In an industry first, global freight forwarder Dimerco has partnered with Cathay Cargo to conduct a successful pilot of a new Air-Sea solution transporting shipments from Singapore to Dongguan, China via Hong Kong, shaving up to a day off the established Air-Truck schedule.

Dimerco developed the Air-Sea solution to provide a faster alternative to the Air-Truck service mode.

The Dimerco team worked closely with Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) to optimise the transit time for a shipment of integrated circuits for a leading semi-conductor distributor. Originating in Singapore, the shipment travelled by air to HKIA, then by sea to the port of Dongguan (DGM) and by truck to DGM Logistics Park and on to the delivery destination. The total journey time took just 3 days.

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In a seamless operation, Dimerco coordinated the whole process, evaluating opportunities to save time and costs at each stage. After the cargo was released from the air terminal without the need for customs clearance, it was towed to the seaport. The sea portion of the operation provided a more cost-effective alternative to trucking, and Dimerco had identified that, with the planned introduction of more frequent sailings, transit time could be reduced by between 12 and 24 hours.   

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The three participants in the pilot – the Airport Authority, Cathay Cargo and Dimerco – analysed the outcomes of the pilot and identified further efficiencies, including the documentation procedure and customs data integration. This will improve the process flow for future operations. 

Dimerco’s Central Service Center (CSC) said: “Dimerco is always searching for ways to reduce transit times and save costs for customers, so we are honored to be the first freight forwarder to partner with Cathay Cargo, and to strengthen our relationship with other associates from the original Air-Truck service. Our Hong Kong team excelled themselves to such a degree we received a letter of congratulation from HKIA on the completion of the successful pilot.

More importantly, we can now offer two multimodal solutions to our customers for handling imports and exports to/from Southern China.”