Mercator’s export team recently arranged an air freight to South Africa, providing a fast and reliable solution for a time-sensitive shipment. Air freight to South Africa offers the quickest transit option between the UK to key South African airports such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
This particular air freight to South Africa was coordinated under CPT (carriage paid to) incoterms, meaning the exporter in the UK was responsible for the shipment from their door in the UK to Cape Town airport. As such, our team arranged collection from the shipper’s premises in the UK, export customs clearance, and air freight to South Africa.
Depending on the agreed incoterm, our team can handle the whole air freight process from door in the UK, even through to door in South Africa thanks to our founding membership of the freight forwarder network MarcoPoloLine. Our team regularly coordinates shipments in conjunction with our partner agents based in Durban and Cape Town.
Once the cargo is ready, we arrange delivery to the departure airport, most commonly London Heathrow, where the shipment is prepared for export. This includes:
Air freight to South Africa is significantly faster than sea freight, with transit times typically ranging from 1–5 days airport to airport, depending on airline routings and schedules. There are daily services (direct and indirect) leaving London Heathrow to the main airports in South Africa.
Upon arrival in South Africa, our trusted local partner agent can manage the following services if an incoterm such as DDP or DAP are agreed:
From initial collection through to final delivery, Mercator provides a fully managed service for air freight to South Africa. Our team coordinates each stage of the shipment, including transport, documentation, airline booking and export customs clearance, ensuring a seamless and predictable process.
If you have a shipment requiring air freight to South Africa, our team will be happy to provide a tailored quotation to suit your requirements. To get in touch with our team you can call us on (+44) 02392 756 575, email sales@mercatorcargo.co.uk or complete the form below and we will be in touch.
If you have goods to send to South Africa then get in touch with Mercator Cargo today. We have been exporting goods to South Africa for many years and are well versed in the ins and outs of shipping to South Africa. We generally deal with containers or pallets to South Africa rather than small parcels or packages. But get in touch, as even if your shipment is small, we may be able to palletise it.
We have a partner agent based in South Africa, who handles all our customs clearance and deliveries locally. Mercator Cargo is rather special for this reason. We are a founding member of the international network of independent freight forwarders Marco Polo Line (MPL). We have partner agents in almost every country in the world who handle our shipments once they’ve reached their destination country. These agents are tried and tested (MPL do not just let anyone join without checking and monitoring) so you can rest assured your cargo is in safe hands.
Even if your shipment is smaller than a full container, it might be worth considering a 20 foot container to send to South Africa, or arrange a groupage shipment. ‘Groupage’ is where lots of smaller shipments are loaded into a shared shipping container, this can reduce costs (rather than paying for a full container shipment). If loading for a groupage shipment, we may advise for your cargo to be palletised, as generally palletised cargo is less likely to be damaged during handling.
It might be worth noting that for groupage shipments, cost is calculated on a volume and weight basis, whereas shipping a full container to South Africa is on a per unit basis. Sea freight containers take around 23 days to sail to Cape Town, or 28 days to arrive in Durban.
Give one of our export team a call today to discuss shipping a container (or groupage shipment) to South Africa from the UK and obtain a quotation – Tel. 02392 756 575. Email: sales@mercatorcargo.co.uk.
