Transporting goods by air freight can be a complex task, and delays or obstructions can occur at almost any stage of the process. The travel time between your premises or storage areas and the airport can be a particular sticking point – every additional mile of distance can increase the risk of delays, costs, and disruption.
You can mitigate many of these risks with a simple solution: with flexible warehousing space right next to the airport. It provides a useful staging area that can eliminate lots of the complexity surrounding the most common logistical issues that can arise with airport freight – especially when packing and freight forwarding are available from the same site.
That’s exactly what we offer here at Tuplin. With more than 40 years of experience in export packing services, we’re proud to be the first choice for businesses and logistics managers who need short-term or long-term warehouse space, and access to packing and freight services on demand. We operate across four sites, including Tuplin Gatwick and Tuplin Stansted, so we’re always able to ensure a fast turnaround on air freight.
How flexible warehousing near Gatwick and Stansted airports can streamline your export operations
There’s a variety of reasons why it’s so useful to be so close to the airport. We’ve rounded up some of the most pivotal advantages under four key headings below.
It minimises risk
Air freight has notoriously tight timescales, and there are significant risks involved in transporting freight in a longer single journey to the airport. This is because the goods generally have further to travel on a fixed timespan, which leave them more vulnerable to delays (such as roadworks or heavy traffic). On the other hand, if your goods are already at a nearby location and ready to be transported to the airport, the shorter journey means minimal exposure to risks like traffic delays.
It provides savings on costs and manpower
These reductions in risk are also directly linked to reductions in associated costs (for example, the financial implications of delayed or missed shipments). You may even find that there’s less of a need to spend money on buffer stocks for backup.
Shorter journeys and less risk can also free up time for your staff, as your company becomes less dependent on long-haul drives for smooth logistics operations. These shorter journeys can provide a variety of additional smaller benefits too, such as lower fuel usage and lower wear – all savings which can gradually accumulate over time.
It provides greater flexibility
These reductions in risk are also directly linked to reductions in associated costs (for example, the financial implications of delayed or missed shipments). You may even find that there’s less of a need to spend money on buffer stocks for backup.
Shorter journeys and less risk can also free up time for your staff, as your company becomes less dependent on long-haul drives for smooth logistics operations. These shorter journeys can provide a variety of additional smaller benefits too, such as lower fuel usage and lower wear – all savings which can gradually accumulate over time.
It makes the entire process smoother and faster
As we’ve touched on above, the greater flexibility involved in warehousing near Stansted airport (or a similar location like Gatwick) can go a long way towards helping you shorten lead times for customers. That’s also partially because it can make the entire process faster in general, mainly by lowering the number of times that your goods are loaded, unloaded and transferred between locations.
Having a warehouse that provides packing, customs and documentation services on-site (as we do here at Tuplin) can prepare your goods for export long before they reach the terminal. This can speed up customs clearance and compliance, and potentially clear the way for the next stage of distribution to happen within an even shorter timeframe after your goods arrive at their destination.
Tuplin’s Gatwick and Stansted warehouse locations
We operate four sites in total at Tuplin, with one each at the major transport hubs of Gatwick and Stansted. Whichever one of our locations is closer or more convenient for your business, you can always expect the same exceptional standard of service. Here’s what you need to know about each of them at a glance.
There’s a total of more than 40,000 sq ft of combined space across both sites, encompassing space used for production, warehousing, and storage. They also each have direct access to nearby major road networks – the M23 at Gatwick, or the M11 at Stansted – providing useful conduits for ground transport in both directions. Plus, we can provide additional overflow capacity through our other sites at Tuplin Royston and Newmarket in case your primary storage ever reaches capacity, or for when you need to consolidate your goods into a single shipment before exporting them.
What our airport warehousing services include
We use our in-depth expertise, technical skills and commercial relationships and connections to provide an end-to-end packing and export service, doing everything we can to make life easier for you. Here’s a quick overview of what that service involves.
Flexible storage
Our friendly team can arrange for the receipt and documentation of any goods that arrive directly from your facility, suppliers, or customers. We have forklifts and heavy lifting capability (up to 10,000kg) for machinery and industrial equipment, and we can hold your goods for the short-term or long-term, depending on your own project schedule or export calendar.
Export packing
We also have all the in-house expertise and resources we need to provide export packing services to prepare your goods for transport. Our service includes custom cases, foal lining, ISPM15-certified timber, vapour barriers, and corrosion protection, depending on the requirements of your goods. If necessary, we can also provide bespoke packaging that’s specifically tailored to an individual item’s dimensions and requirements.
Freight forwarding
A key pillar of our service is freight forwarding, which we can arrange directly from each warehouse. Drawing on our combined in-house expertise, our team can handle every aspect of the process, including booking, documentation, witness loading, and tarmac supervision. The documentation encompasses ISMP15, packing lists, and everything else that your shipment will need to maintain compliance with all the relevant standards and regulations.
The advantages of packing and shipping from the same site
As we’ve covered, warehouse space close to the airport immediately provides a wide variety of useful benefits. What’s more, you can enjoy a further range of benefits when the same company handles both the warehousing and the export packing, as we do here at Tuplin.
This centralises communication and streamlines the process, with a single team sharing the same standards, approaches, and accountability. Goods that we pack at Tuplin Gatwick or Stansted can be packed for export without leaving the facility, so there’s no inter-supplier transport, no additional handling risk, and minimal chances of delays. This is particularly useful for time-critical shipments – if our team receives a shipping instruction in the morning, we can often have a packed and documented consignment that’s ready for collection on the same day.
And since our team has direct relationships with carriers at both Gatwick and Stansted, you can also book freight forwarding from the same site. It keeps everything simple, straightforward, efficient and cost-effective.
Which businesses can benefit most from airport warehousing with Tuplin?
Almost any business that regularly ships goods abroad by air can benefit from closer proximity to the airport. Some organisations in particular are especially well-placed to enjoy the advantages. We’ve collated a small sample of them below:
Frequently Asked Questions
We regularly field queries from our customers about our airport proximity and export packing services. We’ve listed some of the most common below.
Can my goods be delivered directly to Tuplin’s Gatwick or Stansted warehouse from an overseas supplier?
Yes. Both of our sites can receive goods inbound from domestic or international origins. Our team can book them in, inspect them for damage and hold them securely until we receive a shipment instruction from you.
Is warehouse space available on short notice?
In most cases, yes. We’ve designed our flexible warehousing model to accommodate varying demand. Feel free to contact one of our sites directly, and we’ll be able to provide you with more details about availability.
Can Tuplin handle oversized or heavy items at the warehouse?
Yes. Both our Gatwick and Stansted sites have forklift and heavy lifting capability. Our team is experienced in handling machinery, industrial equipment and other large-format goods – including on-site packing before departure.
Maximise efficiency and minimise costs when you ship your freight by air
With more than 40 years of experience at Tuplin, we provide end-to-end export packing services for customers across a wide variety of sectors, working from four strategic locations across the South East. Whatever the nature of your cargo, you can count on our expert team to pack, prepare and transport it to whatever destination you have in mind, with efficiency, compliance and cost-effectiveness in mind.
Get in touch today to find out how we can help you with export packing and bespoke packing solutions – all expertly tailored to you.
