The global aircraft charter specialist, often associated more with heavy or outsized cargo, confirmed that month on month figures for 2009 show that OBC services for small carry on shipments are growing.
Chapman Freeborn coordinated over 350 separate OBC deliveries in 2008, and the company looks set to eclipse that figure this year.
One recent example saw Chapman Freeborn's Fort Lauderdale office combine a light aircraft charter with an OBC operation to deliver four LCD monitors from Florida to Italy to assist a helicopter grounded due to technical problems.
A Cessna 402 was chartered for the first leg from Sarasota (SRQ) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL), with Chapman Freeborn's David Mejia travelling onboard to collect the urgent pieces and take care of the necessary paperwork within an hour of the manufacturer's facility closing.
On touching down in Fort Lauderdale the time-critical shipment was handed to one of Chapman Freeborn's professional couriers, who was immediately dispatched on a commercial flight to Italy via New York (JFK).
The helicopter manufacturer took delivery of the goods at Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) within hours of making the urgent request.
David Mejia said: 'This OBC operation demonstrates how versatile today's charter broker needs to be. As a company we are keenly focussed on the value-added service we provide our clients.
'We have seen some very unusual OBC consignments in the last 12 months, like a set of keys for a sports car which were flown to Korea and then taken to the border of North Korea.
'However, most of the day to day business we see is small car parts, pharmaceuticals, aerospace parts, and time-sensitive documents. The service is flourishing.'
Chapman Freeborn's couriers are strategically located for the worldwide delivery of urgent documents and small shipments. Many are ready-equipped with dual passports and visas to ensure speedy passage and delivery of consignments for time-sensitive industries.
Chapman Freeborn has 32 offices in 22 countries across five continents and coordinated more than 5,000 cargo and passenger aircraft charters last year, in addition to many worldwide OBC consignments.
