A Freight Forwarder is the company responsible for managing the international transport of your merchandise, from a point of origin to a point of destination, using the necessary means of transportation of cargo, and that best suits the merchandise, price, and delivery time. estimated transit.
The freight forwarder ensures that your goods arrive at their destination in the time and conditions that they should do so, whether by air, sea, or land and makes sure to process and manage the documentation required by the different figures, who intervene since.
If you want to learn more about the functions and advantages of a freight forwarder, this is the article for you.
Functions of a freight forwarder
While the freight forwarder handles the details of your international shipment, it is important to know what it does not do, to understand what it actually does
A freight forwarder does not actually move its cargo itself. He acts as an intermediary between a shipper and various transportation services, such as ocean freight shipping, road transportation, expedited air freight, and rail freight. A freight transportation service uses established relationships with carriers, from air carriers and trucking companies to rail carriers and ocean liners, in order to negotiate the best possible price to move carriers’ goods by the most economical route, elaborating multiple offerings and choosing the one that best balances speed, cost, and reliability.
Freight forwarders handle the considerable logistics of shipping goods from one international destination to another.
What services do they offer?
- Collection of your merchandise at the origin
- Local transport at the origin
- Export customs clearance
- International transport
- Import customs clearance
- Local transport at destination
- Storage
- Delivery of merchandise
What are the advantages of hiring one?
A freight forwarder is not required to import or export products. However, because importing and exporting can involve so much documentation and so many regulations, and these regulations and the required documentation may vary from country to country, many of the most successful importers and exporters use one to be their logistics partner.
Knowing the shipping companies, documentation, and customs laws of various countries is your job. They know everything so you don’t have to worry about doing it. That means a good service can save you incalculable time and potential headaches while providing reliable transportation of goods at competitive prices.
A freight forwarder is an asset to almost any company involved in international freight transportation and is especially helpful when internal resources are not well versed in international shipping procedures.