Cathay Cargo has refreshed its Cathay Courier solution for small and urgent shipments, adding transparency to its existing features of speed, guaranteed capacity, dedicated handling and customs clearance, and first- and last-mile collection and delivery options. 

The service is already used by a broad customer base, predominantly SMEs, moving high-value shipments that need express treatment. These range from haute-couture fashion houses getting garments to events, to the dental mould industry, which has a production concentration in the southern Chinese Mainland but a worldwide clientele of dentists. Now that Cathay Courier has added piece level tracking to its arsenal of features, it is hoped that the bespoke aspects of the Cathay Courier will appeal to an even wider customer base. 

Cathay Courier is offered in partnership with Linex, Cathay Cargo’s exclusive general sales agent. Linex is part of the Lenton Group, which has global expertise and experience in courier and cross-border e-commerce shipments. 

This partnership behind Cathay Courier has always offered businesses speed, flexibility and access to the wider Cathay network for their shipments with very high 'flown as booked' assurance. It can either be an airport-to-airport solution or with first- and last-mile collection and delivery as required. The flexibility comes from a booking window that closes just 240 minutes before departure, while the acceptance window for documents and shipments of up to 32kg closes just 90 minutes before the flight takes off –  afterwards, shipments can be retrieved as soon as 90 minutes after wheels down. 

As part of the refresh, Cathay Courier now features greater visibility for customers that drills down to piece level, offering enhanced track-and-trace options to customers during the shipment journey. This makes it ideal for high-value or bespoke e-commerce shipments, personal effects and documents.

‘We feel the innovations made to Cathay Courier in this significant upgrade have resulted in a great express solution that will be valued by a wide range of existing and new Cathay Cargo customers,’ says Director Cargo Tom Owen.

Cathay Courier shipments are handled differently from general cargo, and the Cathay Courier team handles all the documentation to simplify things for customers. The segregation between cargo and Cathay Courier packages starts at the warehouse, no matter if they’ve been collected from a shipper’s door, delivered to a Cathay Courier agent or dropped off at the airport. There, dedicated Cathay Courier staff take responsibility for shipments and escort them through their own customs lanes. The individual packages are consolidated into a sack, which is then allocated an air waybill (AWB) number. 

Cathay Courier uses an adaptation of the same technology used in the Cathay Mail solution, which also includes the ability to track at piece level for post office customers. This upgrade to Cathay Courier means customers can now track their individual packages on the dedicated Cathay Courier website, or follow the consolidated sack by AWB number on the Cathay Cargo website as they would for a general cargo shipment. 

This is a real enhancement, as Head of Cargo Markets and Customer Solutions Siddhant Iyer explains. ‘We have worked with Linex to enhance the Cathay Courier solution,’ he says. ‘The digitalisation has enabled us to make shipments more visible, with enhanced shipment level details for customers tracking their shipment, which helps us to be more customer-centric.’

The new process also enables an electronic audit trail which will simplify accounting and booking reconciliation. The relaunch of this solution comes at a time when e-commerce and high-value shipments take on ever-greater importance in the wide world of air cargo, especially in terms of expectations around speed and shipment visibility.

‘Cathay Courier has speed as its core benefit for our customers, with the flexibility of the “next flight out” philosophy, ensuring they are not reliant on a rigid acceptance window, and can efficiently utilise our extensive flight network and schedules,’ concludes Iyer. ‘Now that we have added the ability to track shipments at piece level and digitised the back office booking and invoicing process, we believe that Cathay Courier’s unique benefits will be attractive for high-value e-commerce shipments as well as delivering smaller items for SMEs that require express delivery, with both first- and last-mile options.’

Learn more here.

Cathay Courier – feature benefits at a glance

Speed

• Within 24 hours* for regional, intra-Asia service 

• Within 48 hours* for long-haul and transit service via Hong Kong

*Subject to origin/destination flight schedule

Flexibility

• Booking window closes 240 minutes out

• Acceptance and retrieval 90 minutes ahead of departure and after wheels down

Simplicity

• Cathay Courier and partner Linex experts handle the documentation

• Expedited shipment clearance through dedicated customs lanes

Visibility

• Piece level tracking provides extra assurance 

Reliability

• High flown-as-booked ratio

Wide range of service options

• Up to and including a hand-carry service for vital documents

First and final mile

• A flexible range of options for shipment collection and delivery