Sir Richard Branson and Dita Von Tease on the aircraft wing

Virgin Atlantic recently celebrated 10 years of flying to Las Vegas with a 3 day trip to the self proclaimed ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’, and kindly invited Southampton Freight Services along to enjoy the occasion!

After a direct flight from Gatwick Airport with Virgin Atlantic, Sir Richard Branson met the aircraft on the tarmac at Las Vegas airport with Burlesque dancer Dita Von Tease, and an entourage of 100 journalists and photographers for a photo shoot on the wing of the aircraft.

Our Managing Director was kindly whisked away for a three days of entertainment and events as a thank you for our continued support of the British carrier.

Sir Richard and Dita Von Tease alongside the personally named aircraft

We use Virgin Cargo extensively on many of their direct routes, including our fresh produce and ships supplies into the Barbados, St Lucia and Montego Bay each year for the cruise vessels we serve.

Sir Richard, with a high profile reputation for daring stunts, world record challenges and glitzy party’s decided to tone down his ‘stunt’ from his last visit to Las Vegas, when he abseiled the Palms hotel in high winds resulting in some serious friction burns to the seat of his pants!

taking to the water at the Bellagio Hotel

'conducting' the water jets at Bellagio

Sir Richard takes an stewardess for ride

This time a slightly more subdued ‘conducting’ of the water fountains at the world famous Bellagio hotel was order of the day, although a jet ski stunt with a Virgin air hostess directly afterwards resulted in an unplanned swim!

...and taking a swim!

Cutting the cake - celebrating 10 years of flights to Las Vegas

Our Managing Director meets Sir Richard

Southampton Freight Services Ltd have worked closely with Virgin since our formation in 1998, supporting their routes heavily with both export, import and cross trade cargo. We also control their coastwise trucking operation between London and Southampton, allowing us to route our import consignments from all over the world directly into our bonded warehouse, where we offer reduced rates on delivery, customs clearance, airline handling and storage. Please ask our team about the services we offer, we would be delighted to explain to you in greater detail.

Fibercore Ltd, a Cisco Company

Their ability to work to tight deadlines is fantastic and they have actively helped save our team money. SFS are my first point of call when I need to arrange shipments.

Sasha, Bacardi-Martini Limited

Best regards

Kenna

Sanders Sails Ltd

Bath Road

Lymington

SO41 3RU

Tel: 01590 673981

Fax: 01590 676026

Your personal belongings are in safe hands

Our client, Luggage Concierge, Inc of New York offer a specialist door to door service for cruise passengers, collecting their bags from their respective homes and delivering onboard the cruise ship for their holiday. Once finished, they arrange collection and repatriate the various passnger bags back to the door step of their client – anywhere in the world.

We, in conjunction with our partners TEfra Travel Logistics GMBH of Hamburg, provide secure transfer, incorporating logistical and customs documentation solutions to ensure the passengers are not without their personal possessions longer than they need, whilst removing the hassle of carrying heavy suitcases through airports, and saving considerably on the airlines’ excess baggage rates.

When the Crystal Serenity cruise vessel docked in Southampton  Port on the 28th April, SFS were alongside the ship at 0530 hrs waiting for the disembarking passengers. Nick Colucci, President of  Luggage Concierge Inc, was onboard the ship, helping to sort out the bags whilst our drivers waited for the first passengers to disembark.

A sea of bags at SFS HQ

The Luggage concierge ladies steal the limelight!

All smiles after a long days work - Nick Colucci with our MD Ross Negus

6 shuttle runs and 5 hours later, our warehouse resembled the British Aiways Terminal 5 on its opening day – although we are pleased to say there was no confusion over the destination of each individual suitcase, nor did we lose any!

The secure repatriation of all the cases back to the USA, from California to Florida, was executed in just 3 working days, much to the delight of the few hundred passengers who were just settling back home after their long world cruise, and Luggage Concierge Inc were delighted with the efforts of our team.

Rush rush!

We often joke that, in the case of emergency, call us on 02380 860999 – the ‘5th emergency service’ !

On Thursday the 15th April, the day when thousands of passengers around the world learned of the pending air space closure due to the cloud of volcanic ash, it was generally assumed that the situation would not become such an issue as eventually it did. Our operations team had to think on their feet when the emergency call came in…

Fresh flowers

We were expecting to collect a quantity of fresh cut flowers from our client, and deliver by air to a cruise vessel stationed in Civitavecchia, the port of Rome. With a flight booked early the following morning, (as at this time the airlines were expecting to re-open at 1900 hrs that day), our operations team advised caution, knowing the possibility of delay due to back log of cargo and the relative uncertainty of the unfolding drama, and subsequently the flowers not getting to the cruise vessel in time.

Flowers must arrive in perfect condition

The onboard florist needed the flowers early Saturday to prepare the ordered bouquets and arrangements for the embarking passengers, and therefore time was of the essence. To ensure delivery, we offered an alternative to our client  in the form of a dedicated refrigerated van, which would collect the cargo and drive directly to Rome for delivery at the cruise ships side on Saturday morning

36 hrs later the flowers were delivered onboard the cruise ship, having been maintained at a constant 8 degrees for the entire journey . It became clear that our swift action to offer a back up plan had saved the day, as the airports remained closed for a further 4 days and weeks of disruption followed.

Express Air Freight Solutions

At the very same time we had an urgent shipment of demonstration equipment to deliver to a trade show in Massachusetts, USA. Because the flights were cancelled from Northern Europe, we sent the pallets to Vienna by road, and connected the freight with Austrian Airlines directly into New York, where our partners cleared the consignment through US Customs and trucked down to the show, ensuring our client could display their products on time at the exhibition. Our style of operation enables us to think ‘outside the box’ and offer solutions that the mulinational organisations cannot always provde, due to service contracts with particular carriers, or systems designed to handle large quantities of cargo, without the flexibility to change at a moments notice.

It is my pleasure to work with Ross, Dave, Chris and their entire staff. Luggage Concierge and Southampton Freight know it’s not just the volume that’s the measure of a successful company, but it’s the people who work within the company.

Southampton Freight is made up of people that Luggage Concierge and our 6 star guests are confident to work with.

Nicholas Colucci, President, Luggage Concierge (914) 646-3467

Perry Boyle