Wednesday, September 11, 2024 Cathay Cargo has refreshed its Cathay Courier solution for urgent, small shipments and has added transparency to its existing features of speed, guaranteed capacity, dedicated handling and customs clearance. ​

Cathay Courier offers businesses speed, flexibility and access to the wider Cathay network for their shipments with high priority for “flown as booked” assurance. It can either be an airport-to-airport solution or with first and last-mile collection and delivery as required. ​ There is also real flexibility with a booking window that closes 240 minutes before departure. The acceptance window for documents and shipments of up to 32kg closes 90 minutes before the flight takes off, while shipments can be retrieved 90 minutes after wheels down.

As part of the refresh, Cathay Courier now features greater visibility for customers who require piece level details, 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.

The Cathay Courier solution 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. As well as dedicated acceptance procedures and customs handling, including its own customs lines, the solution can also offer first and last mile collection and delivery if required, while flights benefit from Cathay’s extensive network and frequent schedules. ​

Cathay Cargo has been able to add this piece-level tracking benefit by integrating systems with Linex. This will greatly enhance tracking when shipments are in Cathay Cargo’s care. Customers will be able to track shipments on the Linex systems at piece level, or at air waybill level on the Cathay Cargo website in the usual way.

Director Cargo Tom Owen said: “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. 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.”

Lenton Group Chief Executive Officer Valerie Dubuisson said: “We are delighted to have worked with Cathay Cargo to digitalise the Cathay Courier process. We still offer Cathay Courier customers the same level of speed and flexibility, but with greater visibility. With this systems integration with Cathay Cargo, we can now offer our customers even greater reassurance with new levels of visibility through our track-and-trace down to piece level.”

Cathay Courier is the latest in Cathay Cargo’s suite of special solutions to be refreshed, following on from Cathay Pharma, Cathay Expert and Cathay Mail, which also included the ability to track at piece level for post office customers. ​

Owen added: “The innovations made to Cathay Courier in this significant upgrade have resulted in a great solution that will be valued by a wide range of existing and new Cathay Cargo customers.” ​