Finding the best freight forwarder will guarantee you the best fit for your requirements, but where do you start from when its comes to searching?
Work out what you need.
Working out what you need from a freight forwarding company before you go searching will help make your search a lot easier. Try and determine to the best of your ability what mode of transport you will need, which service or delivery type you may require, and exactly how much you intend to ship. Working this all out, or framing the questions you have to ask before you contact a forwarder can spare time and keep the entire procedure much more productive – and often gets you better deals!
What would they be able to offer you?
Be sure to look at the services that a Freight Forwarder can and willing to offer. Some companies may just offer port to port shipping, where others will offer door-to-door shipping service. Most will offer a trucking option, but it’s important to ensure this is the case, instead of just expecting that they'll cover the road freight too. It's likewise worth verifying whether they have freight/cargo insurance and shipment tracking to purchase alongside their standard and professional shipping. Some companies will also offer Next-day delivery, so it could be worth shopping around for the best services.
Experience
Ensure that your freight forwarder has experience in the shipping industry. The shipping industry is not an easy sector to work in, thus choosing an experienced company will give you that extra peace of mind that the company is reliable, and that your shipments are in good hands. The more experience that a company has, the more likely it is that they have been through difficult situations from strikes to shutdowns and have learned how to deal with these effectively. Your forwarder’s experience could mean they can advise you on how to avoid customs, warehousing and other routing problems before they’ve even begun to ship out your cargo.
Customer Service
While customers service doesn't really imply that the drivers are necessarily bad, good customer service will make the whole experience far more pleasant and hopefully, run all the more smoothly. The sales person you speak with at first might not have the majority of the appropriate responses, but there is a difference between telling you they don’t know, and telling you that they will find out for you. In the event that your Freight Forwarder is a decent one, they will care about you and your shipments, from sales through to the drivers. Without that care, you can't make sure that your cargo will arrive safely, on time, or in good condition.
Ask about their network of agents and partners
When it comes to shipping internationally, ensuring that you have a Freight Forwarder with good contacts in the country that you're shipping to is fundamental to ensuring that your cargo arrives in good time and with minimal fuss. Having a company with good connections all around the world will give you a decent impression regarding how solid and good of a company they are, however make sure to focus on the country that you find yourself in need of shipping to specifically. For example: If a freight forwarding company have experience shipping to Australia, this won’t help if your cargo needs to reach China, thus the need to know their connections.
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