How to transport goods by air?

What is air cargo?
What is air cargo?
Air cargo is goods transported by plane, also known as by air.

This is the method by which goods are transported by specialized cargo aircraft (Cargo Aircraft, or Freighter in English), or carried in the belly of a passenger plane (Passenger Plane).

Air cargo accounts for a small proportion of the total weight of international transport goods (less than 0.5%), while it accounts for about 30% in value.

According to aircraft manufacturer Boeing, in 2012, specialized cargo aircraft transported about 60% of air shipments globally, while passenger aircraft accounted for the remaining 40%.

Advantages and disadvantages of air transport
Each mode of transportation has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Airplane in the sky
With the method of transporting goods by plane, you will see clear differences compared to transport by sea or road... We can clearly see that transporting goods by plane is the fastest and safest. highest, but highest cost. Therefore, this shipping method is often suitable for high-value goods that are sensitive to delivery time, such as:

Air mail, express mail
Live animals, human organs, remains
Perishable goods (food, fresh flowers, goods marinated in dry ice)
Medicine
Valuable items (gold, diamonds)
Technical equipment (high-tech goods, spare parts for aircraft, ships, cars)
Luxury consumer goods (electronics, fashion)
See detailed advantages and disadvantages in the next section...

Advantages of air transportation
As I said above, the biggest advantage of air transport is its high speed. Airplanes have the highest speed among current modes of transport. On average, cargo or passenger aircraft have an average speed of about 800-1000km/h, very high compared to other popular modes such as ships (12-25 knots/hour), trains (in Vietnam). Only about 60-80km/h in the South), or by truck (60-80km/h). I think perhaps there is only one method of transmitting electricity that is faster than an airplane!

Second, air transport also has the highest safety. You may hear about tragic plane crashes, but in reality air travel is much safer than road, rail, and sea travel.

There are also other advantages such as:

Unobstructed by terrain such as roads or waterways, so it can connect almost all countries in the world.
Fast and punctual service, thanks to very fast flight speeds and the nature of goods that are often high value or perishable
Minimize losses arising from damage, breakage, or petty theft
Shipping insurance premiums are lower due to less risk than other methods
Storage fees are usually minimal due to the characteristics of the goods and the speed of processing procedures >> Learn more about the concept of warehousing…
Those are the advantages of transporting goods by plane. Now let's look at the other side of the issue...

Disadvantages of air transportation
The biggest disadvantage is that shipping goods by plane has the highest cost, calculated per kilogram.

I try to estimate the cost in a very rough way if I want to transfer goods from Hai Phong to City. Ho Chi Minh, only from port/airport/train station to similar destination (using only 1 mode of transport, for ease of comparison):

Airway (Cat Bi - Tan Son Nhat airport): ... VND/kg
Sea route (container from Hai Phong port - Saigon port): ...
Railway (Hai Phong station - Binh Trieu station): ...
Road (container truck, inner city area of ​​Hai Phong - Ho Chi Minh City):
Looking at the numbers, can you see how high air freight rates are compared to other means?