Cathay Cargo has refreshed its Cathay Courier solution, adding piece-level tracking to its express delivery service for small urgent shipments.

The freight carrier said its express delivery solution has been further digitalized, providing greater visibility to promote transparency and reassure its customers. This is in addition to its existing features of speed, guaranteed capacity, dedicated handling and customs clearance.

"Cathay Courier offers businesses speed, flexibility and access to the wider Cathay network for their shipments with high priority for 'flown as booked' assurance," it said in a statement.

It added that it can either be an airport-to-airport solution or with first—and last-mile collection and delivery as required.

There is also real flexibility with a booking window that closes 240 minutes before departure.

The acceptance window for documents and shipments of up to 32kg closes 90 minutes before the flight takes off, while shipments can be retrieved 90 minutes after the wheels are down.

"As part of the refresh, Cathay Courier now features greater visibility for customers who require piece-level details, offering enhanced track-and-trace options to customers during the shipment journey," Cathay Cargo said, noting that this makes it ideal for high-value or bespoke e-commerce shipments, personal effects and documents.

The Cathay Courier solution is offered in partnership with Linex, Cathay Cargo's exclusive general sales agent, which has global experience in courier and cross-border e-commerce shipments.

"As well as dedicated acceptance procedures and customs handling, including its own customs lines, the solution can also offer first and last mile collection and delivery if required, while flights benefit from Cathay's extensive network and frequent schedules," the carrier said in the announcement.

​Cathay Cargo noted that it has been able to add this piece-level tracking benefit by integrating systems with Linex — greatly enhancing tracking when shipments are in Cathay Cargo's care.

"Cathay Courier has speed as its core benefit for our customers, with the flexibility of the 'next flight out' philosophy, ensuring they are not reliant on a rigid acceptance window and can efficiently utilise our extensive flight network and schedules," said Tom Owen, director cargo at Cathay.

"Now that we have added the ability to track shipments at piece level and digitised the back office booking and invoicing process, we believe that Cathay Courier's unique benefits will be attractive for high-value e-commerce shipments as well as delivering smaller items for SMEs that require express delivery, with both first and last mile options," he added.

Valerie Dubuisson, Lenton Group's chief executive officer, said that this systems integration with Cathay Cargo would allow the company to offer "even greater reassurance" with new levels of visibility through its track-and-trace down to piece level.

Cathay Courier is the latest in Cathay Cargo's suite of special solutions to be refreshed. It follows Cathay Pharma, Cathay Expert and Cathay Mail, which also included the ability to track at piece level for post office customers. ​

"The innovations made to Cathay Courier in this significant upgrade have resulted in a great solution that will be valued by a wide range of existing and new Cathay Cargo customers," Owen of Cathay added.