Why Should You Hire a Freight Forwarder?

Every year, some billions of tons of goods and products are shipped internationally. The annual shipping rate is increasing because of better technology and growing demand for the products. Shipping is the backbone of international trades and shipping connects the countries, markets, businesses, and people across the world. Shipping makes the companies grow and also makes the products available for everyone.

Types of Shipping Services:

Shipping of goods internationally can be done by two modes of transportation. One is through air and the other is water. When the cargo is shipped by sea, businesses can choose the type of services. The first service is FCL and the other is LCL shipment service.

FCL services means Full Container Load service, and in this type of service, the business will get the entire shipping container. They will charge for the entire container and this mode of transportation is mostly suitable for large consignments. Exporters with small consignment can select Less Than Container Load (LCL) service. In this type of service, the shipping company charges only for the volume it occupies. The consignment is mixed with the other exporters and then shipped to the final destination.

Many businesses take the help of global logistics companies to move their cargo from one location to another. Since they have a very good experience in handling the cargo, they can provide the best solution.

IAP Logistics is an experienced global logistics company in Jeddah, and we provide logistics services according to the client’s requirement. Here in this article, we have tried to provide the complete information related to the international cargo shipment.

Role of a Freight Forwarding Company

Generally, many large businesses prefer to handle logistics on their own. Which means, they will have a separate team to manage the activities of the supply chain, and they handle the tasks like storage of cargo, inventory management, quality inspection, documentation, transportation, etc.

But there are also many medium and small businesses that could not afford a separate logistics team. It would incur a lot of money and it’s a complex task for them to handle. Therefore, in such a situation, many businesses hire international freight forwarders to handle the logistics operations.

A third-party logistics provider aka 3PL service providers manage activities of the business-like inventory, storage, fulfillment activities, documentation, shipping, distribution, etc. Hiring 3PL service providers help the businesses to gain time, which they could invest in other core aspects of the business.

Responsibilities of a Freight Forwarder

Shipping cargo from one location to the other is not an easy task, you must have a good knowledge about the rules and regulations about the countries. Also, you must have the ability and team to handle all the activities of the shipping process.

Since they will have an experienced team, they will be good at organizing the tasks. They make the process smooth and ship the cargo from one point to another. Nowadays the government and other customs departments are using the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system, so hiring a freight forwarding company will help a lot.

Process of Shipping Goods

There are majorly two steps in freight forwarding, one is custom documentation and the other is loading and transporting the goods abroad. The freight forwarders work for the shippers, and they negotiate freight charges on behalf of shippers. Then they book cargo space and load the cargo into the cargo space.

Freight forwarders also manage the work like storage of goods in the warehouses, arranging labors, arranging cargo insurance, etc. Sometimes, they may also liaise with different government agencies depending on the type of cargo that is being shipped and regarding the custom rules and regulations.

One of the best advantages of hiring international freight forwarders is that they keep themselves abreast with the laws and regulations of all the countries. They will have good connections with various countries and that will help your business to ship the cargo smoothly.

Therefore, because of all these advantages, many businesses hire logistics companies. Hiring international freight forwarders ease the process of shipping goods to various countries and avoid interruptions in the shipping process. They can plan the shipping strategically and help to improve the customer service.

If you are planning to outsource your logistics operations and need help in shipping goods, we can help you. IAP Logistics is a global logistics company and we provide complete logistics services. We use the best technology for every work and we also incorporated cargo shipment tracking technology to provide real time data about the shipping cargo.

Reach us for more information about the logistics services. We provide our services globally for the best price.