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Heavy haul refers to wide loads that exceed the set measurement standards for loads in terms of weight height or length. This can make your tradeshow shipping stressful as it requires extra effort to ensure cargo reaches its destination as expected and in good shape. However, working with a competent tradeshow transportation company can ease the burden of the whole process. To help you ensure your heavy haul shipping faces as little hurdles as possible, here are helpful tips to follow:

1. Inform Your Carrier in Advance and Get Information Regarding Your Permits
Shipping such enormous loads comes with loads of responsibility and challenges. It is, therefore, prudent to inform your tradeshow transportation company in advance the details of your shipment to allow for early preparation. This eliminates the last-minute rush that comes with your carrier trying to make adjustments to accommodate your heavy haul. 

Since most carriers always handle the permits and include the costs in shipping charges, you want to confirm that this is true. Otherwise, understand the legal requirements for shipping your cargo and obtain the necessary permits.

2. Get Your Measurements Right
The measurement details of your load determine the type of permits you require to transport your cargo. Ensure that you not only have accurate measurements, but also the serial numbers, the make and model of your cargo to make the process easier. Keep in mind that even a slight error can greatly alter your routes, permits and costs.  In case of incorrect details, you’ll have to reapply for another permit using the right dimensions which will cost you time.

3. Know Any Special Requirements You’ll Need
Heavy haul requires special handling due to the size of the load. Establish what you’ll need to facilitate the loading and offloading of cargo. Whether you need a forklift for pallet-stacked items or a crane for the large irregularly shaped items, you should ensure they are available beforehand. Also, establish if you need flags or tarping, and how to secure your cargo if it is fragile.

4. Plan Adequately
Shipping heavy haul needs a lot of early planning for it to be a success. Consider taking advantage of the time by getting everything ready for the shipping early. This includes getting the right tradeshow transportation company early, obtaining the permits, getting the necessary loading and offloading equipment and running your routes early.

While you may have prepared well, understand that everything may not go as planned. Hence, you should prepare for an unexpected circumstance such as foul weather, construction zones which may change the truck’s routes, and permit difference for different states and counties.  

5. Work with The Right Company
Engaging the right tradeshow transportation company for trucking services is essential in ensuring that your load arrives at its destination safely and on time. You want to look for adequately insured professionals with experience in heavy haul. The trucking company you choose should also come highly recommended and have minimal to no injury claims, and with favorable payment terms.

Ship Your Heavy Haul Goods with Our Tradeshow Transportation Company

To eliminate the inconvenience and costs from delays, you want your heavy haul handled by an expert tradeshow transportation company like AMR Group. Contact us today for reliable and efficient heavy haul shipping services.

When winter is in full swing and your tradeshow exhibition is just around the corner, you may start loosing sleep because of the shipping mishaps that winter brings. Not only can it lead to delays, but your exhibition goods can easily get damaged by the frigid temperatures. But, you don’t have to put your business on hold just because it is a chilly season.

Whether you are shipping via road, sea or air, you can still get your freight to its destination undamaged and in time for display with the right tradeshow transportation company. At AMR Group, we’ve compiled these few tips to help you make the duration of your winter shipping a success.

Plan Ahead, and Schedule Your Shipping Earlier

Adverse winter weather, like too much snow or ice, may lead to the closure of ports, disruption of flights and impaired road transport. Make sure you’ve flexible plans in place so you can quickly make adjustments without hurting your delivery time. Although you can control other aspects of your shipping, the weather can be unpredictable.

Plan ahead by ensuring you have everything required for your shipping, and prioritize time-sensitive items by having them shipped first, just in case there are delays. By doing everything earlier and allowing some time to react to unforeseen circumstances, you ensure your freight is delivered in time.

Know Your Shipment

The nature of your shipment determines how you are going to ship them and what safety measures you’ll put in place to ensure its safety in the extreme winter weather. Items, such as food, chemicals and electronics, are vulnerable in extreme cold and need protection against the low temperatures.

Using vacuum-sealed packaging will protect your goods from moisture damage even if they are insensitive to temperatures. You may also need tarping, and heated trucks for items that get damaged if frozen. While climate-controlled shipping may seem more costly, it’s better than having your goods damaged.

Communication, Communication, Communication

Being in constant contact with your tradeshow transport company when shipping freight either by road, sea or air is important. With AMR Group, your dedicated operations contact will keep you updated every step of the way. You’ll always know your freight’s transit situation, any challenges occur as well as the expected time of arrival of your goods. By communicating with all the parties involved, you’ll be prepared for any challenges and mitigate the effects of any hurdles your shipping may face.

Work with The Best Tradeshow Transportation Company

AMR Group has experience anticipating challenges and finding solutions. We are reliable, efficient and offer you value for your money to help you ship your goods. By working with our experts, you won’t have to worry about much of the delays that come with shipping during winter.

Overcome Winter Shipping Blues by Partnering AMR Group

Working with an experienced tradeshow transportation company like the AMR Group will help you ship your goods successfully regardless of the season. Contact us today for all your tradeshow shipping needs.

You may have noticed tradeshow freight shipping costs are skyrocketing. There are several contributing factors affecting seasonal freight shipping rates, and it’s sometimes difficult to identify any specific parameter that makes up the bulk of the increase. However, it’s clear that when the demand for freight forwarding services increases, the cost increases dramatically, and it can be cheaper to ship one direction than the other. 

Seasonal Freight Shipping Rates

As the increase in demand from retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers increases for the holidays and new year, you’ll realize LTL and truckload rates equally increase. The shipping industry’s peak season starts with back-to-school goods and fall fashion items and ends with holiday shipping. Retail stores always want to stock enough products they expect to sell for Christmas and Thanksgiving way ahead of time. 

Factors Affecting Tradeshow Freight Forwarding Costs

The stability in shipping rates, like every other expense, is a legitimate concern for tradeshow exhibitors. The country’s shipping capacity was already getting thinner way before the recent boost in manufacturing. Coupled with the restricted hours of service governing carriers, there is an increased shortage of equipment and hyped shipping rates. Other factors that contribute to the high shipping rates include:

• The ELD mandate that aims to enhance the safety of drivers and simplify tracking and sharing of records of duty status (RODS). 
• Natural disasters and weather patterns like hurricanes, snowstorms, wildfires, etc.

The tradeshow freight forwarding rates may increase subtly or drastically, depending on market conditions like demand/supply and fuel prices.

How to Manage your Freight Rates

Here are some very simple steps you can take to help keep your freight costs in check: 

1. Avoid shipping several boxes of marketing materials. Instead, distribute them electronically. Utilize interactive technology and smart graphics to showcase some of your bulky products instead of displaying everything in the booth.
2. Be smart and creative in your logistics planning this time of year.  Plan to reduce the overall weight and volume.
3. Design custom exhibits with lightweight display systems that pack down tight and light. This helps to reduce the number of crates and weight you’ll have to ship to and from the tradeshow.

If you’re looking to save on your tradeshow freight forwarding costs, AMR Group has a long-standing track record in handling tradeshow exhibits and products worldwide with zero failure. Whether its small boxes or large crated exhibits and products, we’ve got you covered. We ship to and from various locations around the world, including France, UAE, Russia, UK, Germany, Norway, India, Japan, Canada, China, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and the United States. Contacts us today for any inquiries concerning tradeshow freight forwarding!

A whopping 2.5 billion packages were shipped during the 2018 holiday season. With the 2019 holiday shopping season right around the corner, now is the time to make sure that you’re prepared for any shipping challenges associated with preparing for your vendor or tradeshow events. Here are a few things you can do to make sure your event materials arrive on time and within budget throughout the holiday season and into the new year.

1. Make Sure to Keep Your Materials and Supplies Well-Stocked

One way to minimize the amount of time it takes your tradeshow materials to arrive at their final destination is to check that you have the materials on-hand. If you don’t, you’ll have to re-order supplies and wait for them to arrive before you can even prepare them for tradeshow freight forwarding.

Not only does this add to the total time it takes to send your materials to your intended destination, but your incoming shipments may potentially be delayed due to high holiday shipping volumes. Instead, try to anticipate what items you’ll need throughout the holiday season, and order them ahead of time. 

2. Increase Your Shipping Budget for the Holidays

Not only does a higher than normal package volume potentially delay your tradeshow shipments, but you also have to account for the days package and tradeshow freight forwarding companies might be closed around the holidays. If a company closes its operations for a day or two, this will impact the arrival time for your materials.

One workaround for this potential problem is to increase your shipping budget for the holidays. Often, the cheapest shipping options are the first affected by holiday shipping woes. If you have extra funds to upgrade your event shipments to a quicker delivery option, this will help you ensure your materials arrive on time during periods where standard shipping options may be too slow for your needs.

3. Utilize a Company That Specializes in Handling Tradeshow Shipments

Consider utilizing a company, like AMR Group, that specializes in handling tradeshow shipments to see your event necessities make it on-time to their intended destinations. AMR Group has a variety of shipping options that can help your items arrive on time.

4.  Overseas Holiday Schedules May be Very Different from those in the U.S.                            

Of course, we all understand that Christmas is not a holiday in most Middle Eastern countries so there may be limited delays due to closures.  But in Europe for example many countries take many more days off for to celebrate the holidays.  Some countries may include days off that Americans are not familiar with.  An example of this is Boxing Day celebrated the day after Christmas in the UK and other Commonwealth countries.

AMR Group has ample experience shipping tradeshow materials and also knows how increases in holiday shipping volumes have historically impacted delivery times for events around the holidays. We can provide recommendations that will help your materials arrive on time and within your budget. Please contact us at 702-800-6385 or request a rate.