A full guide to freight forwarding: definition, services, reasons and FAQ

Q: What should I anticipate from a freight broker?

The freight forwarder should go through the i mportant criteria and freight documentation you need to get your products on board when you book a cargo. Your freight forwarder should keep you updated on the shipment's status once it has been dispatched and let you know if there are any modifications or delays along the route.

Q: What are the advantages of using a freight forwarder?

Freight forwarders provide expertise, cost-effective solutions, risk management, time-saving benefits , and a global network to businesses involved in international trade. Using a freight forwarder can help businesses streamline their supply chain, reduce costs, and manage the risks associated with international trade.

With the explosion of online sales, many people are embarking on this emotionally rich adventure. However, they only think that a website will be enough to manage everything. However, it is necessary to know and understand the field of freight forwarding, which is not so simple! Indeed, it is often complicated to manage the supply chain of its products : through the several phases of sourcing, shipping and 3PL. Especially while keeping the control of your goods on several thousand kilometers. It is also necessary to find out the type of incoterms to use according to the type of goods shipped.

Fortunately, DocShipper, the international logistics specialist, takes care of everything from A to Z. A good freight forwarder is essential for the success of your business. Imagine being overwhelmed with requests, with sales growing rapidly but your goods not arriving on time, this would be a disaster for customer satisfaction.

DocShipper's shipping service is one of the most complete and trustworthy business partners in the market. You get real-time, customizable tracking. So with that in mind, we want to teach you a little more about freight forwarding, the benefits of it and how it works.

Table of Contents

Freight forwarding concept

What is called freight forwarding is a logistic term in the form of a service that many import/export traders use to send and/or receive their goods, in a more technical term is called "freight forwarding". Freight forwarders are expert companies in the field, which are licensed and know perfectly how the shipping system works from A to Z. Obviously, in order to meet all the demands, these forwarding agents take different forms with different characteristics, which we will discuss later in the article.

Having multiple means of transportation, many forwarders are specialized in road freight and do not deal with sea and air, which are more complicated and require more economic and logistic means.

Next are companies that specialize in air and sea freight forwarding.

The bigger forwarder, the more international he will be, the smaller forwarders are mainly located in popular countries.

What are the freight transport services?

To best prepare your next shipment of goods, we have prepared a comprehensive list of services offered by a freight forwarder:

International logistics is a very time-consuming and administrative field, that's why freight forwarders take care of it all for you. They prepare and organize the payments and take all the necessary reservations for the good routing of your goods.
Most forwarders provide a specialized service in customs brokerage, a very complex field when you are not familiar with it. To avoid your goods getting stuck in a country's customs, freight forwarders provide all the necessary documentation to customs officials, and if a problem arises they will be there to handle the situation and advise you.

You can manage it yourself

If you are comfortable with international shipping, you can of course handle it yourself, but we still want to give you some advice on this subject.

The use of a customs broker is essential depending on the country of shipment, the rules vary greatly between countries, which can mislead you if you are on regular shipments with a variety of destinations.

However, you will lose a lot of time because most air and ocean freight shipments are not done online.

It is also necessary to have freight insurance if you are not a professional in this field. It is almost impossible to establish a shipment without the intervention of a forwarder, many errors can complicate the delivery of your goods to their destination.

How to request a freight quote in 3 steps

Contact information:

First of all, make sure you have all the necessary contact information for your shipment.

If you decide to manage the trucking to the shipping and receiving ports, get the precise addresses of each of them beforehand. Postal codes are usually sufficient, but it is best to get the full address.
If you want to delegate the entire shipping process, you will have to provide the address of your supplier and indicate the means of forwarding to be used once the goods are collected.
Most shipping locations (ports and airports) have International codes, which is a fast and universal way of recognition. For example, the international code of the airport Paris Charles de Gaulle is (CDG), it is thus preferable to inquire in order to accelerate the administrative steps of the forwarders.

Provide the weight and size of your shipments. To finish your shipping quote, you will need to provide:

The total weight of the shipment is indicated on the packing slip provided by the supplier.
You also have to provide the characteristics of forwarding your goods, if they are shipped on pallets, in cardboard, as well as their sizes... This will give more information on the volume to be expected.
Finally, you will have to provide the total cubic volume, you can calculate it using the online calculator, provided for this purpose.

Description of product:

Checking the HS code, which is usually provided by the supplier, is important to avoid any kind of problems at customs, and thus delays in delivery.

Which freight forwarding companies to choose ?

The freight forwarding market is very dynamic and includes more than 150,000 companies worldwide. To make the best choice among all these companies, we advise you to determine first if you prefer to pay for a more expensive but safer service for your goods or prefer a more low-cost forwarder at the risk of having a breakage on all your goods.

There are also platforms that can help you make your choice. Like the sites of comparison of flights for users such as Kayak.fr and many others, platforms of comparison of freight forwarders, evaluate the quality of services offered against the prices displayed.

FAQ: most frequent questions regarding freight forwarding?

Know if specialized support is needed?

Some products cannot be handled by ordinary freight forwarders, such as cars, bulk grains (wheat type), and household removals. For very large shipments such as train or airplane shipments for companies specializing in these rather technical fields, you will need to contact large freight forwarders specializing in large shipments, which are not usually handled by small local freight forwarders.

If you are shipping dangerous goods, we recommend that you use a freight forwarder that specializes in this type of shipment. Be careful with the term hazardous materials, as even simple battery-operated toys are classified as such.

It is also important to know the geographical area of shipment. This is not covered by all forwarding agents, turn to international forwarding agents for international imports or exports. Small forwarders will not be able to provide the services of customs clearance and direct delivery to your customers. If you contact a small freight forwarder for international shipments, he will send you through specialized services in countries where he does not have the means to do the forwarding himself, and this will cost you more than contacting an international freight forwarder.

Freight forwarding company: what to consider?

Using an international weight forwarder will have more advantages on the final price. Indeed, an internationally recognized forwarder will have more weight with airlines and shipping companies and will be able to negotiate more easily the resources generated for the forwarding of your goods.

With the current complications of international logistics, it is preferable to go with a worldwide forwarder, who will have a preferential treatment during peak periods such as Christmas, for example.

How to make more margin with a low-cost carrier?

Be careful in your search for prices. Freight forwarders know that this is one of the most looked-at criteria when choosing a forwarder. Therefore, some of them abuse their knowledge on the subject to remove some services during the shipment without you necessarily realizing it. These are small lines that will be deleted from the contract but offer very important services such as customs clearance.

So be careful in choosing the forwarder and its price, we advise you to invest a little more for the forwarding which will avoid many problems during the routing of your products.

Are you more interested in the quality of the service?

So be careful in choosing a freight forwarder, which is essential to develop your international business. Make your choice according to the type of goods shipped, its location, the services of the forwarder, and the opinions on its services also count.

As a logistics provider, your freight forwarder should communicate regularly and transparently with you. If you wait a week to get a freight quote before shipping, that could be a good indication that you might be waiting to get updates on the status of the delayed freight. A reliable freight forwarder will provide you with status updates, alert you quickly to any problems, and work just as quickly to resolve them, for example, if a problem occurs at customs or the warehouse, or when a shipment is late. If that doesn't happen, it's time to start looking for a new forwarder.

Find out also about the "digital" forwarders who manage to compete with the small local forwarders by offering more qualitative services. They are able to do this by using more advanced digital systems that allow them to automate processes, improve internal communication and reduce errors.

How to find out more information in your area?

To choose your forwarder, it is better to inquire near you to have more reliable information, some of them can perfectly match your requests. If none of them meet your requirements, this is the time to broaden your search. So be careful, and try to follow our advice to avoid any problems. Don't hesitate to delegate tasks if you don't feel capable of managing a shipment with a forwarder, go for a 3PL service, which is easier to set up.

Conclusion

Finally, we have summarized the steps you need to take to find a good freight forwarder:

Start by considering whether you have any peculiar shipping requirements. As a result, some of the lesser forwarders will disappear.
Next, think about how significant your company may be to the forwarder. Whether money or service is what drives you the most, will determine what steps you do next.
At long last, there is now a choice that lets you select both service and cost.

We strongly recommend that you choose us as your freight forwarder. At DocShipper we offer shipping services by sea, air, and rail. We also offer a quality 3PL service that will save you valuable time. So don't hesitate to contact us!

FAQ | A full guide to freight forwarding; definition, services, reasons and FAQ

What exactly do freight brokers perform?

A variety of duties are carried out by reputable freight forwarders to guarantee that your items are dispatched effectively and arrive on schedule. They represent exporters and importers with strong global operations who collaborate with diverse supply chain participants.

This will include several transportation firms, 3PLs, different air or ocean carriers, and frequent customs. Some further provide customs brokerage services.

What should I anticipate from a freight broker?

The freight forwarder should go through the important criteria and freight documentation you need to get your products on board when you book a cargo.

Your freight forwarder should keep you updated on the shipment's status once it has been dispatched and let you know if there are any modifications or delays along the route.

What is a customs broker?

By managing the customs procedure for goods, whether they are sent by air, sea, or land, customs brokers provide a service to the global commerce community.

The following are only a few of the services offered:

Completing the paperwork needed for export shipments.
Clearance of import cargoes.
Getting the necessary fees and taxes.
Preparing paperwork for customs accounting.
Providing advice on matters like how to benefit from free trade agreements.

Every nation in the globe has distinct import and export policies and processes for various items, and these laws are constantly being updated. It is the responsibility of brokerage staff to stay current on new rules, so they can give their clients better advice.

To ensure that the proper processes are being followed while items are dispatched. Clients are spared from dealing directly with customs officers, which not only ensures that items are cleared accurately and promptly.

What are the advantages of using a freight forwarder?

Freight forwarders provide expertise, cost-effective solutions, risk management, time-saving benefits, and a global network to businesses involved in international trade. Using a freight forwarder can help businesses streamline their supply chain, reduce costs, and manage the risks associated with international trade.

DocShipper Advise : We help you with the entire sourcing process so don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!

Having trouble finding the appropriate product? Enjoy our sourcing services, we directly find the right suppliers for you!
You don't trust your supplier? Ask our experts to do quality control to guarantee the condition of your goods!
Do you need help with the logistics? Our international freight department supports you with door to door services!
You don't want to handle distribution? Our 3PL department will handle the storage, order fulfillment, and last-mile delivery!

Nº1 in United Kingdom

Answer within 24h

Door to door specialist