Do you know what the difference between an art handler and art transportation is? The two terms sound familiar right? Well, they are quite different from each other and the people working under it have different responsibilities that are outlined below:
Art Handler
In brief terms, the job of an art handler is to deal with the packaging of the artwork. Other duties include:
- Inspects artwork to decide when, where and how to pack and deliver the package
- Selects the proper packaging material that keeps the artwork safe from dirt, water and moisture
- Properly wraps the artwork for its safety during transport
- Crates the artwork depending on its size
- Hires the services of art transportation for shipping the package (optional)
- Deals with all the paperwork that is necessary for shipping the artwork and may also tell you about insurance (optional)
- Installs artwork professionally
Art Transportation
This service is concerned with how the artwork is delivered to the buyer.
- Involves a transporter driving a truck with the art package (the delivery method depends on how far the package needs to go)
- Delivery pickup
- Insurance for your artwork is provided (you will need property insurance, which is the most basic type of art insurance that protects from damage caused by the transportation company or theft)
Art transportation involves a couple of transport options:
- Air Freight Forwarding: delivery around the globe (sea, air, truck)
- Ocean Freight Forwarding: by ship (full container load, less-than container load)
- Road and Rail Services: multiple distribution options (less-than container load)
- Intermodal and Multimodal Transport: the former transport service does domestic delivery by road and rail and the latter transport service optimizes sea, air, rail and land
- Transload and Cross-Docking: shipping directly to the customer rather than to the warehouse
- Origin Cargo Management: delivery by eliminating all middle men
Now you know why you need to hire both these services. Where one handles the artwork, the other handles the delivery. Each delivery option has a different price and gives you the benefit of shipping the artwork within your preferred time frame. So, get that artwork packed and leave the rest to an art transportation service.