A hand-carry sounds like it is about flying. Operationally it is about two road legs with a flight in the middle, and the road legs are where the variance lives. The flight has a schedule; the collection depends on whether the goods are ready, whether the seal can be applied where the goods are, and whether the vehicle is already moving when the call comes.
The delivery end is worse, because it is where the deadline actually is. A consignment that clears customs at eleven and reaches a plant at four has not been delivered urgently. Site access, gate passes, goods-inward hours, a named person who is authorised to sign, a mine or a yard with a controlled entry procedure, each of these is capable of costing more time than the entire flight, and each of them is knowable in advance.
So we quote the ground legs as part of the movement rather than as a line somebody else will handle. That means asking uncomfortable questions early: who signs, what their hours are, whether the site needs a pass, whether the vehicle needs to be a particular type, and whether the last stretch is a road a van can actually use. It is a duller conversation than talking about aircraft and it saves more days.
Where the operating airline, the airport and the security rules permit it, the handover can happen airside, which removes a landside step entirely. Where they do not, we say so rather than implying a capability that depends on somebody else's permission.
