Why Freight Forwarding Is Crucial in Maintaining a Stable Supply Chain?

If you are a business owner who wants to ensure that your goods reach your customers in time, you should seriously consider having a smooth-flowing and trouble-free supply chain. Though you may form an internal traffic department to handle this, the complications that come with ensuring your goods reach their intended destination are stressful. You need someone who can reliably move freight from your warehouse to its destination hassle-free. That is where freight forwarding companies come in.

A freight forwarding company is a third party that organizes your shipment of goods from one point to another. To achieve this, they coordinate the entire process, including using various freight carriers carrying your goods across air, road, ocean, and railway routes.

The Freight Forwarding Process

A freight forwarding company is specialized in handling the process of moving your goods from one point to another across various modes of transportation. Though they do not handle the shipping of the goods themselves, they negotiate with shipping providers to get the best possible value from the company shipping the goods. They understand international trade, its regulations, and the best way to ship goods on behalf of the companies that require them. Moreover, freight forwarding companies handle all the shipping and receiving logistics paperwork.

Freight forwarding companies are responsible for comparing all the established shipping routes and identifying the best viable option based on cost, speed, and reliability. To facilitate this, the freight forwarding process has six steps:

Step 1: Export Haulage: this process involves picking up items from your location and bringing your goods to the freight forwarder’s warehouse.

Step 2: Items Checkpoint: In this process, the freight forwarders receive your goods and inspect them to ensure everything is in proper condition.

Step 3: Export Customs Clearance: With the help of customs brokers, your freight forwarders will obtain clearance for the transport of goods by submitting details about the cargo and supporting documents required.

Step 4: Import Customs Clearance: The freight forwarder, or a nominated customs broker, performs the import customs clearance by the time the freight arrives at the destination country.

Step 5: Destination Arrival and Handling: The freight forwarder receives and ensures that all documents are checked and that all information is correct. They will also inspect and sort the freight.

What Services Do Freight Forwarding Companies Provide?

Freight forwarders offer a broad range of services that ensure your goods make it to your customers hassle-free. These services include:

1. Customs Clearance
2. International Export and Import Documentation
3. Shipping Insurance
4. Packing and Preparing Your Goods for Shipment
5. Storage
6. Managing Your Inventory

Exceptional freight forwarding companies offer additional services, such as handling dangerous goods and tracking deliveries for you in real time.

Freight forwarding companies specialize in is preparing the necessary documents and doing the paperwork to move your goods. These documents include:

1. Commercial Invoices
2. Certificate of Origin Statements
3. Bill of Lading Contracts
4. Inspection Certificates
5. Export Licenses
6. Shipper’s Export Declaration Documents
7. Export Packing Lists
8. And Others

Benefits of Hiring a Freight Forwarder To Help Your Business

1. A Reduced Workload for Your Business

Hiring a freight forwarder goes beyond reducing the workload of businesses. The amount of paperwork alone can be cumbersome, where a single error could mean massive shipment delays.

1. Provide Cost-Effective Solutions for Logistics

Your freight forwarding company can organize and merge shipments from across different businesses. These actions, among others, can help lower the price of shipping.

1. Provide Flexible Shipping Options

Freight forwarders have the expertise and the resources to plan for any contingencies, such as when freight is delayed or rerouted. Freight forwarders are prepared for such instances.

1. Freight Forwarders Provide You Peace of Mind on Logistics Issues

The best freight forwarders can track your shipment and provide detailed information about your freight anytime you ask them. Moreover, you won’t have to worry about legalities when it comes to customs issues.

The Best Freight Forwarders Use the Best Freight Forwarding Software

To have peace of mind when it comes to your freight, you will need to hire the best freight forwarders. The best freight forwarders have the expertise, resources, and ability to adapt to the ever-changing demands of today’s supply chain requirements. Among these resources is the best freight forwarding software available.

GoFreight provides the best and most complete freight forwarding software on the market. This highly customizable software package can support any size of freight forwarding company. Being a cloud-based freight forwarding software, users in different locations can manage your shipments and make adjustments accordingly.

GoFreight’s freight logistics software is constantly updated, assuring freight forwarders with the best support possible with features that will enable them to help you meet your commitments.