Everything you should know about freight forwarders
Importing and exporting are vital elements for many profitable business organizations. International
shipping can open many doors for you, but it is also a daunting task. The entire process, regulations
and paperwork involved in international trading may put a lot of pressure on you. However you can
always take help from a freight forwarder to be a successful international shipper without any
hassle. There are a few Top Air Freight Forwarders which will help you with all your air freights.
Freight Forwarder
A freight forwarder company is a firm that specializes in arranging storage and shipping of
merchandise on the behalf of its shippers. It generally offers a full range of services, which include
tracking inland transportation, preparing shipping and export documents, warehousing, and booking
cargo space, freight consolidation, negotiating freight charges, cargo insurance and filing of
insurance claims. Usually, freight forwarders ship under their own house bill of lading and or house
air waybill and their agents at the destination handle the document delivery, deco deconsolidation,
and freight collection services. So, to put it simply, freight forwarders arrange the importing and
exporting of your goods on your behalf.
Responsibilities of a freight forwarder
Your freight forwarder has a number of responsibilities to carry out. Arranging your international
shipping is a complicated job. Although, the freight forwarder handles all the details of your
international shipping, it does not move your cargo itself. Instead, the freight forwarder acts as a
mediator between a shipper and different modes of transportation services such as expedited
shipping by air freight, ocean shipping on cargo ships, moving goods by rail and trucking. Ocean
Freight Forwarders are expert in shipping goods on cargo ships.
A freight forwarding service or cargo service uses established relationship with various carriers, from
air freighters and ocean liners, to rail freighters to trucking companies, for negotiating the best
possible price to move goods of shippers along the most cost effective route by planning out
different bids and opting for the one that is the best in terms of speed, reliability and cost.
Freight forwarders deal with the considerable logistics of shipping merchandise from some
international destination to another, a task that would otherwise be burdensome for their client.
The need for a freight forwarder
A good freight forwarding service can save you some valuable time and potential headaches by
providing dependable transportation of goods at a reasonable price. An efficient freight forwarder
service is an asset to any organization that deals in international transportation of good, and is
particularly helpful when in-house resources lack in knowledge and experience in international
shipping procedures. There are a number of advantages in appointing a freight forwarder.
A freight forwarder manages ancillary services, which are part of the international shipping
business. For example, handles insurance, customs documentation etc.
A freight forwarder provides to both consolidators and individual suppliers: bills of lading,
warehousing, risk assessment and management, methods of international payments etc.
A freight forwarder encourages transparent communication and provides great customer
service.
It does not matter, whether the firm is big or small, the weight of goods heavy or light, the freight
forwarder will take care of the freight from dock to door if needed so.
