Tips, Tricks for the everyday Forwarder
Posts tagged Forwarding Agents
Freight Forwarding benefits
0621 days
by admin
in Everything Else
Freight forwarding requires skills to manage and accomplish. Exactly what the heck is freight forwarding about?
Freight forwarding/forwarding agents/forwarders are the integral part of organizing a total door-to-door shipping/air freight, they are the ones that carry the items from your doorstep to the seaport/airport, and on the receiving side, the one that sends the items from the seaport/airport to your home.
Normally, they tend to not have any assets, i.e. no truck etc, to pick it up for you. Instead they usually know a few contacts that can pick the items for them to the port, while they handle all the necessary documents required to send the cargo from point A to point B. Documents include the Bill of Lading, Invoices, etc.
Sometimes they handle customs broking too. Which means they settle all the necessary documents required to pass your items through the customs swiftly and safely without any disruption.
Being a freight forwarder is tough; you have to handle all aspects on the shipment, from documentations to managing the freight movement, to checking out carrier pricing and billing the customers. It’s a very complicated process and tends to stop many from venturing into it. However, once you know how, it’s a really huge market…. if you know where to look…
I guess the tough part is not finding business for forwarding, but instead going through the process on fully understanding and grasping the whole meaning of a forwarder, it’s abilities and requirements, and the benefits.
How do freight forwarders / forwarding agents start?
0621 days
by admin
in Everything Else
So, the big question. How does one start to be a freight forwarder?
First off. What’s a freight forwarder anyway.
from wikipedia.org:
A freight forwarder, forwarder, or forwarding agent is a person or company that organizes shipments for individuals or other companies and may also act as a carrier.[1][2][3] A forwarder is often not active as a carrier and acts only as an agent, in other words as a third-party (non-asset-based) logistics provider that dispatches shipments via asset-based carriers and that books or otherwise arranges space for these shipments. Carrier types include ships, airplanes, trucks, and railroads.
Too complicated? How about this:
A freight forwarder coordinates shipments for individuals/companies. Usually no shipping assets, they assign other companies that do have shipping assets jobs to do. They are the master-mind in that sense.
So, how to be one? Well, here’s an excerpt mentioned on Answers.com:
For starting a Freight forwarding business, you need to be well versed with shipping, export – import, business and you should have good contacts in the industry as well. First n foremost register your self as a freight forwarding company as per the rules and regulations of the country where you want to set up the business. Once it is done, get registered yourself with the local freight forwarding associations or with FIATA. These association will help you to get acquainted with the industry with written material and thru small learning programme or seminars. Now start making allies in the different countries who will act as your partner in acomplishing your job taken. Now you are ready to start your own business. start taking quotes from the shipping lines or air lines for diff destinations and try to sale them to other freight forwarding companies or exporter and importers.
That paragraph above, is a real big clue on how to start.
Of course, there’s the documentation parts, the learning of customs part, blah blah blah.
Watch out for FF-Man 2.
