Cross-country shipping of large network/computer gear?

Wed Aug 27 23:43:54 UTC 2003

A counter-to-counter shipment on a passenger airline is a thing of the
past (at least from my experiences going directly to the passenger
airlines).  After Sept 11 the FAA has required that passenger airlines
only accept shipments from "known shippers" (unless this has changed in
the last 14 months).  What does this mean?  You need to setup an
account with the airline (may of them will setup the account and still
be able to bill to a credit card).  You also need to become a "known
shipper" by having their courier/employee visit your location and
verify that you are a "known shipper".  Once this occurs you can do
passenger airline counter-to-counter shipments at will.  Setup time
takes 7-10 days from what I remember.

If anybody has counter-to-counter on their disaster recovery plans you
may want to get setup as a "known shipper".  I went through the process
with United's Cargo division http://www.unitedcargo.com.  I used them
as a backup to America West Airlines as I am located in Phoenix, AZ.

-Andy

--- "Robert E. Seastrom" <rs at seastrom.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> "N. Richard Solis" <nrsolis at 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
> 