TIME-CRITICAL ENTERTAINMENT LOGISTICS

Following the first 24 hours, a staged approach was implemented to assist the supplier in keeping costs as low as possible. Priority Freight went about providing a two-hour bullet vehicle provision. On days three and four the bullet vans were replaced with a double-manned trailer departure.

By the fifth day, Priority Freight’s team had worked closely with the tier one supplier to resource and action a critical logistics response, which ensured that the OEM was protected against loss in downtime and cost with 48 hours of stock, which enabled the tier one supplier to return to standard line haul dispatch.

Upon request and with customer agreement, Priority Freight’s AOG team promptly established contact with the Exporter in Mexico to ensure all export documentation would be completed so the necessary customs formalities could be promptly processed, and to obtain confirmation if their designated customs agent could support in fast tracking the process.

The first available direct flight departed PHX (Phoenix) at 21:15hrs MST, arriving LHR the following afternoon at 14:00hrs GMT. With the local time approximately 07:20hrs MDT, there was just sufficient time to organize an OBC if a vehicle could be urgently positioned to collect and travel directly to PHX.

The ChallengeThe international airfreight team at Priority Freight received an urgent request from an automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM), one evening in May 2015. The OEM required urgent assistance with shipment of ten cargo boxes weighing approximately 150kg containing automotive parts, from New Delhi, India, to London Heathrow, UK. The parts were needed for OEM to maintain production.

The SolutionThe OEM ruled out chartering options at an early stage, so the international airfreight team at Priority Freight started to identify the next best solutions, providing the client with a number of on-board courier options, varying in cost and speed.

When an aircraft is grounded due to a critical component failure, the financial and operational consequences can escalate quickly. In an Aircraft on Ground (AOG) situation, every hour of downtime places additional pressure on maintenance teams, operators and supply chain partners to restore operations as quickly as possible.

Priority Freight was contacted in the early hours of the morning following an emergency alert involving a grounded aircraft in Germany. A replacement engine weighing 6,500kg needed to be transported urgently from Shannon, Ireland to Hannover to enable repairs and return the aircraft to service.

Based on the load specification, Priority Freight dispatched a collection vehicle immediately whilst sourcing suitable aircraft availability. An AN26 aircraft catering for the whole consignment was quickly sourced and diverted to position in Vatry Airport, northern France.

Priority Freight monitored the shipment throughout and kept the client updated with every crucial milestone ensuring complete visibility & traceability. The consignment arrived onsite in Washington at 19:45hrs GMT and safeguarded the factory from production downtime and averted pending penalty costs from their customer.

When Bratislava airport in Slovakia found themselves in urgent need of two replacement staircases, they employed Priority Freight to take care of the challenging consignment.

The Priority Freight team relish such extraordinary challenges and immediately set to work to deliver the fastest, most cost-effective and reliable solution, ensuring that the airport could continue operating to schedule.

A leading UK defence engineering organisation required specialist logistics support to transport a 57-tonne frigate engine from Germany to the UK as part of a critical defence programme.

As an out-of-gauge, high-value consignment, the oversized engine required careful planning, specialist equipment and secure handling throughout the journey.

International supply chains connecting North Africa and Europe rely on tightly coordinated transport networks spanning road, sea and air freight movements. When disruption affects several parts of this network simultaneously, maintaining the movement of time-critical cargo becomes significantly more complex.

During a period of severe weather across the Strait of Gibraltar, transport movements between Morocco and mainland Europe were heavily affected. Strong winds and rainfall disrupted ferry operations between Tangier and Spanish ports, creating significant backlogs at Tangier Port and leaving crossings unreliable and subject to cancellation.

With the standard delivery time for this journey being three to four days, the Priority Freight team had to pull out all the stops and find ways to cut this time in half.

Using their extensive network and close relationships within the industry, the experts at Priority Freight were quick to build a bespoke solution for the client. The consignment was picked up same day in Canada, before being transported, by truck, to Toronto. From there, it was delivered via an express service to London Heathrow Airport, on board a leading international carrier.

The furniture company was tasked with outfitting the interiors of one of the world’s largest and most luxurious cruise ships. This project required Priority Freight to provide seamless, bespoke logistics solutions under strict time constraints to ensure timely delivery to multiple European shipyards.

CHALLENGES:

Operations Manager, Ed Bembridge, determined that the express road freight option was not going to deliver within the required time-frame and so sourced an air charter from Vatry Airport some seventy-five miles away. Due to pallet dimensions and requirement to ship all three at the same time a AN-26 aircraft was on procured and a truck dispatched to the Mouzon factory.

With the delivery vehicle awaiting the plane at Durham Tees Valley airport to make the 35 mile trip to the facility at Washington, County Durham, the consignment was successfully delivered within a transit time of eight and a half hours. No production downtime at the receiving factory was reported.

When a leading entertainment production company needed a reliable partner to manage the time-critical transport of film equipment across the UK, they turned to Priority Freight.

The brief involved moving 12 pieces of towable film equipment to 16 separate locations, each with strict deadlines and site-specific access constraints. With daily production activity relying on equipment arriving ahead of crew call times, there was no room for delays or disruption.

Priority Freight was contacted to transfer 60 boxes of cargo, consisting of newly produced components, weighing 350kg. The time-sensitive deadline ensured the commodity needed an air option, however the size and quantity of the cargo did not meet the regular air freight restrictions.

In this time-critical situation Priority Freight secured a workable solution in less than one hour of primary contact. The solution saw the large consignment reorganised into 15 packages, which was acceptable by the airlines baggage restrictions.

The client had requested the ‘Priority Express’ service, utilising its new cost-effective time and day-definite, secure China to Europe service. As the receiver had senior management travelling from around the world to inspect the prototype parts, delayed delivery was not an option.

Rescheduled loading, customs procedures and air traffic rights were just some of the complications the Priority Freight team had to overcome. Multiple trailers were booked for the surface transport and a scheduled 747-freighter utilised to deliver the cargo to mainland Europe. To safeguard the last mile delivery, a large cargo flight was chartered from Germany.

This particular requirement also included the additional challenge of the timeframe overlapping with a weekend, plus the cargo itself weighed a total of 88 tonnes, meaning that specialist handling and manoeuvring equipment was critical.

At its 24/7 control centre, the emergency response team immediately stepped into action, accessing its trusted network of partners from within 200 countries, to plan the most efficient logistics route that would meet the customer’s 48-hour deadline.

The emergency scenario called for a replacement aircraft component, which was available in Cologne, Germany.

The obvious solution was to ship the component by air from Cologne Bonne Airport (CGN) – but this would have been a mistake. Limited flights from CGN and a one hour time difference between locations meant that most airlines in Germany were closed for bookings. Using the available connecting flights between CGN and LPA would have resulted in missing the Sunday deadline – something Priority Freight was not prepared to consider.

When MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) came to Priority Freight to transport a dissembled light aircraft from the Midlands to Perth, Scotland, the teams’ value shone through. The aircraft will be used by the charity at a range of events throughout Scotland to publicise the work of MAF.

MAF operates 135 light aircraft in 26 of the most disadvantaged countries in the developing world. In 2016 they flew more than 43,000 hours and 65,000 flights to carry 178,000 passengers and 6-million kilograms of aid and materials to those in need.

As with many urgent consignments, the exact packaging dimensions and collection time unknown as the product was still in production. However, working closely with the factory through Priority Freight’s Polish office, it was estimated that a courier would be able to hand-carry the items and that they would be completed and ready for pick-up by 18:00 that evening.

The Polish office therefore organised an experienced on-board courier (OBC) to be at the factory in Myslenice at 17:00 to ensure that he could be on his way just as soon as production of the parts was complete. Good communications with the factory also ensured that the parts were packaged for hand-carrying. The usual packaging for an airfreight shipment would be too bulky to accompany a passenger. Suitably equipped with a large suitcase, the courier left Myslenice with the consignment at 18:40.

The following case study highlights the value Priority Freight provides as a strategic partner for its clients.

June and July saw an unprecedented use of Operation Stack, which was in force for 27 out of 40 days with relentless traffic congestion stretching more than 30 miles. Cancelled crossings and congestion around the ports caused severe delays, interrupting scheduled deliveries from component suppliers and threatening car production.

The company’s mission is to provide the most rapid, cost-effective and reliable door-to-door logistics solutions – often in emergency and crisis scenarios.

The following case study highlights the value Priority Freight provides as a strategic partner for its clients. The global automotive manufacturers involved relied on the company’s expertise in expedited logistics for a three-month period of crisis.

Priority Freight coordinated two Boeing 747 charter flights to maintain automotive production after a complete Serbian border blockade brought road transport operations throughout the country to a standstill.

When a complete border blockade in Serbia prevented all road freight movements, an automotive manufacturer urgently required an alternative transport solution to maintain production continuity.

Its drug was controlled under license in the UK and could only enter the country after 00:01 on Monday 7th May, but to maximise sales, the product needed to be in the shops by Monday morning. The source point was in Iceland; the shipment size was considerable; the customs documentation was complex and it was a bank holiday weekend in the UK. Priority Freight took on the challenge.

First off, Priority Freight despatched an experienced member of staff to oversee the operation. A specially chartered Boeing 767 aircraft was readied at Keflavik Airport and the consignment of 150 pallets loaded. Precision planning ensured the aircraft touched down at 00:08 on Monday in the UK… perfect timing!

Logistics specialist delivers shipment 600 miles, across UK/France border, within 20 hours

Within one hour of enquiry, Priority Freight completed customs papers, organised high value insurance and had a driver on site to collect the goods

Having vast experience in time-critical international deliveries, Priority Freight was expertly positioned to arrange prompt flights from Barcelona El-Prat Airport to Narita International Airport and deliver the urgent cargo in just two days.

The team at Priority Freight faced a number of complexities that needed careful consideration and a fast-acting response. Due to the vast number of pallets being transported, enough hold space was required within the aircraft to ensure the weight could be distributed evenly.

Due to the sheer size and weight of the machinery, the Priority Freight team knew that the consignment could only be transported via a freighter aircraft. Reacting within their industry-leading time of 15 minutes, they then liaised with their Chinese agents to source a 747-800F freighter aircraft, booked over multiple flights, flying to London Heathrow via Amsterdam. With the aircraft agreed and booked, an airline transfer was also organised to deliver the equipment to the production site over the weekend after it had landed.

However, this shipment was not without its challenges. Firstly, the supplier’s packaging of the moulds did not meet the necessary guidelines laid out by the airline and secondly, all commercial uplift was delayed by the airport authorities for three to five days. The Priority Freight team needed to implement an innovative contingency solution, and quickly!

The six most hard-hit nations – China, Korea, Italy, Japan, US and Germany – account for 60% of the world’s manufacturing and half of the world’s manufactured exports. As the virus originated from China, and they reacted so quickly, with no air traffic to or from the country, it became near impossible to source the necessary components to continue manufacturing processes around the world.

The supply disruptions hindering production had a substantial knock-on effect, significantly slowing world trade. Already we have seen the number of exports fall in the most severely hit nations as well as the number of imports fall in their trade partners.

The client advised that the inbound delivery would be split into two loads, with the first eight containers arriving in just two days, requiring storage until the new year.

The experts at Priority Freight adeptly relocated the existing stock in the warehouse to ensure efficient delivery and storage within 12 hours of the request. With the warehouse prepared to accommodate the imminent influx of pallets, attention turned to safely streamlining the offloading process. When dealing with any offloading, the safety of all those involved is paramount.

Priority Freight is a leading time-critical logistics specialist operating via strategically placed European hubs and a network of global agents to provide the most advanced, flexible and customer-centric logistics solutions. Its industry-leading response time and bespoke logistics solutions keep supply chains moving worldwide.

Although usually known for its expertise in arranging time-critical logistics for the automotive, manufacturing and medical sectors, Priority Freight’s agile approach allows it to assist with urgent movements in any sector. The company can arrange global time-critical delivery solutions no matter the geography, size, weight, distance or mode of transport, and facilitate all required customs clearance.

With a transit window of just under 72 hours from Rotterdam, the task required flawless coordination, rapid customs clearance, and expert system navigation.

The containers were intercepted in Rotterdam and faced immediate hurdles: delayed clearance, a 24-hour downtime of the customs system, and the added complexity of a newly introduced digital release platform used by all shipping lines to securely assign containers to approved hauliers. While many providers were still adjusting to the platform’s requirements, Priority Freight’s customs team worked swiftly and accurately to ensure containers were released to the correct vehicles without delay.

The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a biplane fighter aircraft, named The Artful Dodger, was the personal aircraft of Wing Commander G.H. Lewis DFC, a friend of Winston Churchill. G.H. Lewis claimed four of his 12 victories in the aircraft that served in two world wars, which contributed to its esteemed reputation. The S.E.5a aircraft will always remain one of aviation’s great aircraft.

Priority Freight’s expert team was immediately put into motion, knowing that they had only 12 hours to load the S.E.5a in order to arrive at the show on time. Due to the nature of the cargo, care of the aircraft was of the highest importance. With the combined force of a skilled team and a 12-tonne curtain truck with lift, Priority Freight ensured that the aircraft was transported on time and delivered in perfect condition to make an appearance at the airshow!

A UK automotive manufacturer experienced a moulding machine breakdown. To maintain production volume and avoid downtime in productivity with one of their leading customers, an alternative machine and manufacturing line was introduced in another of their facilities located several miles away from their main plant. The components and tooling were then required to be continuously transported between the two sites for several days.

Calling upon Priority Freight for their contingency logistics expertise, the manufacturer required immediate support. Within 25 minutes of the request, the team had begun positioning multiple vehicles. In excess of 35 sprinter vans and 7.5t vehicles were utilised around the clock, loading every 15-30 minutes during a 48-hour period.

Even more so than with other time-critical consignments, delivering a temperature-sensitive consignment can be a challenge, and one that usually requires an urgent delivery deadline to reach its destination in the right state. Such was the case when Priority Freight was approached by a client to deliver six passive temperature-controlled containers from Medway, England to a pharmaceutical leader in Dublin, Ireland for next day delivery, whilst ensuring that the containers remained at exactly +20°C.

The Priority Freight team used their extensive knowledge to source a solution within their fast reaction time of under 15 minutes, arranging for the consignment to be picked up later that afternoon by an artic truck and delivered overnight to the specified location in Dublin. However, Priority Freight’s agility was tested when the team were informed that, due to a technical issue, the artic truck was running late and would not be able to collect the shipment until 8pm, three hours after the loading point closed. Due to the financial repercussions stressed by the client if not delivered on time, collecting the following day was not an option.

It is a common scenario that parts are manufactured in one location before being transported across countries or continents to reach the assembly line where they become part of an end product. In the automotive industry, this process relies on accurate and timely sequencing, without which this fragile chain can easily break creating financial and reputational harm.

One recent example of this was a volume vehicle manufacturer who makes parts at its Serbian factory for distribution to its network of production plants, including one in East London, South Africa. This regular shipment usually involves road transport from the Serbian factory to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport where the goods are then flown to O.R. Tambo International Airport. However, issues at the Serbian-Hungarian border meant the goods would be delayed and potentially halt South African production.

The cargo, weighing over 200kg in total, was essential to the smooth running of the client’s business. Any disruption to the supply chain would have had a serious impact on their reputation, as well as their production line.

Priority Freight’s highly trained, multilingual emergency response team immediately set out to ascertain the best way to meet the client’s needs and realised that the most efficient solution would be to use two carriers to overcome weight restrictions.

For production to continue, the manufacturer required daily collection of parts, from up to 30 UK and EU suppliers. Due to the ever-changing schedules, there was limited knowledge of parts quantities, packaging dimensions and some supplier locations, making this challenge seem impossible.

COVID-19 closures had altered the operating hours for many suppliers which limited collection times. Plus, new air freight plans were issued daily, requiring a rapid and accurate turnaround of customs paperwork, export declarations and clearance.

Priority Freight was trusted to transport the entire fleet from Lisbon to Halifax in Nova Scotia, a challenge in itself that required a Boeing 767 and significant transport and customs expertise to make it happen within the timescales. As usual, Priority Freight delivered on time and in perfect condition allowing the race to continue successfully.

Priority Freight provides this type of service to its clients on a daily basis – the company completes over 150,000 expedited shipments each year. Its dedication to beating deadlines and exceeding expectations has made it the contingency logistics provider of choice in the global automotive, aerospace industries.

Priority Freight provides crucial support for round-the-world EV raceDownload

Priority Freight is a leading time-critical logistics specialist operating via strategically placed European hubs and a network of global agents to provide the most advanced, flexible and customer-centric logistics solutions. Its industry-leading response time and bespoke logistics solutions keep supply chains moving worldwide.

When asked to complete the seemingly standard transportation of 150 cartons of hydraulic equipment from the Czech Republic to the UK by road, Priority Freight faced customs clearance challenges that, with other logistics providers, would probably have resulted in delivery delays.

With a mere two-day window in which to meet their deadline, the sailing company was faced with the arduous task of negotiating large volume cargo across multiple ferry crossings in order to reach the world renowned Centro Velico Caprera sailing school, where the dinghies would be deployed.

The solution

The challenge

An urgent call one February morning prompted an emergency AOG (Aircraft on Ground) movement from Marmande, France, to Tunis Carthage airport in Tunisia, dealt with by Priority Freight’s international night team in Coventry. The client required assistance in delivering a crucial component to the aircraft in Tunisia, which needed to be transported straight away. Weighing a manageable 14kgs, the cargo may have seemed unassuming, but without it the plane was grounded and a delay of even a few hours would have meant disaster for the client.

The solution

A major European manufacturer had started production of its latest EV when a delay to the supply of lithium-ion batteries threatened to bring production to a halt. Priority Freight was immediately selected to fast-track the crucial shipment via air charter from Shanghai to Europe.

Supply chain issues are a familiar tale across manufacturing industries at present. Some can switch production to another product, or pause small-scale production temporarily, but the car industry doesn’t have that luxury. Vehicle assembly lines are complex and rely on accurate sequencing that cannot be easily reconfigured once the process has begun. So, when a vehicle manufacturer received the news that the power pack for the model in production would not arrive in time, their choices were limited.

The aerospace industry, known for its stringent timelines and careful precision, required the transportation to be completed without delay, and Priority Freight was the key player in ensuring this.

The parts, located in Liege, Brussels, at 11:30am, had to be delivered urgently to the UK to ensure minimal disruptions to operations. Priority Freight swiftly coordinated the logistics, arranging for the parts to be transported via London Heathrow.

Priority Freight immediately created an action plan to support their client within their promised 15-minute response time, arranging to meet the en route trailer, acquire the vital components and head straight for the client’s plant as quickly as possible. Swiftly recognising that a van would not be fast enough when the client was losing thousands of pounds for every minute the production line was delayed, the team started to calculate alternatives.

The only thing faster than direct road freight is air freight and, within the hour, Priority Freight had commissioned and landed a helicopter to rendezvous with the trailer as it entered the UK, at a partner’s premises in Hythe, close to the Channel Tunnel. 15-minutes after landing, the loaded helicopter was on its way to meet the onward vehicle at Birmingham airport to take the consignment on its final leg of the journey and deliver the urgent components to the client.

Priority Freight’s expertise was required by a mainstream vehicle manufacturer that needed to transport over 11 tonnes of die casting machines from its factory in the north of England to a facility near Stuttgart, Germany, for routine re-chroming. The parts then needed to be transported back to the UK for installation back on the production line before the factory reopened on Tuesday morning.

The expert team at Priority Freight considered the various modes of transport at their disposal and decided that shipping the parts by articulated lorry and trailer would be the most cost-effective and quickest solution.

A global manufacturer and maintenance provider of medical scanners called on Priority Freight’s reliable and cost-effective services to deliver a replacement part from the Netherlands to Namibia within 48 hours.

The hospital faced problems when the only scanner on-site suffered a rare breakdown. Despite repeated visits from local engineers, the only way to resolve the issue was to have a large ‘arm’ (which makes up the top of the machine) shipped from the EU spares facility in the Netherlands, over 7,000 miles away.

When the call came in from the customer in Spain on Thursday evening, the relevant Chinese manufacturers and airlines were already closed. However, scenario planning began immediately and the client was offered the express tariffs that Priority Freight already had secured with airlines operating out of China in advance.

The cargo needed to be collected from two different Tianjin-based manufacturers which, at the time of the booking, were closed and had no idea the emergency transport was already being organised.

Priority Freight was contacted during a weekend, as the parts were needed within just 48 hours and an untimely customs official strike was taking place in Brazil at the time of the request.

In this time-critical situation Priority Freight set to work and secured a workable solution within two hours of initial contact. By working with a global network of trusted partners, our team was able to provide the fastest, most cost-effective and reliable option to solve the manufacturer’s dilemma.

After receiving the dimensions of the equipment, work began to identify the fastest, most cost-effective and reliable solution for transporting such a heavy consignment by road to Telford. Such specialist heavy equipment needs to be loaded and unloaded by crane and an even weight distribution on a vehicle is a primary consideration, especially when dealing with just three large parts.

Within Priority Freight’s fast reaction time of under 15 minutes, the optimum solution had been selected and agreed with the client. Two 13.6m trailers were sourced as part of the solution, both of which had retractable roofs to enable the required loading and unloading, and the reinforced flooring necessary for the heavy load.

The consignment specification deemed the process to be a little more demanding yet undeterred, Priority Freight’s specialist department quickly worked on sourcing suitable recovery solutions to offer its client the necessary support. Within 50 minutes, a double manned unit with full driving time had been allocated to pull one of its permitted low loader flat-bed trailers situated approximately 90km from the collection point. Within three hours of request, the vehicle arrived on site and once the cargo had been loaded, and sufficiently secured, the drivers proceeded directly to Paris as instructed by the Priority Freight team.

The replacement component arrived within 22hrs of request and the customer was delighted that Priority Freight continued to exceed expectation from their initial response and vehicle positioning, to the continuous progress updates and POD instantaneously required and provided via Priority Freight’s 24/7 planning and tracking operation with its specifically tailored Emergency freight software platform.

Priority Freight was asked to assess options for keeping the shipment moving without disruption. While air charter was evaluated as part of the solution process, the focus quickly turned to a fast and effective ground-based alternative that would meet all time and compliance requirements.

The key challenge lay in identifying a safe and practical location near Calais where a transhipment could take place – allowing a fresh vehicle and crew to continue the journey within the required window. The operation demanded speed, precision, and careful coordination to ensure the transfer was seamless and the cargo remained secure.

A job carried out for a major automotive OEM over the summer proves the point. A small but critical quantity of parts were required urgently from a supplier in Germany. There was a real danger of the production line in the UK being halted if delivery wasn’t affected by late morning.

With the goods not available until 07:30 an air solution was the only option. In order to avoid an expensive air charter Priority Freight arranged a personal courier to pick-up the shipment and accompany it on-board a scheduled flight from Dusseldorf to Birmingham. To minimise the chance of any delay a driver met the on-board courier on arrival at the airport and delivery to the plant was successfully made at 11:30. No production down time was necessary.

In the lead up to Brexit, French customs officials simulated post-Brexit working practices by checking road freight going through Calais, which caused considerable delays, with one reported case of a 23-hour wait.

The multilingual experts at Priority Freight monitored the situation closely, utilising online data and close relationships with carriers to receive on the ground information. This extensive knowledge was relayed to the client and allowed an informed decision regarding their consignment to be made.

Lorries queued when Operation Stack is in place on the M20 motorway in Kent

A large automotive client called us on a Friday. They had a potential production line stoppage, unless additional supplies of a part from Germany were not delivered by the following Monday.

At first glance this appeared to be a simple task until the full ‘road trip’ scenario was revealed……the required parts had not been manufactured yet, they were still in their raw state, sheets of aluminium. And there was another twist in the plot….the metal sheets needed to be treated before they could be turned into car parts….. the treatment plant was in Portugal!

When a primary logistics provider failed to deliver, a defence manufacturing programme faced potential disruption due to delayed raw materials.

An international defence contractor required the urgent transport of 28 oversized plate steel sheets – essential inputs for production – across a distance of more than 1,100 miles into mainland Europe. With production timelines already under pressure, any delay risked halting manufacturing activity and impacting downstream schedules.

When an urgent shipment threatened to delay a defence engineering programme, Priority Freight mobilised a solution in minutes – completing the entire operation in under two hours.

A leading UK defence engineering organisation required immediate transport of specialist shipbuilding engineering components between two manufacturing locations in the UK. The components were needed urgently to support scheduled engineering activity, meaning any delay risked disrupting carefully planned production work.

A leading UK defence engineering organisation required urgent transport of large, high-value engineering components between manufacturing facilities supporting a critical defence programme.

The cargo was oversized, unstackable and high value, requiring specialist handling and secure transport throughout the journey. With production schedules already under pressure, the shipment needed to move within an extremely tight timeframe.