Chicago based GPLN member BDG International proved that project cargo isn’t always about size!  During a standard export shipment from Peru to Canada, space was tight from Lima to Los Angeles International Airport.  Only 786 kgs, the pallet of mining supply parts was urgent to be received in Canada and install in a machine that was already shut down.

At first the shipper was looking at standard service from Lima to Edmonton International Airport.  Each day the cargo was delayed and there did not seem to be any space on the Lan Chile flights northbound via Los Angeles International Airport.

BDG International received the call to get involved and after learning all the facts they re-routed the cargo to Miami in order to transship the cargo on Air Canada.  Lan Chile was booked to Los Angeles International Airport full for days at the express level due to Asparagus and other perishables moving priority over any general cargo.

“The cargo moved express to Miami as planned,” said Lisa Waller, vice president of BDG International, “During this time the weather in Northeast and Central United States and Canada began to deteriorate.  It looked as it we may have a shut down in Toronto Airport.  In order to work around this we had a back up plan.”

“Then next morning when the Lan Chile flight arrived the word was already out that the airport in Toronto was shutting down,” recounted Waller, “Immediately we were on the phone with plan B.  We were going to fly the cargo into Montana and truck to Calgary avoiding the storms.”

“At this point the customer stated that the cargo was now more than urgent but we had to charter a plane.  The mines were loosing over one million USD per day.  As of 10:30 on that Friday we had the “go” to find and charter a plane from Miami to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada.”

“Due to the distance and the urgency we were able to locate a DC-9 and had the freight on board by 18:00 same day,” said Waller, “Meanwhile, we cleared the goods through U.S. Customs, awaited its arrival from Peru, recovered the cargo at 10:30 am, brought to our designated warehouse in Miami, prepared for export, turned the cargo around for export, and delivered the shipment to the charter airline by 18:00 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (one hour north of Miami) where the charter was just available for loading.”

The carrier departed timely and as it entered the next transfer point the weather became increasingly worse.  BDG could not fly the cargo direct into Yellowknife due to the fact that this is not an international customs port.  Thus, they had the cargo landed in Winnipeg for customs clearance where they had people on the ground waiting.  The Canadian broker cleared the goods at 01:00 am, waited for de-icing and was back in the air ASAP.  Cargo arrived into Yellowknife at 04:00 and was signed off at 06:00 on the Sunday morning.

This was a successful move for all.  There was not a minute wasted!