Freight forwarder, literally, is the abbreviation for freight forwarder. From the perspective of work content, it is to accept the client's commission to complete a certain stage of goods transportation or related links. Any work related to this aspect can be directly or indirectly completed by finding a freight forwarder to save capital. What is a freight forwarder? What services do freight forwarders include?

1、 What is a freight forwarder?

Freight forwarder: also known as freight forwarder

Freight forwarder, literally, is the abbreviation for freight forwarder. From the perspective of work content, it is to accept the client's commission to complete a certain stage of goods transportation or related links. Any work related to this aspect can be directly or indirectly completed by finding a freight forwarder to save capital. There are also overseas agents based on the different goods. Freight forwarding refers to the general term for providing various transportation services specifically for cargo transportation demand and capacity providers in the field of circulation. They serve the entire society and serve as a bridge and link between cargo owners and transportation providers.

Freight forwarding, also known as freight forwarding, refers to the intermediary, broker, and transportation organizer between the shipper and the carrier. In China, international freight forwarding refers to an emerging industry that is a 'symbiotic industry' or 'peripheral industry' between international trade and international cargo transportation.

2、 What services do freight forwarders include?

1. Serving the shipper

The freight forwarder replaces the shipper to undertake any procedures in the transportation of different goods:

(1) Arrange suitable cargo packaging and choose the transportation route for the goods using the fastest and most economical transportation method.

(2) Advise customers on warehousing and distribution.

(3) Choose a reliable and efficient carrier and be responsible for concluding a transportation contract.

(4) Arrange the weighing and measurement of goods.

(5) Apply for cargo insurance.

(6) Assembly of goods.

(7) Store the goods in the warehouse before shipment or before distributing them at the destination.

(8) Arrange the transportation of goods to the port, handle customs and relevant documents procedures, and hand over the goods to the carrier.

(9) Represent the shipper/importer to bear the freight, customs duties and taxes.

(10) Handle any foreign exchange transactions related to the transportation of goods.

(11) Obtain various signed bills of lading from the carrier and hand them over to the shipper.

(12) By contacting the carrier and freight forwarder's agent abroad, supervise the transportation process of the goods and make the shipper aware of the destination of the goods.

2. Serving the consignee

When the domestic consignee of a country has goods arriving, it shall provide import services, handle customs declaration and clearance with the customs agency, and provide documents required for import, such as Customs declaration, bill of lading, packing list, commodity inspection certificate, Commercial invoice, etc.

3. Serving customs

When an international freight forwarder acts as a customs agent to handle customs procedures related to import and export goods, it not only represents its customers, but also represents the customs authorities. In fact, in many countries, he has obtained permission from these authorities to handle customs procedures and is responsible to the customs. He is responsible for declaring the exact amount, quantity, and name of the goods in the documents issued earlier, so that the government does not suffer losses in these aspects.

4. Serving the carrier

The freight forwarder shall promptly book the shipping space with the carrier, negotiate fair and reasonable fees for both the shipper and the carrier, arrange for appropriate delivery time, and resolve issues with the carrier's freight account in the name of the shipper.

5. LCL service

The role of. The basic meaning of consolidation and LCL is to gather small pieces of goods from several shippers at one shipping location to several receivers at another destination, and send them as a whole shipment to the freight forwarder at the destination, and through it, deliver the single shipment of goods to each consignee. The freight forwarder issues a bill of lading, which is to divide the bill of lading or other similar receipts and deliver them to the shipper of each shipment; The agent of the destination port of the freight forwarder shall deliver the original bill of lading to the consignee.

The consignee and shipper of LCL do not directly contact the carrier. For the carrier, the freight forwarder is the shipper, while the freight forwarder's agent at the destination port is the consignee. Therefore, the carrier issues a full process bill of lading or waybill to the freight forwarder. If the shipper or consignee has special requirements, the freight forwarder can also engage in pick-up and delivery services at the shipping and destination locations, providing door-to-door services.

6. Multimodal transport services

In terms of freight forwarding, a more profound impact of containerization is its involvement in multimodal transportation, where it serves as the main carrier and undertakes to organize door-to-door cargo transportation through multiple modes of transportation under a single contract. It can negotiate and sign separate contracts with other carriers or service providers as a party.