Most people do not have to bother about transporting packages to different lands. At the most one may mail a big Christmas gift through USPS or rent a U-Haul to move your stuff if you want to relocate. However if your business or organization is dependant on transporting commercial goods across nations or within the country through road, rail, air or sea you will find yourselves at wit’s end to liaison with so many parties that have a part to do in the whole process. This is the reason why you have freight forwarders. It is the job of the freight forwarders to provide the following services to you.
- Take end to end responsibility of delivering your goods from your door to the recipient’s door.
- Provide updates about the location of the goods and be accountable for its delivery without any loss or damage.
- Provide the best rates of transport considering the fact that there may be multiple agencies handling the goods through various modes of transport.
- In case your goods require to be processed through customs facility of a country or inspection to see that you comply with the laws of the states through which your goods pass, freight forwarders will interact with these agencies on your behalf provided you have given them the power of attorney and will also provide you with advice on such matters.
If you want to know how to select freight service for transport you need to keep in mind the vast range of services provided by freight forwarders. Clearly the lowest quote will not get you the best man for the job. Let us see the risks of selecting the freight forwarder by evaluating the quotation alone.
Freight Forwarder – Transporter Contracts: Freight Forwarders and Transporters have a rate contract between them. Freight Forwarders are given discounted rates by the transporters if they are assured of a good volume of business. This discount can be passed to consumers to stay competitive.
Prioritized Service: Because of the Freight Forwarders and Transporter nexus it is possible to expedite delivery in case there is a backlog of deliveries due to unforeseen circumstances.
Free Consultancy in International Trade: Cargo Forwarders are experts in the practice of International Trade rules and regulation and can provide you with the correct guidance to be able to transport your goods to recipients across International borders without any Holdups.
Please find some Tips for Choosing a Freight Forwarder to consider before you choose one. You have to evaluate the following attributes of the forwarding agency.
- Annual Volume of Traffic
- Growth of Annual Volume and its correlation with Global Trends
- Nature of Goods Transported
- Number of accidents per Annum
- Number of Transporters having a Rate Contract with the Freight Forwarders
A cheap shipping service may be able to give you the best rates but your cargo may not find priority in case of a hold up. Reliability, Safe Delivery and Prompt Service is one of the key factors for shipping. Keeping them in mind, it is assumed that the advice given above covers most issues relating to selecting the best freight forwarder.
