HIGH-TECH = HIGH-VALUE: The Complexities of Delivering High-Tech Cargo

When it comes to the transportation of high-tech cargo, it should come as no surprise that shippers and logistics service providers must treat the delivery process with the utmost care. However, even knowing that, the true breadth of complexity and care involved is often over looked, or taken for granted.

The process is one that requires close interaction from those involved from start-to-finish. The supply chain for this market must be sensitive to not only time, but also safety. While this is true of every delivery, no matter the cargo, high-tech presents specific concerns, including temperature and light control, moisture protection, and fragility. This means that the packaging of high-tech products is just as important as finding the right kind of equipment that will be used to transport and deliver them.

According to Carole Pizano, a General Manager with logistics provider Aeronet Worldwide, “Packaging is key. We work closely with our Clients in the high-tech market, for every step of the delivery process, while paying special attention to packaging. It’s not just a box to us—we sit down with them in order to learn everything about the product, from engineering through manufacturing.”

Security is not only a concern when it comes to the physical state of the package, but also in the broader legal sense. Because this cargo generally has such a high-dollar value, the risk of theft is always there. This requires extra security measures to be taken during the delivery process, including real-time tracking and ID tracking (in the case of expedited ground transport, this goes for the truck itself, as well as the goods inside).

“That way,” says Pizano, “if someone were to steal cargo, we still have eyes on it.”

Thus, the transporter tasked with handling such cargo must offer a leading edge eSolutions system, in order to provide full visibility throughout the delivery process.

Another area where safety measures are often required in regards to high-tech cargo is in regards to the kind of insurance policies that must be taken out on them. High-tech units and components are not like other complex deliveries in that they are not necessarily destined for industrial spaces. They are often sent to private residences, such as apartment complexes, offices, and even hotels.

Because they are so high-value, and because the delivery process for them often requires specialized equipment that could—conceivably—damage property, individual Certificates of Insurance (COIs) are required for the residences that they are being delivered to. These COIs need to carry the name of the company delivering them.

While many larger shippers stock up on these COIs for spaces they deliver to regularly, they do not have flexibility to take out new ones for places they haven’t shipped to before, and therefore they don’t feel it’s worth the extra time or effort to do so.

This is where a leaner logistics provider such as Aeronet (which, while leaner, still offers all of the capabilities you expect from a global logistics provider) can provide a value-added service. Our flexibility allows us to make special arraignments to obtain such a COI on behalf of our carriers.

Another area where a more flexible operation excels over the bigger shippers is that of drop shipping. Drop shipping (also known as blind shipping) is an option taken up by third-party sellers who do not wish to disclose to their customers the origin of their product.

This is an area of great concern within the high-tech market, because companies often have to supply their customers with components for reconfigured products that they get from the original manufacturers. Should their customers discover who the manufacturers are, they may well decide to cut out the middle-man and go directly to the original source.

Drop shipments require a scrubbing of all details on the packaging that would give away the origin of the goods within. That includes logos, stickers, company names, etc. The only information given to shipper are the pickup and delivery addresses and the tracking numbers.

The time it takes to complete the “sanitizing” process that such deliveries require, as well as the extra care that must go into the delivery itself make many shipping companies and 3PLs wary of taking them on. A company like Aeronet, however, has the time, flexibility, and expertise that they require, and is able to consult on such deliveries, as well as arrange them.

Founded over 35 years ago in Northern California in order to service the growing tech sector of Silicon Valley, we have continued to provide the best, most flexible, reliable, and up-to-date service to that industry, even as it has grown larger and larger over the decades.