Services · Air cargo
Air cargo moves faster than a ship, and the free time runs out faster too.
Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026
Air cargo clearance is built around two things a sea shipment doesn't have: an airway bill instead of a bill of lading, and a terminal where free time is counted in hours rather than days. We file the Goods Declaration against the airway bill and the flight's manifest, work through assessment and examination the same way we do at the ports, and clear the shipment out of the cargo complex before its free time runs out. The airway bill itself is not a document you can trade or use as security while the shipment is in the air — it names the consignee and stops there.
A different job, not a smaller one
Air cargo is not sea cargo that happens to arrive faster. The document is different — an airway bill, not a bill of lading — and what it can be used for is different too. It names a consignee and stops there. It is not a document of title, and it is not negotiable, so whoever it names is the only party who can collect the goods. Nobody buys or sells one while a shipment is airborne, the way traders sometimes deal in a bill of lading.
The cargo itself tends to be different as well: spare parts a production line is waiting on, pharmaceuticals with a shelf life, a sample shipment ahead of a bulk order by sea. None of that changes how customs treats the file — the same Goods Declaration, the same channels — but it changes how much a delay actually costs, and how little slack there is for one.
What the file needs, and where it differs from a sea shipment
| Document | What it is | Who issues it |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial invoice | The value, the terms of sale and the description of the goods | Your supplier |
| Packing list | What is in each carton, with weights and marks | Your supplier |
| Airway bill (Master and House) | Proof of carriage and the airline's contract with the shipper — not a document of title, unlike a bill of lading | The airline issues the Master Airway Bill; a freight forwarder issues a House Airway Bill if the shipment is consolidated |
| Sales tax registration and NTN | Your registration with the revenue authority | Held on your trader profile |
| Regulatory approvals | Clearance from whichever department controls the item | The regulator concerned |
What an airway bill does that a bill of lading doesn't
| Bill of lading (sea) | Airway bill (air) | |
|---|---|---|
| Title to the cargo | Can be a document of title — whoever holds it can claim the goods | Never a document of title — only the named consignee can claim the goods |
| Negotiable | Can be bought, sold or pledged while the shipment is at sea | Not negotiable, in any form |
| Consignee | Can be issued to order, leaving the consignee to be filled in later | Names the consignee directly, from the start |
| Issued by | The shipping line, once cargo is loaded | The airline, or a freight forwarder acting as its agent, once cargo is accepted |
What happens to an air consignment
The filing and the payment run through the same office as a sea import. What changes is the clock.
The manifest lands with the aircraft
The airline delivers the import manifest to Customs within three hours of landing — not the twenty-four hours a vessel is given after arrival.
Documents and the airway bill
We work from the invoice, packing list and the airway bill rather than a bill of lading, and settle classification and value before filing.
Filing the Goods Declaration
The declaration goes in on the Pakistan Single Window, referencing the airway bill and the flight's manifest.
Assessment and examination
The same green, yellow or red channels apply as at a seaport. If the consignment is examined, we are at the cargo complex for it.
Duty and taxes
We work out what is payable, generate the payment slip and put it through. Receipts come back with the file.
Release from the cargo godown
The airline's cargo warehouse gives general cargo its first twelve hours free. After that, storage runs by the day and by the kilogram, from the moment the shipment is unloaded.
Free time at the cargo godown, set by the handler
Pakistan International Airlines publishes its own tariff for the import cargo godown handling general air freight at its stations. Free time is measured in hours, not the days a seaport allows.
- Godown rent, general cargo — first 12 hoursFreeon from arrival of the shipment at the godown · PIA Import Cargo Godown (ICG) tariff
- Godown rent, day 1 to 7 (up to 66kg)Rs 994 per dayon after the free period · PIA Import Cargo Godown (ICG) tariff
- Godown rent, from day 8 (up to 66kg)Rs 1,168 per dayon after the free period · PIA Import Cargo Godown (ICG) tariff
- Godown rent, day 1 to 7 (67kg and above)Rs 18 per kg per dayon after the free period · PIA Import Cargo Godown (ICG) tariff
- Godown rent, from day 8 (67kg and above)Rs 20 per kg per dayon after the free period · PIA Import Cargo Godown (ICG) tariff
Checked 13 September 2026 against Pakistan International Airlines — Charges Against Import Shipments (ICG), effective 01-05-2023. Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.
Why the clock is shorter
A container yard has room to let a box sit. A cargo godown does not have the same luxury — air freight is a fraction of the volume of sea freight, but the warehouse space at a cargo complex is tighter, and the handler prices accordingly. Free time measured in hours rather than days is not a technicality. It is how the economics of an air cargo complex work.
It cuts the other way as well. The urgency that justifies paying for air freight in the first place is the same urgency that makes a delay at this end expensive faster than it would be at a port. A query that costs a sea shipment a day of demurrage costs an air shipment godown rent by the hour.
Speed in the air does not buy speed on the ground. The examination channel for an air shipment is decided the same way it is for a container — on risk, by the system — and a query stops the clock exactly as it would at a port. What air cargo actually buys is a shorter transit before the shipment ever reaches customs. Once it is on the ground, the free time you were counting on to answer a query has usually already started running out.
Questions
What importers ask about air cargo
Contact
Tell us what is coming.
Give us the product, the port and roughly when the vessel is due, and we will tell you what the clearance involves and what it will cost.