- Cargo feasibility is decided by dimensions, door size, floor loading and loading equipment, not by payload weight alone.
- Documentation errors — air waybills, customs paperwork, dangerous-goods declarations — cause most cargo charter failures.
- Dangerous goods require declaration and operator acceptance; an undeclared shipment is a serious safety and legal breach.
- Ground equipment availability at both ends is as much a constraint as the aircraft itself.
Loadability, not just payload
A shipment that weighs within an aircraft's payload may still be impossible to carry. The determining factors are the dimensions of each individual piece against the cargo door aperture, the floor loading limit expressed as weight per unit area, the height available inside the hold, and the equipment required to get the piece aboard.
Collect a dimensional and weight schedule per piece before doing anything else — length, width, height, weight, centre of gravity for heavy items, and whether the piece can be tilted or must remain upright. A total tonnage figure alone tells you almost nothing about feasibility.
Aircraft types and door constraints
Freighter types differ enormously in access: side-loading main-deck doors, nose-loading, ramp-loading rear access on specialised types, and narrow lower-deck holds on converted passenger aircraft. The same nominal payload across two types can mean completely different loadability.
Loading equipment is part of the aircraft decision. A high main-deck door needs a main-deck loader at both airports; a ramp-loading type may be able to self-load at a field with no equipment at all. Where the destination is a small or remote airport, equipment availability frequently dictates the type.
- Door dimensions against the largest piece with clearances.
- Floor loading limit against the heaviest concentrated load.
- Loading equipment available at origin and destination.
- Tie-down and restraint requirements for the load.
Dangerous goods and special cargo
Dangerous goods must be classified, packed, marked, labelled and declared according to the applicable regulations, and the operator must be approved and willing to accept them. Lithium batteries, aerosols, paints, fuels, compressed gases, magnetised materials and certain machinery all fall inside the regime, often to shippers' surprise.
An undeclared dangerous good is a serious safety hazard and a legal breach with consequences for the shipper, the operator and potentially anyone who arranged the movement knowing the nature of the cargo. Where there is any doubt, require a written declaration from the shipper and route the question to the operator's dangerous-goods function.
Other special categories — live animals, temperature-controlled pharmaceuticals, human remains, valuables, oversized project cargo — each carry their own handling, documentation and acceptance requirements.
Documentation and customs
Freight moves on paperwork: the air waybill, commercial invoice, packing list, export and import declarations, licences for controlled goods, and any certificates required for the commodity. Errors in this chain hold cargo on the ground long after the aircraft is ready.
Confirm early who is acting as the customs broker at each end, whether the consignee is prepared to clear on arrival, and whether the goods require any licence. Sanctions and export-control screening applies to cargo as much as to counterparties — some commodities and destinations require licences regardless of who is paying.
The chain of responsibility
Cargo charter typically involves more parties than passenger work: shipper, freight forwarder, charter broker, operator, handling agents and customs brokers at both ends. Define in writing who is responsible for packing, for the dangerous-goods declaration, for customs clearance and for the delivery leg.
Undefined responsibility is the characteristic failure of freight charter. The aircraft arrives, the cargo does not clear, and four parties each believed a fifth was handling it.
Quoting freight work
Freight quotations should state the assumed load, the loading equipment assumed at each end, the maximum ground time included and the cost of exceeding it, and who bears demurrage-style costs when clearance is delayed.
Because cargo charters frequently sit at the end of a broken supply chain, they are more prone to schedule change than passenger work. Price change flexibility explicitly rather than discovering its cost after the fact.
Practical checklists
- Piece-by-piece dimensional and weight schedule obtained.
- Door aperture and floor loading verified against the load.
- Loading equipment confirmed at both airports.
- Dangerous-goods status declared in writing and accepted by the operator.
- Air waybill and customs documentation ownership assigned.
- Licence and export-control position checked for commodity and destination.
- Ground time allowance and overrun costs stated in the quotation.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a broker classify dangerous goods on the shipper's behalf?
- No. Classification and declaration are the shipper's legal responsibility, and acceptance is the operator's. The broker ensures the process happens.
- Why do cargo charters fail more often on the ground than in the air?
- Because loadability, equipment and documentation are ground problems, and they are the parts of the chain most often assumed rather than confirmed.
- • Dimensions and door access decide feasibility before weight does.
- • Loading equipment is part of the aircraft decision.
- • Dangerous goods are declared in writing and accepted by the operator.
- • Assign documentation and clearance responsibility explicitly.