7 best strategies on find and choose a right China forwarder.
Import from China ?
Undoubtedly, you need to get a freight forwarder.
A good China freight forwarder is crucial to the success of your trading business.
They are not only the shipping experts who understand whole shipping process, but also your reliable business partner to offer you the valued guidance and considerate service.
Today, I’m going to show you what makes a good freight forwarder.
Specififally, how to find a freight forwarder in China.
1.Make sure they are legitimate
The number of freight forwarders is quickly increasing.
There is a bigger pool to choose services from, but not all of the options available can be trusted.
So the first thing is to make sure they are legal company.
You don’t want to deal with a fake company or a fraud, do you ?
In order to check if a freight forwarder is “real” , you can check and confirm whether the forwarder have the necessary license.
As for China forwarders, the basic license including :
• Business certificate
• Certificate of Record and Registration of Foreign Trade Operators , By Ministry of Commerce of the People‘s Republic of China
• Certificate of Record and Registration of international freight forwarding enterprises, By International Association of freight forwarders
Other licences can be indicator that reflects the comprehensive strength of company, including :
• NOVCC
• Whether Member of WCA
• IATA
• SGS onsite audiction
• Alibaba golden supplier
Fake VS Real
Amateur VS Experts
2.Deal with a forwarder with rich experience
The experience that a China freight forwarder has determines the quality of the services they will provide.
You can recognize the extent of a company’s experience when :
• look at their companies’ profiles, and business license to check how many years they have in the industry
• check the LinkedIn profile of the sales or customer service people , to know how long the forwarding experience they have.
• Throw them several questions, to compare the professional level, response speed, etc
• Search for reviews for the forwarder you want to choose. and ask references about their previous experiences.
3. Choose a forwarder with a right shipping service
With above 2 criterions, you can pass some forwarders based on your backgroud inpsection job.
But they are still too many freight forwarders left behind.
The next is to make a targeted choice.
Freight forwarders come in many shapes.
Some specialize in FCL, some are LCL agent, some focus on air freight, some only doing international courier, etc
So you need to figure out what type of shipping service fit for your shipment, then choose the forwarder.
Otherwise, it can be pretty hard for you to get a reasonable shipping price with the right service.
Blind VS Targeted
Big VS Small
4. Choose a freight forwarder in right size
Freight forwarders also come in many shapes.
Some are giants, some are midium size, some are tiny small.
Don’t have blind faith to big forwarder.
A giant freight forwarder is specialized in project shipment like quantity container shipments and tons weight air shipments.
i.e. only if you import from China with below such shipments volume,
then consider to use a giant freight forwarder with widely spread branch offices and powerful financial strength
+ 500 containers yearly
+ 20 tons air shipment monthly
charter airline
Otherwise, choose small medium size. Why ?
Despite you may have dozens of containers or tons of air shipment in certain time , and you may think it is a big shipment,
It is pretty small in the eyes of giant forwarder.
They may don’t care your freight requeset at all. Never expect they can answer your question in time.
Besides, their efficiency can be poor in connection with different offices and various persons. Sometimes, you can even can’t find a right person who directly in charge of the shipment.
However, a small medium size forwarder are more flexible to offer tailor made shipping proposal.
You can have more initiatives for selection from the multiple solutions.
Besides, their service can be real one-to-one, with fast response and friend care.
5. Use your own freight forwarder, not supplier’s.
Some importer doing CIF or DDP Incoterm with the supplier,
Specifically, importer don’t arrange the shipping but get this job done by supplier and their forwarder.
Why we don’t recommend？
The way your China supplier arrangement with their own freight forwarder is unlikely to be that much better a deal than you can arrange.
Your supplier is an expert in manufacturing the goods, but they are not freight service experts .
When it comes down to it, the supplier will be looking to recoup their costs.
If they on-cost the freight charges, they have little incentive to secure a good rate. That means you will probably be paying inflated freight charges.
If they offer a sale/freight package, they are likely to inflate that price.
What’s more important, you totally don’t have the shipment in control.
And shipping delays can be more easily happen. If this supplier is a fraud, you may also face the risks of lose both cargo and money.
In short, you will need a shipping partner , your own China freight forwarder to manage the shipment.
Because they stand for your interest and follow your instructions.
Supplier VS Yourself
Cheapest VS Reasonable
6. Pick a forwarder with reasonable shipping price
Last but the no least, prices really matters.
It’s understandable to keep the shipping budget within control.
A reasonable shipping price should accomplish two factors :
• Within market
The price won’t be too high, and won’t be too cheap of course.
In freight forwarding, service quality is paramount.
it’s reasonable for you to search the quote from several forwarders, but don’t always keep comparing quotes and pursuit the so called cheapest price.
It could be just the opposite of their wish.
You can’t image how the service quality could be without a basic profit.
• Transparent
Image this :
You request a rate quote and make the booking.
But you find out later that the cost on the freight invoice was higher than initially negotiated quote.
What can be done to avoid that ?
You should choose a forwarder who will offer transparent quote with no hidden cost.
7. Get a digital China freight forwarder
This is not a necessary step but highly recommended.
Would you want a bloated excel quotation or online instant price ?
And whether you are tired of tons of email and endless communication in your daily work?
In fact, ditigal marketing is one of the main shipping trends.
So get a freight forwarder who adopt information technology, to boost automated online price checking, booking, cargo tracking and order management.
Simplifying shipping is what what we are talking about.
Traditional VS Morden
CONCLUSION
If you follow the 7 tips above, you should find a good freight forwarder.
If you plan to ship from China, now or in the future, please contact me, and I will provide you with a solution subsequently.
