Freight forwarding is a fantastic service that, when done right, can solve all your logistical problems effectively. However, do it wrong and you will see your business come to a standstill in no time. A freight forwarder serves as a middleman between your products’ origin and destination, and they make sure that you do not face any hurdles along the way.
To choose the right freight forwarder for your business, you need to be extremely thorough in your research and develop a strategy that can help you find the right partner for your business. To help you out with that process, we are sharing the most important things that you need to consider when hiring a freight forwarding service.
Only Go for Reputable Companies
If you want to make hiring the process easy, you need to do some shortlisting before you even start your actual shortlisting. When gathering potential freight forwarder candidates for your business, you should only select the names that already have a good reputation in the market. Testing companies with no reputation or those known to have problems would only waste your time as you will eventually need to discard them anyway. There are dedicated tools available these days like FreightDeadbeats that provide information about non-trustworthy freight forwarding services.
Choose Freight Forwarding Companies That Match
While there are countless good companies that you can choose from, another factor that can help you shortlist them further is relevance. To save time and even money, try to look for a freight forwarder that has experience dealing with the specific type of materials/products that you intend to transport. Furthermore, the nature of transport is also an important thing to consider when making the decision. For example, if you are shipping internationally, you will need a partner that has experience dealing with customs, import and export procedures, and international laws.
The Importance of a Large Network
One of the biggest factors impacting the timeliness of your shipments is the network size that your freight forwarder has access to. Not only does this consist of the actual logistics network, but also industry contacts and relationships that can help smooth things along and ensure timeliness for every shipment. Furthermore, having these things can also lead to you getting better rates from your forwarding partner. Ask every candidate you are considering about the network size, connections, and references they can offer.
Using a Transparent Pricing Structure
One of the biggest concerns that companies have when working with a freight forwarder is the pricing structure that they have to offer. Sometimes, there are delays in the time it takes for the forwarding partner to share quotations on your shipments. You may have estimated it differently from what it really turns out to be and while this could be due to PSS or GRIs adjustments, it can also be due to a bad pricing structure. If you are not getting accurate total freight costs and combined costs, you might want to stay away from such service providers.
Final Word
With all the above in mind, do not forget that you may also lose your shipment for any number of reasons while it is on its way. The best way to protect yourself from such a situation is to buy cargo insurance for every shipment you make. This can end up saving you from a lot of headaches as no freight forwarder will take responsibility for incidents out of their hands, especially if they do not provide insurance themselves. With the steps discussed here, you should be able to find the right freight forwarding service for your business.