DATE: 05/31/19
Like all of retail, today’s fashion and apparel markets are competitive and fast moving. The rise of online retailing, discount fashion, and “fast fashion—which captures fashion trends quickly and cheaply for consumer—has upped the service ante. As a result, demand for comprehensive apparel logistics services is strong to provide fast replenishment by air—a preferred mode of transportation for many shippers of U.S. apparel exports.
Benefits of apparel shipping by air include short transit times and the ability to make small, more frequent deliveries. Multiple deliveries can be made by air to stores within a week or within the month for just-in-time replenishment and to introduce new product.
Latin American and Caribbean markets are key destinations for U.S. fashion and textiles with buyers, wholesalers, distributors and store owners among those types of direct shippers which turn to Amerijet International Airlines for shipping. For its hub at Miami International Airport (MIA), Amerijet serves 40 destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America with scheduled maindeck capacity on B767-300 aircraft, in addition to 475 destinations worldwide through its interline partners.
Fashion is a year-round business, and much of the industry relies on 52 “micro seasons” per year.
Peak shipping times include late spring, before Mother’s Day; back-to-school’ and the holiday season. Likewise, volumes can also peak for Latin American holidays which include Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day in Latin American countries and the Carnival season in the Caribbean.
Apparel shipments move fast with direct air service from Amerijet’s MIA hub to Latin and Caribbean markets. A good portion of Amerijet’s apparel shipments are generated from two key districts: the Los Angeles Fashion District and New York City’s Garment District. These outbound shipments are often transferred to MIA via frequent, scheduled truck service from Los Angeles and points on the East Coast.
In addition to reliable, U.S. ground service to MIA, Amerijet provides shippers with many options to ship their fashion and clothing shipments by air, including express services, and pickup and delivery options, such as airport-to-airport, door-to-airport and door-to-door delivery.
With Amerijet, shippers can package their shipments in a variety of flat-packed containers including commercial bins, standard E-size containers, large canvas bags or boxed product on pallets for larger shipments.
The Amerijet office near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) caters to the Fashion District community in downtown LA. “In addition to direct shippers, we support the unique freight forwarder community in downtown LA which ships larger apparel shipments, whether distributors, manufacturers or importers. We also ship for many wholesalers of footwear and handbags, in nearby City of Industry, to their customers in the Caribbean,” said Nina Gonzalez, Southern & West Coast Regional Manager with Amerijet.
From the LA region, Amerijet’s key fashion and apparel markets in the Caribbean include Aruba; Curaçao; Cancun, Mexico; Georgetown, Guyana; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
On the east coast, New York’s Garment District is a fashion hub with many store owners, buyers and sellers requiring shipping services to the Caribbean. Richard Hernandez, Northeast Regional Manager with Amerijet, has seen less in-person buying trips in recent years with the rise of e-commerce. “E-commerce has made logistics and shipping services even more competitive, and has caused many wholesalers to up their customer service and offer their customers delivery to JFK airport,” Hernandez said.
From the east coast region, Amerijet ships apparel drawn from the NY Garment District, as well as markets in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Newark, N.J.; Boston and Lawrence, Mass. Key destinations include Antigua; Georgetown, Guyana; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; and St. Martin.
Amerijet provides a number of innovative services to assist in the apparel shipping process. From Amerijet’s warehouse in Jamaica, N.Y., buyers and store owners, as direct shippers, are allowed to do their own re-packing of orders within the security-monitored facility. “Re-packing allows direct shippers to pack specific product in shipments for each store, for example, or to ensure the best packing, inventory replenishment and security at destination,” Hernandez said.
Consolidation services by Amerijet combine multiple U.S.-origin shipments, an increasingly popular service. “This means the buyer can limit the amount of customs clearance entry fees they have to pay at destination by combining shipments into one consolidation, plus save on the transportation costs. Consolidation also avoids having to track and manage multiple inbound shipments at destination,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez credits Amerijet’s professional and often multi-lingual staff. “Our people make the difference at Amerijet. Many are native to our destination countries and all our shipping agents are well versed about our services and destinations of the Latin America and Caribbean regions we serve,” he said.
Apparel shippers can set up their free MyCargo account at the Amerijet website where they can book their freight, and manage their shipments all in one place. The MyCargo portal includes schedule information and shipping document requirements. Or, for reservations, please email sales@app-wpprod-prod-eastus2-001.azurewebsites.net or call 305-506-2969.
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