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Freight Forwarder and NVOCC |
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The Logistics Behind the Camera |
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Making Movies: Shipping Samurai Swords and Vintage Vehicles |
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Hollywood studios rely on Packair to get their movie equipment to global filming
locations on time and in working order. With over 30 years of experience,
Packair knows how to pack and ship cameras, lights, props, film, and other items
needed to make movies. |
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" In our business, it needs to be there yesterday.… We’re known for getting the
cargo out the same day. We deliver on time.” |
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Steve Park, Senior Operations Manager, Packair |
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www.packair.com |
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Freight Forwarder and NVOCC |
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Magaya Cargo System, Magaya OnTheGo |
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Freight forwarder Packair of Los Angeles, California, has over 30 years of
experience shipping for the film industry. Packair is also a licensed IATA agent
and certified with the C-TPAT program. They also offer customs brokerage
services, on-site production services, and ship time-sensitive materials for
other industries and government agencies. |
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Lights, camera, action! When a film crew is on location, they need all the movie
production equipment that is used in a Hollywood studio, sometimes more. Some
locations are remote and difficult to reach, subjecting people and equipment to
extreme weather conditions such as humid and hilly jungle terrain, wind-blown
sand on a desert or beach, or cold and snow, making transport and set up
challenging. Getting this fragile equipment to these filming locations safely
requires expertise that Packair Airfreight Inc. of Los Angeles, CA, has over 30
years doing successfully.
“In our business, it needs to be there yesterday,” said Senior Operations
Manager, Steve Park. “We’re known for getting the cargo out the same day. If
something needs to fly out on short notice on a charter, we can do it. We
arrange hand-carries as needed, depending on the importance and the client’s
security requirements of the item, and have documents ready. We deliver on
time.”
Packair ships to locations within the US, to Europe, the Americas, Asia,
Australia, Africa, and the Middle East – literally all over the world. They
coordinate with the destination agent to arrange local transportation of the
items. “The agents work in our niche market and their local knowledge is
essential to getting shipments delivered right,” Mr. Park said. Packair uses the
Magaya Cargo System and Magaya OnTheGo remote access to ship the cargo and keep
on top of any last minute needs during filming. |
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 Motion
pictures are shot using raw film stock. Most film strips are made of 8-, 16-, or
35-mm polyester with an emulsion layer applied to it. The film is wrapped around
a spool and placed inside a can for storage and protection from light, dirt,
humidity, and degradation.
When a can of film is sent from the US to a filming location, the film is used
on the set where the actors and director shoot scenes; then the film is sent
back to the US after each day’s shoot. Both shipments require the film be put on
a plane and sent through the airport, like all cargo; however, the film cannot
be X-rayed.
Packair’s Export Manager, Luis M. Arroyo explained, “X-raying film would destroy
it.” To ensure proper handling and avoid the loss of filming done by a film
crew, Packair makes advanced arrangements with the carrier. Alternative cargo
screening methods include Explosives Trace Detection (ETD), a method often used
at airports to check for traces of explosives. Hand searches are another method
used at airports, but exposure to light will ruin the film so a darkroom or
other covered method must be used.
In addition to shipping film, Packair also ships props to movie sets. Props can
be as large as a vehicle or as small as a fake pistol. Theatrical weapons
include guns, swords, knives, or other items depending on the type of film being
made. For example, an historical film may require sabers or muskets while actors
in a present-day police drama in New York City need current models of handguns.
Some guns are made of rubber if the scene does not require the gun be fired, or
blanks can be used to simulate firing. The shipment requirements for the weapons
are stringent. These and other props require expert packaging and handling.
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To improve the handling and speed up the processing of all these items,
Packair’s 10,000 square-foot warehouse is a Certified Cargo Screening Facility
(CCSF). According to the Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP), all cargo
that is shipped on passenger aircraft must be screened, item by item, before it
is consolidated. To facilitate the movement of the cargo, it can be screened at
a certified location before it is sent to the air carrier. Sales and Customer
Service Representative Kathleen Tipton explained that Packair participated in
the first phase of the screening program rollout and has met all the
certification requirements such as specialized training for employees, ensuring
the security of the facility and of the items while they are in the warehouse
and during transit.
To accommodate the reporting requirements of the US Department of Homeland
Security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Packair added
custom fields to their Warehouse Receipt in their Magaya software to report all
the data gathered about the screened cargo.
“We can now generate reports to comply with the CCSP reporting requirements,”
Mr. Park said. They are required to keep records of how much cargo they screen
and maintain chain of custody standards for screened cargo. They can print the
report for the TSA when requested or during spot checks. “It’s very good to have
this capability in our Magaya software. We did not have to hire a programmer to
configure a system, so it was an easy process to implement,” said Mr. Park.
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Since items such as the cameras and lighting equipment will return to the US,
they are shipped as Temporary Exports. Packair files a carnet document or
certificate of registration as needed to facilitate the shipment and re-entry of
the items. An ATA Carnet form is an international customs document that permits
duty-free and tax-free temporary import of goods for up to one year. Temporary
Exports are not charged Customs duties. “We know which items can be shipped
under a carnet and save our customers costly duties,” Mr. Park said. They send a
pre-alert of the shipment to the customer and follow up with phone calls.
In addition to using the trade documents that are included in Magaya software,
Luis M. Arroyo, the Exports Manager, and his export department staff of six use
all the accounting features in the Magaya Cargo System, including billing,
invoices, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and banking features. “We
liquidate in Magaya and do all our billing straight from Magaya,” Mr. Arroyo
said. “We also run sales reports, aging reports, bank account balance, and other
accounting reports that we give to the CPA.”
“Magaya is an all-inclusive package,” Mr. Arroyo said. “I don’t have to have a
separate software program for accounting and another one for imports and
exports. With Magaya, you have one software program and that’s all you need.”
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Sometimes a staff member will travel to the filming location to manage the
shipments on location. When they log into Magaya OnTheGo, they can see their
database just as if they were sitting in their office in Los Angeles.
They generate shipments and print air waybills, pull reports and other features
while on site at a film shoot. “It’s a lot easier to have Magaya OnTheGo because
all my contact information is there such as names and phone numbers,” Mr. Arroyo
said.
“Sometimes there are last-minute items that need to be shipped in,” Mr. Park
said. “Arrangements we made may need to be changed. If we had three LD-7 air
freight containers booked, but then more items need to be shipped, we can change
the shipment and make new documentation right there on site using Magaya OnTheGo
on a laptop, and the documents are very professional. Some freight forwarders
still use typewriters. In fact, we used to carry a typewriter to the locations
and type the documents. We now can generate delivery orders and pickup orders in
Magaya right there on site instead of having to call the office, fax documents
or scan and send them back and forth.”
“That’s what makes us stand out,” Mr. Arroyo said. “Customers can call us any
time, and with Magaya OnTheGo, we can access information from anywhere. If there
is an issue, we just jump on the computer and fix it.”
Packair was using an old export program that was written in the 1980’s. When
they were using that program, they had to have a separate accounting program
also. The president of Packair, Sussan Sharifian, found Magaya and started using
it in 2005.
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“Packair is considering opening an office in Puerto Rico, and using Magaya
OnTheGo will help us work there without buying expensive hardware or software,”
Mr. Park said.
In addition to providing services for the film industry, Packair also ships a
wide variety of general freight, including items for the government,
perishables, and biomed, and plus they are certified to handle hazardous
materials. Packair has experience handling temperature-sensitive items and
fragile electronics. They also offer special crating services and can palletize
and shrink wrap cargo. They have built crates for statues as small as the Oscar
or as large as a Velociraptor for a dinosaur movie.
Many of Packair’s new clients learn about them by word of mouth. “This business
is a small world,” Mr. Park said. “We’ve had customers tell other people to call
us, saying, ‘Call Luis at Packair – We went to Jamaica and he got all our
equipment there; the dailies were put on DVD and sent back to the producers so
they could see what we shot that day.’ That personal touch makes the
difference.”
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