Air Courier vs Cargo
The practical difference between air courier and air/sea cargo, and which one fits your shipment.
"Air courier" and "air cargo" both move goods by air, but they're different services with different documentation, pricing, and use cases — choosing the wrong one is one of the most common costly mistakes for a first-time exporter.
Air courier
Air courier services (the door-to-door express model used by international couriers) are built for smaller parcels — typically under 30–70 kg per piece depending on the carrier — and bundle pickup, export customs clearance, transit, import clearance, and last-mile delivery into a single booking with one tracking number.
Best for: ecommerce orders, personal parcels, samples, documents, and most small-business export shipments. This is the service model this Knowledge Centre mostly covers.
Documentation: simplified — CSB-IV or CSB-V shipping bills, handled electronically by the courier's own customs system in most cases.
Air cargo (air freight)
Air cargo is booked through a freight forwarder or airline directly, typically for larger or heavier shipments, palletised or crated goods, or B2B shipments moving in bulk. Air cargo is priced and booked by the shipment, not bundled into a single retail-style courier rate, and generally requires you (or your forwarder) to separately arrange customs clearance at both ends, plus onward inland transport from the destination airport to the final address.
Best for: bulk commercial shipments, palletised goods, and consignments too large or heavy for standard courier weight limits.
Documentation: a standard shipping bill (not the simplified CSB forms), an airway bill from the carrier/forwarder, and typically a full set of export documents — see Export Documents.
Quick comparison
| Factor | Air courier | Air cargo |
|---|---|---|
| Typical shipment size | Individual parcels, up to ~30-70 kg | Bulk/palletised, no practical upper limit |
| Booking model | Single door-to-door booking | Freight forwarder + separate clearance |
| Customs paperwork | Simplified (CSB-IV/CSB-V) | Standard shipping bill + full documentation |
| Typical use case | Ecommerce, samples, personal parcels | Bulk B2B export |
| Delivery | Door-to-door, one tracking number | Airport-to-airport, inland transport arranged separately |
Which one do you need?
If you're shipping individual orders, samples, or personal parcels, air courier is almost always the right choice — it's what the rest of this Knowledge Centre assumes by default. Once your export volumes grow into pallet-sized bulk shipments, air (or sea) cargo through a freight forwarder becomes the more cost-effective option.
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