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What is an international freight forwarder?

1. What is an international freight forwarder?

The freight forwarder is the abbreviation of “cargo transportation agent”, and the international freight forwarder is the international cargo transportation agent. International freight forwarder involves cargo owners, carriers, customs, entry and exit inspection and quarantine, entry and exit or customs clearance, long transportation distance, long cycle, many uncertain factors and high risks, so it is much more complicated than domestic freight forwarders.

The predecessor of the international freight forwarding is the customs broker. The employees are mostly from international trade manufacturers or foreign trade enterprises. They mainly handle the international trade business and transportation declaration of the factory or the company. With the development of international trade, the freight forwarding industry has gradually developed and eventually become a huge specialized industry.

In the development process of the freight forwarding industry, some countries have tried to cancel the freight forwarder in order to reduce the intermediate links, so that the cargo owner can directly contact the carrier, not through the intermediate link of the freight forwarding, but ultimately fail, it will not work.

The international freight forwarding involves several major entities: cargo owners, freight forwarders, shipping representatives, carriers and related port terminals, airport freight stations, major yards, various cargo stations, and various warehouses, which complement each other to jointly complete the import or export of goods.

2. What is the main job of the freight forwarding?

The main tasks of the freight forwarder vary according to the freight forwarding service object. The freight forwarder’s services include serving the shipper, serving the carrier, serving the customs, and so on.

1) According to the requirements of the owner, recommend the best mode of transportation (sea, air, car, railway, etc.), plan the optimal transportation route (direct, transit), and select the most suitable carrier (airline, shipping company, logistics company, Express company, etc.).

2) As the intermediary between the carrier and the owner, on behalf of the owner of the cargo to the selected carrier.

3) According to the requirements of the owner, provide corresponding basic logistics services such as delivery, loading and unloading, warehousing and distribution, as well as value-added logistics services such as unpacking, sorting, placing, packaging, weighing and affixing.

4) Accepting clients’ customs declaration and inspection, conducting agency inspection, agent declaration and other services, including guiding customers to produce relevant documents, checking documents, reporting to customs, follow-up customs declaration, and collaborative inspection.

5) Self-signed shipping on behalf of the bill of lading / waybill or requesting the shipowner bill of lading or airline waybill from the carrier, and timely delivery to the owner, on the one hand as the receipt of the goods, on the other hand, the goods owner to handle settlement, tax refund and other matters.

6) Charge d’affaires certificate, charge d’affaires insurance, conduct foreign exchange, settle transportation and miscellaneous fees, collect payment, etc. (if necessary).

7) Handle any unforeseen circumstances, such as damage to the packaging during transportation, damage or loss of goods, etc., and ask for damage certificate to assist the consignor in making a claim against the carrier or insurance company.

The international freight forwarding company will sign an agreement with the international four major express and sea freight air transport divisions to get a good agency discount through relatively large cargo volume, so the price will be much cheaper than the official website.

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