Onboard Courier Paul Delivers Critical Spare Parts to China

Very small components can cause major economic damage. For example, if a central production step in an automotive plant depends on them. The DB SCHENKER OBC team received a call from Shenyang in China on Sunday night because of one such component. 

The phone of onboard courier Paul rang shortly after 6 a.m. The unannounced wake-up call was necessary so that he could pick up the component on time in Neutraubling, Germany, and then make it to Frankfurt Airport. The car hire reservation and tickets for the next direct flight from Frankfurt to Beijing arrived by email while he was still on the phone. He was responsible for the longest and most crucial part of the courier job. In Beijing, he would then hand over the goods and paperwork to a Chinese colleague who would take over the connecting flight to Shenyang and the delivery to the car manufacturer.

As agreed, Paul arrived at the factory premises at 8:30 a.m. to collect the delivery. In order to make effective use of the onboard courier service, the missing part was supplemented with additional components and bundled into a 27 kg piece of checked baggage.

It was already 2:30 p.m. in Shenyang. The plant’s production line had been switched at short notice to minimize delays and the associated economic damage. An unfortunate chain of events had led to a scenario in which the required spare part was no longer available on-site. In such urgent cases, however, both the car manufacturer and the component manufacturer had worked with DB SCHENKER many times before. The onboard courier service was the right option for transporting goods of this size directly from the manufacturer to the place of use. And that also internationally – usually in less than 24 hours.

The OBC team had planned some extra time for the traffic on Monday morning. As a result, Paul arrived at Frankfurt Airport a little earlier and was able to go through all the paperwork again over a coffee. One of the major advantages of onboard couriers over traditional express airfreight shipments is customs clearance. Once all the paperwork is complete and correctly filled out, the goods can usually enter the country quickly with the courier. With four years of experience as an onboard courier and after traveling to 17 countries, Paul is experienced in dealing with the different situations on-site. His recipe for fast entry: well-organized documents and enough knowledge about the goods, the order, and the transit stay.

Arrival in Beijing after a nine-and-a-half-hour flight. The preparations made by Paul and the OBC team ensured a fast check-in, allowing his Chinese colleague to catch the direct connecting flight. The spare part arrived at the factory in Shenyang after 23 hours and 41 minutes and was received there directly by the assembly team. By this time, Paul was already on his way back to Germany.

Disclaimer: Based on a real OBC commission. Names and details have been changed for the purpose of anonymization.