Gateway
Air Freight Recovery & Tender
Off the cargo building floor and onto a truck that goes straight to the consignee — no warehouse, no second handling.
Cargo Taxi Deliveries recovers and tenders air freight at Los Angeles International (LAX), Hollywood Burbank (BUR), Ontario International (ONT), Long Beach (LGB) and Van Nuys (VNY) airports. Shipments are collected from the cargo building and delivered direct to the consignee, or collected from the shipper and tendered to the airline before the cutoff.
Air freight loses most of its advantage on the ground. A shipment flies across the country overnight and then sits for two days in a recovery warehouse because the pickup was batched. Recovering direct — truck to the cargo building, freight straight onto it, consignee the same day — is usually the difference between air freight being worth what it cost and not.
LAX is the main gateway and the most procedural. Each cargo building has its own hours, its own release process and its own queue, and the airline or handler decides when a shipment is actually available rather than when the flight landed. Dispatch tracks against the availability rather than the arrival, which is why a truck is not sent to wait for freight that will not be released for four hours.
Tender works the same way in reverse and has one hard constraint: the cutoff. Freight tendered after cutoff does not fly, regardless of how close it came, so an outbound run is planned backwards from the airline's cutoff with the build-up and screening time included. Dispatch will tell you the real latest pickup time rather than the one you want to hear.
Specifications
The numbers.
| Airports | LAX, Hollywood Burbank (BUR), Ontario (ONT), Long Beach (LGB), Van Nuys (VNY) |
|---|---|
| Recovery | Cargo building to consignee, direct |
| Tender | Planned backwards from airline cutoff |
| Paperwork | Airway bill and release handled at the counter |
| Hours | Including after-hours and weekends |
| Equipment | Sedan through 26ft box truck; flatbed for oversize |
Equipment used for this work
Standard Sedan
Documents, small parcels, medical samples and legal filings — fast, discreet, expedited courier runs across the basin.
- Limit: No pallets
- Limit: No item longer than about 5 ft
Mercedes Sprinter
Long-wheelbase, high-roof cargo van for medium loads and efficient multi-stop routes — the workhorse of the fleet.
- Limit: No liftgate — needs a dock or forklift for heavy pallets
- Limit: Maximum 4 pallet positions
26ft Box Truck
Enclosed 26ft box with a liftgate and a pallet jack on board as standard — the right truck for palletized freight going anywhere without a dock.
- Limit: Not a 53ft trailer — 12 pallet positions, not 26
- Limit: Restricted on some residential streets and low clearances
Questions
Air Freight Recovery, answered.
Can you pick up air freight from LAX?
Yes — recovery from the LAX cargo buildings is routine, and the freight goes straight onto a truck to the consignee rather than into a recovery warehouse. Give dispatch the airway bill number and the handling agent; availability is set by the airline or handler rather than by the flight arrival, and the truck is timed against the release.
How late can you tender freight to make a flight?
That depends entirely on the airline's cutoff and on whether the freight needs screening and build-up time, which can add hours. Give dispatch the flight and the cutoff and they will work the latest possible pickup backwards from it — and will say plainly when a cutoff cannot be made rather than taking the job and missing it.
Which airports do you serve?
Los Angeles International (LAX), Hollywood Burbank (BUR), Ontario International (ONT), Long Beach (LGB) and Van Nuys (VNY). LAX is the main gateway and carries the most procedure; the others are generally faster to clear and are frequently worth using when the routing allows a choice.
Further reading
How this works in practice.
Company
Thirty Years Hauling Freight Out of Los Angeles
What does a Los Angeles freight carrier learn in thirty years?
Los Angeles
LAX Air Freight Recovery: How It Actually Works
How do I pick up air freight from LAX?
How freight works
Line Down: The First Fifteen Minutes
What should I do when a production line goes down waiting for a part?
Related services
Often booked together.
Semiconductors & Electronics
Wafers, chips and boards — on a truck that is not shared, in packaging that is not opened, handled by people who know what ESD means.
Expedited Freight
A truck assigned now, driven straight there, because the line is down and the arithmetic has changed.
High-Value Cargo
Sealed at origin, never left unattended, handed over to a named person — and nobody outside dispatch knows the route.
Port Drayage
TWIC-carded drivers, terminal appointments kept, and your freight on its way to the dock instead of sitting in a yard.