Report details Apple’s use of private jets and cargo ships to cut shipping delays during 2020
Amongst everything else, COVID-19 has caused havoc when shipping goods internationally, with Apple no exception to the logistical nightmares caused by the pandemic and the strain it put on supply chains worldwide. In a new report, The Information has detailed how Apple used “unorthodox and costly steps” to cut shipping delays and keep up with demand.
According to The Information, Apple chartered more than 200 planes in 2020, setting a single-year record for the company, compared to just three planes Apple chartered ahead of the launch of the iPhone 7 in 2016.
Last year, Apple reportedly faced a shortage of iPad mailing boxes in China. The company is said to have shipped empty flat-packed boxes from a warehouse in the US to Singapore, after they were originally shipped to the US from Apple’s supplier in China.
For example, last year Apple began shipping some AirPods by sea for the first time. In the third quarter of last year, the company greatly increased ocean freight for older model iPhones, whose delivery is less time sensitive, to free up air cargo space for the new iPhone 12, according to an analysis of vessel manifest data and the person with direct knowledge of Apple’s logistics operations.
According to The Information, Apple chartered more than 200 planes in 2020, setting a single-year record for the company, compared to just three planes Apple chartered ahead of the launch of the iPhone 7 in 2016.
Apple frequently turned to pricier private jet charters to ship its products out of Asia because its delivery partners had run out of capacity in the cargo holds of passenger planes. Last year, Apple chartered more than 200 planes for these shipments, setting a single-year record for the company, according to the person with direct knowledge of its logistics operations. To put that in perspective, ahead of the launch of the iPhone 7 in 2016, Apple chartered just three planes for the devices after it used up passenger plane capacity, a different person involved in its shipments said.
Apple offered a small insight into its logistics operations with the launch of the iPhone 12 and iPad Air last year, showing images from within its secret distribution center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and detailing how the devices traveled from suppliers in Asia.