I've only shipped a few (moderately) heavy things on short notice in my career. Almost all of those involved FedEx because it was simple and hassle-free. If we're talking about shipping palettes of equipment then I agree with the use of air cargo. It wasn't entirely clear from the first post that a few palette's worth of equipment was what was being shipped. BTW, counter-to-counter service isn't always handled as luggage. In a few cases the package is hand-carried over to the cargo terminal where it's put on the next flight out. Then it's held for you at the destination, NOT put out on the conveyor belt. Most air cargo firms are set up to deal with companies that ship products as a part of their daily business. They usually dont do a whole lot of business with individual shippers. YMMV. I've used air, rail, and truck. IMHO, if you dont know a bill of lading from a hotel bill then an air cargo company isn't where you should start. WRT FedEx: just because your stuff got damaged, don't assume that they break everything they touch. There isn't a single business that I can think of that would tolerate a 40% loss rate on anything. FedEx could NOT stay in business long with those kinds of numbers. Nor could they keep an insurance carrier. Robert E. Seastrom wrote:
"N. Richard Solis" <nrsolis@aol.net> writes:
FedEx will be your best bet. Trust me.
FedEx Heavy = "pay a surcharge for heavy boxes, get it moved by a 120 pound delivery person with a handtruck rather than a pallet jack or other appropriate freight handling equipment... and dropped off the truck". My experience is a 40% damage rate when shipping Cisco 7507 and 7513 routers via FedEx Heavy. Here are some pictures from back when I was at AboveNet: http://www.seastrom.com/fedex/
You COULD do a counter to counter shipment via an airline cargo desk. That MIGHT be cheaper but you will still have to transport it from your spot to their pickup and back again on the other side.
Counter-to-counter is the *last* way you would want to ship that sort of thing (handled as luggage on a flight, beat to hell by baggage handlers, and you get to retrieve it from baggage claim in an airport and schlep it all the way to your car). Far better (if you have access to trucks on both ends) is to ship it air freight. As you enter your favorite airport, follow the signs to Air Cargo, not the signs to the passenger terminal. When you find a place with a lot of places for 18-wheelers to back up to loading docks, and relatively few places for cars to park, you've found the right place. Matthew doesn't mention specific terminus points for the shipment, but based on whois information I'll make a wild guess that NYC is one end. JFK appears to be the "big" United installation (vs LGA and EWR), per info on www.unitedcargo.com - I tend to prefer them because of their long hours for pickup and delivery at IAD, which makes life convenient for me. :)
If you need door-to-door service, there are numerous air freight forwarders who can handle palletized equipment and move it around the country/world in a timely fashion (and really, if you're talking about 300+ pounds of rackmount equipment, that's how you want to move it anyway).
Two companies that I've used and been quite happy with the results are Cavalier International and Eagle Global Logistics. You may recognize Eagle's logo from stickers on previous shipments that you've gotten from major manufacturers who have stuff manufactured in the Far East. The Pros Know.
http://www.eaglegl.com/ http://www.cavalier-intl.com/
---Rob