Commercial air freight: a quote checklist for business cargo

Start with two times and a clear business requirement

Record when the finished cargo will be ready for collection and when the receiver needs it. Give the date, local time and time zone where relevant. “Urgent” does not tell the team whether the goods can leave the supplier now or whether the receiving factory will open after the flight arrives.

Describe the goods plainly and explain any receiving appointment, production requirement or event deadline. State the actual pickup and delivery PIN codes, site access and contact availability. A city-to-city enquiry can hide a substantial collection or final-delivery leg.

During festivals and weekends, confirm the supplier, cargo handover point and receiving site's working hours separately. A public holiday calendar does not establish whether a particular private office, warehouse or cargo desk will accept the shipment.

Check the city and PIN at each end

Enter the real pickup city with its six-digit Indian PIN, and do the same for delivery. If the pickup city is Delhi but the entered PIN resolves to a different city, correct the address details before comparing prices. Do not substitute a nearby convenient PIN just to obtain an estimate; collection and delivery must be assessed against the actual locations.

PORTADOR's price calculator checks whether the typed city and PIN relate. A mismatch or an unverified location withholds the price and explains how to correct the entry or ask the team for review. Same-city and international movements are also outside this online intercity estimate. A missing online price is a reason to resolve the stated issue or request assessment; it is not, by itself, a final rejection of the shipment.

For the written enquiry, add the full addresses, building or industrial-estate name, receiving gate and practical access instructions. A matching postal location is only the first check. It does not confirm a specific vehicle arrangement, cargo acceptance, flight or collection appointment.

Use one version of the packed-shipment brief

Give each provider the same packing list. Record the package count, complete packed dimensions and gross weight for each box type; use a quantity only when the packages match. Include pallets, skids and protrusions in the measurements. Mark what is measured and what is still an estimate.

Describe fragile, upright-only or non-stackable units and disclose batteries, liquids, unusual shapes or any contents needing special review. A general-cargo label is not a substitute for an accurate contents declaration. For heavy crates, use the separate per-crate acceptance guide rather than relying on a shipment total.

Give the brief a simple reference and version, such as PL-DISPATCH-v1. Keep that reference on the enquiry, packing list and quotation comparison. Send the same revision to every provider if the shipment changes; do not compare one offer based on an estimate with another based on the final packing.

Use the right calculator, then confirm the price basis

The volumetric weight calculator is a weight-planning tool. For each packed box type, PORTADOR uses length × breadth × height in centimetres ÷ 5,000, including quantity. It adds actual weights and volumetric weights separately and takes the higher shipment total as the chargeable weight. This tool does not issue a freight price.

The separate air cargo price calculator uses cities, PIN codes, service and packed-piece details to assess an indicative domestic intercity freight estimate. It also shows why a price is withheld when the route or input needs correction or review. An indicative amount helps prepare an enquiry; it does not reserve capacity, accept the contents or become a final written quotation.

Ask each provider to state the quoted chargeable weight, divisor or other applicable basis, minimum charge and rounding or billing increment. Confirm which measurements the offer relies on and how a reweigh, remeasurement or changed route would be handled. Different providers may use different rules, so compare their written bases rather than assuming the same number means the same scope.

Request the total with applicable taxes and any separately quoted activities identified. Record the calculator inputs or shipment-brief reference used for the estimate so the operations team can reconcile it with the final packed goods. Do not derive the final payable amount from a per-kilogram figure while weight, location or scope remains unresolved.

Treat an outside-delivery-area amount as a minimum

PORTADOR's online area check distinguishes reviewed core-city areas from outside delivery areas, or ODA. The reviewed core list includes metro, state-capital and qualifying airport-city areas. That classification does not guarantee a suitable flight or coverage at every address within the named city.

For a matched route involving ODA, the calculator applies a minimum ODA charge of ₹2,500 plus tax once per shipment, including when both ends are classified as ODA. It identifies this separately and includes it in the displayed minimum estimated total. Do not add the same minimum a second time when recording that displayed total.

The final ODA amount requires the full address and product details. Share the exact pickup and delivery points, contents, packed units, access conditions and required handling for review. When comparing providers, ask whether the quoted final-delivery scope reaches that actual address and what additional location-related charges remain conditional. An ODA minimum is not a fixed final charge for every remote address.

Separate shipment totals from the individual-piece quotation limit

In PORTADOR's indicative freight calculator, any individual packed piece with an actual weight of 80 kg or more needs a separate quotation. This is the online price-estimation boundary, not a statement of an airline's universal acceptance limit. A heavier or unusual piece needs its own dimensions, handling and route review.

Consider two illustrative 100 kg shipments. Five identical cartons at 20 kg actual weight each are below the individual-piece limit and can proceed through the online estimate if the other inputs and route checks pass. A shipment consisting of one 85 kg piece and one 15 kg carton needs a separate quotation because of the 85 kg piece. The identical shipment total does not make the two loads equivalent.

Use quantity only for genuinely identical pieces. Record separate rows when weights or dimensions differ, and give the team the actual packed measurements of any piece needing review. A numerical result for the eligible example still does not establish that the packing, contents, flight or loading arrangement has been accepted.

Compare each handover and each included activity

Put competing offers against the same list of handovers and activities. For each line, record whether it is included, separately quoted, excluded or still awaiting confirmation. These are questions for the proposed movement, not a claim that every shipment incurs every listed charge.

Air India Cargo describes its carrier role as airport-to-airport middle-mile movement. That illustrates why an airline movement should not be assumed to include a forwarder's collection or final delivery. Confirm the actual arrangements in your own quotation.

• Collection: exact site, agreed readiness window, vehicle access and any loading responsibility.
• Origin handover: where the cargo is tendered, who arranges terminal acceptance, and which handling or documentation activities are included.
• Air movement: proposed service and routing basis, cargo-acceptance conditions and the status of any capacity confirmation.
• Destination handover: who arranges release, collection authority and any separately quoted terminal activities.
• Final delivery: precise delivery point, receiving appointment, access restrictions and unloading responsibility.
• Other conditions: any applicable waiting, storage, redelivery, special handling, cover or cancellation terms. Ask what would trigger them; do not assume they apply.
• Completion evidence: what shipment updates and proof of delivery are included, and who receives them.

An illustrative comparison: the same cartons, different scope

Suppose a buyer needs four packed cartons collected from a supplier and delivered to a factory. Offer A ends at the destination cargo terminal; Offer B describes collection through to the named factory. This is an illustrative comparison of scope, with no quoted prices, confirmed capacity or delivery promise.

Before comparing totals, the buyer asks who will arrange collection, destination release, the final vehicle and the factory appointment under Offer A. Under Offer B, the buyer checks whether loading, unloading and appointment constraints are covered or still need agreement.

Neither label is enough on its own. Once the handovers, responsibilities and weight basis are aligned, the buying team can compare the written offers without treating an omitted activity as a saving. If airport-to-airport is the intended scope, name the people or teams responsible for the other legs.

Keep quotation approval separate from operational confirmation

IATA's Cargo Handling Manual describes planning, collection, acceptance ready for carriage, flight movement and delivery as separate stages. Use the written status of the specific movement rather than assuming that one completed step confirms every later step.

Record the quotation reference, issue date, validity or reconfirmation point, the shipment-brief version and any stated conditions. Ask whether routing and space are proposed or confirmed, what acceptance checks remain, and how the collection window will be agreed.

EXPRESS means next or second business day, subject to the confirmed service plan. SOS 10–16-hour timing depends on the next available suitable flight; if none is available after pickup, the hours count from that suitable flight's departure. Share the required receiving deadline and obtain a shipment-specific assessment before announcing an arrival time.

A pickup request, acceptance of commercial terms and confirmed collection remain distinct. Do not send a vehicle or promise a factory restart merely because an indicative quotation has arrived.

Revise the brief when the shipment changes

Consider a second illustrative example. A supplier first estimates three cartons, then finishes the order as four larger cartons with protective packing. The receiver also changes the required handover from the cargo terminal to a factory gate. The first quotation describes a different load and a different service scope.

Issue v2 of the packing and handover brief, identify both changes and request an updated assessment before collection. Keep the original offer with the revised quotation so the approver can see what changed. Do not assume that the original rate, total, aircraft suitability or collection arrangement carries across.

Retain the final approved brief, quotation and booking reference together. Escalate later changes to contents, packed measurements, readiness, receiving hours or handling requirements promptly instead of leaving the collection team to discover them at the site.

Copy this dispatch brief for your next enquiry

Complete the fields you know and mark the rest “to be confirmed”. An honest unknown is more useful than a guessed measurement or an invented receiving commitment. Share contact details through the private enquiry channel; do not put customer information into a public comment or shared example.

• Brief reference and version; date prepared.
• Matching pickup city and PIN, delivery city and PIN, full addresses, release contact availability and receiving hours.
• Plain cargo description and any contents or handling restrictions needing review.
• Each packed box or crate type: quantity, outside length × breadth × height in cm and actual gross kg per piece; identify every piece of 80 kg or more for separate quotation.
• Cargo-ready date/time and required receiving date/time; local time zone where relevant.
• Required handovers: airport-to-airport, collection to airport, airport to delivery, or an agreed door-to-door scope.
• Loading, unloading, access and appointment arrangements; items still to be confirmed.
• Requested written breakdown: chargeable-weight basis, included activities, exclusions, taxes, ODA or other conditional charges, validity and any estimate assumptions still awaiting review.
• Decision owner and the next step needed for quotation acceptance, cargo acceptance and collection confirmation.

Send the brief for a shipment-specific assessment

Use the volumetric weight calculator when you only need the packed-weight comparison, or the air cargo price calculator for a conditional intercity estimate. Then share the same current brief through PORTADOR's quotation or pickup-request path. The operations team can assess the actual addresses, contents, readiness and handovers before confirming available options.

For a deeper handover plan, use the airport-to-airport versus door-to-door guide. For an indivisible machine or heavy crate, use the per-crate acceptance guide. These details support a useful quotation discussion; they do not reserve a flight or replace confirmation of the actual movement.