with a customs broker;
• customs declaration for the cargo;
• invoice;
• air waybill (AWB);
• Certificates for the cargo, if necessary.

1. send us a request for cargo shipping;
2. receive a quotation with a detailed description of your shipment and cost;
3. receive a detailed comment from your personal shipping manager;
4. if you have any questions, ask your personal manager by phone or e-mail;
5. pay in advance;
6. sign the order to the freight forwarder;
7. sign the Freight Forwarding Agreement;
8. coordinate all details of shipment with your personal manager;
9. booking a cargo capacity with the airline for your shipment is made;
10. agree with the shipping manager to pick up the shipment or deliver it to the airport yourself;
11. communicate with the personal manager and the shipping manager until the shipment is complete;
12. your cargo is at your destination.

Air Waybill (AWB) – a document confirming the existence of a contract between the shipper and the carrier for the cargo, acceptance of goods for shipment and conditions of shipment.

The air waybill is issued by the shipper or authorized agent.

The AWB includes information about the shipper, consignee, data on the reservation, the route of shipment, the characteristics of the cargo and special conditions of shipment.

Changes to the AWB can only be made as a last resort if it is difficult to receive a cargo or release a DT.

Changes can be:

• physical, i.e. reissue of the consignment AWB if there is enough time before delivery of the cargo;
• can be in electronic form, this is called “correction”, which is sent electronically to the receiving terminal. In this case, the information on paper remains the same, but in electronic form the terminal will have the final data.

All changes after release may take some time, as well as monetary extra costs, so before you provide information for the AWB , it is necessary to carefully check the correctness of the data.

Packing list (PL) is a document that contains a list of goods for each item individually and serves as an accompanying invoice. There is no specialized form of this document, each company has its own template.

“Packing” must contain:

• The number and date of the packing list and the contract/order itself;
• Data of the Seller, Shipper, Buyer and Consignee;
• List of the names of the goods carried, their description, including quantitative and weight-dimensional characteristics;

Number, type and size of the package.

Invoice – in international commercial practice, a document provided by the seller to the buyer and includes a list of goods and services, their quantity and price at which they are delivered to the buyer, the formal features of the goods (color, weight, etc.), terms of delivery and information about the shipper and the consignee.

In Russian practice, there is no document that is completely analogous to an invoice. The invoice is a document used only for tax control purposes and because of this it cannot be considered an analogue of the invoice. For this reason, an invoice is usually used in Russia for international shipments of goods.

Documents for COMMERCIAL EXPORT

1. Client’s charter documents (articles of association, production certificate, registration certificate, company card) scans
2. Signed brokerage agreement
3. Invoice
4. Transport documents (air waybill, individual air waybill, railway bill)
5. Full technical description of the product (photo, material of manufacture, design features, what it is, why)
6. Authorization documents, if required by the HS code (license, identification conclusion or something else)
7. Purchasing documents, if the shipper is not the manufacturer of the goods
8. Packing list with number of pieces, net/gross weight, nature of packing
9. Contract + all attachments + specification (scan and Word)
10. UNC with a transaction amount of more than 6 million.

Documents for COMMERCIAL IMPORT

1. Client’s articles of incorporation (articles of association, certificate of registration, company card) scans
2. Signed brokerage agreement (a sample is enclosed), scans are available at the moment.
3. The contract + all attachments + specification (scan and Word)
4. Transaction passport, if the contract amount is more than 3 million rubles.
5. Payment Order for payment of the goods, if the contract provides for prepayment
6. Invoice prepaid + invoice coming with the cargo, if they are different
7. Pack list with number of pieces, net/gross weight, type of packing
8. Contract of carriage (scan + Word)
9. Shipment order with division of costs before and after the border (for air transportation there is no division before and after)
10. Invoice for shipment + insurance invoice
11. Payment Order for transport and insurance, if prepayment is provided
12. Full technical description of the product (photo, material of manufacture, construction features, what it is, why)
13. Authorization documents, if required by the HS code (licenses, SGR, certification, rejection letters)
14. Transport documents (CMR, railway bill, Bill of lading, air waybill, bill of lading)

• The package must be made of a material that can withstand the load of the packaged cargo.
• The package must be free of sharp corners and access to the cargo.
• Each package must be labeled with the name of the shipper and the consignee.

Density is the ratio of the mass of cargo to its volume (the number of kilograms of cargo contained in 1 m3 of that cargo). The lower the density, the higher the cost of transportation per kg of cargo. Transporting a kilo of fluff is more expensive than a kilo of iron. Basically, tariffs from China are calculated relative to cargo density.

Example: Cargo is 50 kg, volume of cargo is 2 m3,  in this case the density of the cargo is 50 kg / 2 m3 = 25 kg/m3

There is also such a thing as low density cargo – it is a cargo weighing less than 1 kg per 6000 cm3.

In this case: 25 kg/m3 = 25 kg/ 1000000 cm3 = 1 kg/40000 cm3, so our cargo is low density. Tariffs for such cargo are not calculated by physical weight but by volumetric weight. In the next question we will describe how to calculate it.

The chargeable weight is the gross weight or the volumetric weight. Depending on which one is greater, the one will be used to calculate the cost of shipment.

To calculate the volumetric weight, divide the volume of the cargo (cm) by 6000 cm3 or the volume of the cargo (m) multiplied by 167 m3.

Example: (110cm*130cm*140cm)/6000cm3 = 2002000cm3/6000cm3 = 334kg

(1.1 m*1.3 m*1.4 m)*167 m3 = 2 m3*167 m3 = 334 kg

In the previous question, we considered the same cargo with a physical weight of 50 kg. It turns out that the physical weight is 50kg, the volumetric weight is 334kg. It means that with its low weight the cargo will take up a lot of space in the plane, so its cost will be calculated by the volume weight of 334 kg.

• Shipment distance

The longer the distance, the longer the flight, the more probable a transit point in the absence of a direct flight.

• Number of transit points

The more transit points, the longer the delivery time, because each transit point will require a stop and possibly a transshipment to another air.

• Number of flights on the required direction and air size

The less popular the destination, the fewer flights it has, so if there is even the smallest demand for the destination, there may be a small queue for departure, as there may not be enough space for everyone.

• Flight congestion (demand)

During peak periods, such as before the new year, there is a huge influx of cargo, which stand in line for the flight, due to which there may be delays in departures.

• Force majeure (Contingencies)

Military actions, sanctions, weather conditions, technical problems.

• Priority cargo

About which cargo flies first you can find out in the next paragraph.

When loading an airplane, a priority list of cargo is used. The higher the priority, the sooner it will be loaded and depart.

1. organs and drugs needed to save lives;
2. spare parts for the airplane needed to bring it back into service and prevent further delays or cancellations of the planned route;
3. human remains;
4. live animals;
5. valuable cargo;
6. passenger baggage/cargo;
7. express cargo;
8. perishable cargo;
9. vulnerable cargo (subject to theft);
10. general cargo/dangerous cargo;
11. reserve General Cargo.

Terminal handling – all manipulations with the cargo, which are carried out at the airport before the delivery of cargo for departure or after the arrival of cargo and its unloading to warehouse ( temporary warehouse):

• Transportation of cargo on the territory of the terminal;
• Loading and unloading;
• Weighing and measuring the volume of cargo;
• Marking and application of handling signs;
• Verifying that the nature of the cargo corresponds to the information from the documents;
• Storage of cargo in warehouses;
• Additional services that may be charged separately (receipt/handover of cargo, inspection, etc.)

Apron handling or cargo handling are operations performed by an airline agent in order to place cargo from aircraft to temporary storage warehouse (TSH), which include:

• Pickup of cargo from the aircraft;
• Delivery of cargo to the Temporary storage warehouse;
• Recalculation of packages;
• Weighing;
• Processing of primary documents.

Charge for back ramp loading. Such aircraft as IL 76, AN 124, AN 12, AN 26 are loaded from the back. Loading differs in that the cart with forks, on which there is a pallet, drives right into the aircraft and loads it into place.

The DGM test is a laboratory test that gives information about the danger of the cargo. Without it, it is not possible to take the cargo out of China. How does it work? You bring the cargo to DGM. They do chemical tests, analysis, and give you a safety data sheet, which you attach to your airfreight documents.

Customs procedures are a set of rules defining for customs purposes the requirements and conditions for the use and (or) disposal of goods in the customs territory of the Customs Union or outside it.

Basic customs regimes:

1. Release for domestic consumption (import).
    

   Applies to the import of goods from countries outside the EEU. In order to release goods for domestic use, their owner must pay the duty, according to the HS code, VAT (the presence and value of which also depends on the category of the imported goods) and customs duty (depends on the value of the imported goods). And also, in some cases, to submit the relevant permits confirming the possibility of using the imported goods on the territory of the Russian Federation.

2. Export.
   
   This procedure applies to goods exported from the territory of the CU (Customs Union). A number of goods, mainly raw materials, are subject to export duty. For example, one of the latest government resolutions increased the export duty on sunflower and rapeseed to 30%. The procedure also aims to control compliance with international requirements to the quality of products or raw materials. For example, all products of plant or animal origin must have an appropriate (phytosanitary) certificate confirming their compliance with international standards.

   Some other categories of goods exported from the country may include requirements for preparation of permits. These may include, for example, medical supplies or high-tech electronics.

   Goods placed under the application of the Export procedure are first checked for restrictions imposed by the state. For example, quotas, licensing, or a complete ban on exports from the country.

3. Customs transit
    

   Customs transit can be international and internal.

   In the case of international customs transit, a transit declaration is issued at the border of the customs union, which allows the goods under customs control to cross the territory of the customs union and then move to third countries. For example, Chinese goods enter European countries through the territory of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation, moving under the procedure of international customs transit. Similarly, grain products traveling from the Russian Federation to the Erlian station through Mongolia follow the international customs transit procedure.

   While in the internal customs transit regime, the goods that have crossed the border after a transit declaration can be transported to the customs clearance point on the territory of the Russian Federation.

   Containers are most often moved from ports or from border crossing stations inland under this customs regime.

   Cargo transported by air may also fall under the customs transit regime, when the airline performs transportation to the point with which there is no air service and the cargo has to be delivered by car from the nearest airport.

   So the car with the arrived cargo in the customs transit regime will be delivered to the place of registration.

   The place of clearance is considered to be the customs office, where the information about the cargo will be provided by the owner – the customs inspector.

They are the most popular because they regulate the most popular operations, such as purchase of foreign goods abroad or sale of Russian goods abroad, their transportation and customs clearance.

For international shipments the documents are mandatory.

Airlines are interested in loading the plane as much as possible. The bigger the cargo, the lower the price. There are also fees that do not depend on the weight of the cargo, such as customs clearance, so it is expensive per kg.

Yes, we do.

In terms of customs clearance, it makes no difference what crosses the border: cargo or documents. Customs clearance has to be done in any case.

To arrange international carriage you must be a legal entity.

The cost of shipment depends on a large number of, so it is often difficult to estimate the cost even approximately. To calculate the cost of transportation in our company there is a special department, which for each shipment individually searches for the best route, selects airlines, etc., and the large number of requests does not allow to do it in 5 minutes.

Airlines work on a prepayment basis, so to book a flight for your cargo you must pay the full cost of transportation.

We work in all directions where planes fly.

Yes, both in the country of departure and the country of arrival.

The average cruising speed of an airplane is 800-900 km/h. Knowing the distance, you can roughly calculate the flight time.