How to secure urgent shipments from Turkey

As a notable supplier of European equipment manufacturers, Turkey is an important player in the automotive industry.

No fewer than 250 different suppliers have elected to locate their main factories in Gebze, Kocaeli or Bursa. Gebze is 1.5 hours away from Istanbul airport by road, while Bursa lies further south, 190km away or a 3-4 hour drive.

Despite the current health crisis, Istanbul’s Atatürk and Gökçen airports have remained among the busiest on the European continent, offering many flights to Europe, especially direct daily flights to Paris CDG in France.

Urgent transport from Turkey? Air still has the edge

Sea and road transport handle most of the cargo between Turkey and Europe. However, when business continuity is on the line, the speed and reliability of air transport (with direct and daily flights) represent significant advantages.

Air Time Critical® offers overnight door-to-door air deliveries between Turkey and France, as this 1,500kg shipment of three pallets of car parts from Bursa to northern France illustrates beautifully:

The story in brief

Departure from Bursa Friday afternoon at 17:30 local time; arrival at Paris CDG airport Saturday at 17:00; delivery at destination Monday morning at 05:00, in time for the first production shift.

Turkey-France airfreight: The full story of an urgent delivery

The French customer, a major player in the automotive sector, contacted us on Friday at 11:00 to have parts flown in from Turkey that afternoon. Their French factory had to receive them by Monday morning to prevent a production stoppage.

The urgency stemmed from a quality issue identified with the parts received earlier in the week, which generated a high rate of rejects. The parts in stock were now unfit for production.

The customer wanted to ensure business continuity by flying in enough parts to last through to mid-week. Further parts would follow via a less urgent channel with their regular forwarder.

Urgent transport from Turkey – The challenges

We had to surmount a number of difficulties with this urgent shipment from Turkey. A significant one was that it was already 13:00 on a Friday in Turkey and the parts weren’t quite ready yet. We also had to organise export procedures to get the parts to Istanbul airport that same day, from the Bursa supplier located a 3-hour drive away…

A further difficulty was to ensure that the export procedure could be carried out that evening at Istanbul Atatürk airport. This was the only way to deliver the cargo to the airline before Monday morning.

Execution: Door-to-door delivery Turkey–France

• • An express taxi was sent to Bursa for collection at 17:00 local time
  • In parallel, ATC® organised the export procedure at Istanbul airport in collaboration with its local partners and the supplier
  • A customs duty was requested to allow export clearance out of hours on Friday evening
  • The three urgent pallets (1,500kg of car parts) were delivered to the airport at 19:30
  • Customs procedures were completed and the parts delivered to the airline before 21:00.

We secured the job on a direct flight from Istanbul to Paris CDG with priority freight option. This ‘Must-Go’ booking gives goods priority access on the booked flight over less urgent pallets and packages. This provides further assurance that the cargo is to be loaded on the first flight to Paris CDG.

Weekend and evening import procedures at Paris CDG

We planned ahead for import procedures at Paris CDG and made a special request for weekend clearance.

ATC® and the consignee agreed on the customs procedures to apply: reverse charge VAT, AI2 or not, ATR certificate, release for consumption.

The cargo was cleared immediately on arrival at Roissy airport Saturday evening and was held there for the weekend. As requested, delivery was made at 05:00 Monday morning, as soon as the factory opened. Just in time for the first production shift!

Just the type of satisfying transport missions Air Time Critical® appreciates

Our priority air freight mission from Turkey to France was successful. Deadlines were met and cooperation between the various parties was smooth, from the supplier in Bursa to the staff at Istanbul airport, via the consignee’s customs department and the out-of-hours team at Roissy airport. As a result, goods were delivered in time for production on Monday morning.

It was a great adventure, just what the Air Time Critical® team was looking for.

Air Time Critical®’s expertise in this Turkey – France air transport:

• • Coordination with Turkish supplier
  • Dedicated express pickup in Bursa
  • Organisation of export procedures with the customs agent
  • Evening standby at Istanbul airport
  • Cargo priority booking on a direct flight to Paris CDG
  • On-call weekend at Paris CDG
  • Request for priority SPX and ECoR handling from the airline
  • Express weekend and evening customs clearance at Roissy airport and application of the ATR and desired customs regime
  • Advance payment of customs fees (import taxes)
  • Weekend storage at Roissy airport
  • Express taxi delivery to the factory
  • Coordination from A to Z: from contact with the Turkish supplier to delivery to the French factory

Urgent international transport?

Do you want to find out more about Air Time Critical®’s solutions to/from Turkey or any other country you work with? Do you want to secure your supplies?

Please browse our priority air freight, on board courier, air charter and helicopter solutions, or get in touch with us.