There Are Good Reasons To Use Freight Forwarders For Imported Goods

If you import goods into the UK, it takes a lot of procedures to transport the goods from the supplier to your UK warehouse. This is why it may be a good idea to use freight forwarding services. Because they can relieve a lot of pressure in the process of international transportation. They will handle all transportation processes from beginning to end, and in most cases also handle customs clearance.

When you transport goods internationally, many things will happen behind the scenes to ensure the safe arrival of your goods. But a good freight forwarder – no matter an individual or a company, will handle all these things and make things simple. Although this is not the case. Generally speaking, customs agents are responsible for import and export, and freight forwarders are responsible for actual logistics. However, many freight forwarders can also act as customs agents, which can be said to handle all customs requirements under one roof

The transportation representative can participate in the next steps or all steps.

Arrange transportation from the supplier’s factory or warehouse to the port or airport

Prepare documents, licenses and all relevant documents for export from the country of origin

Negotiation, booking and loading of marine or air cargo

Arrange insurance and track delivery as needed

Prepare documents, permits and all related documents for the British Customs Authority

Arrange the delivery and delivery at the agreed location in the UK

These are the most basic, but the responsibility of the freight forwarder is to have all the necessary contact information to handle all parts of the business. Generally, freight forwarders outsource goods, such as arranging international transportation insurance through suppliers’ transportation to ports or airports and insurance brokers.

If you want to make the process as simple as possible, even if you are new or not, freight forwarding is the answer. There are many considerable advantages here. The most important one is that you only need to trade with one person, not with several different freight companies. Through the international contact window, customers can find service providers anywhere. You can also negotiate transportation, transportation, and warehousing costs. With their knowledge, they can handle all the complicated paperwork related to international shipping.   

However, the use of freight forwarders has several disadvantages. The most important of these is that you must consider your own costs. So if you have all the right connections, you can save money by leaving everything inside the company. It also means that you transfer control of your goods to a third party, so you must be able to trust them.

When you receive the quotation from the freight forwarder, you need to check carefully to understand exactly what is the scope of guarantee and what is not. It shall clearly include the transportation costs from the supplier to the port or airport, sea or air transportation costs, as well as the costs of collecting goods and delivering them to the warehouse. In addition, special expenses may be required for refrigerated perishable items or using cranes to carry very heavy items. It may need to be saved before or after shipment.

Additional port charges may be charged for some routes. The second is the cost of all import and export documents. Additional fees may also be charged to cover exchange rate changes. Obviously, you also need insurance to guarantee the loss or damage of goods, and ideally, you need to use a professional transportation insurance broker. Additional charges may be charged for stacking or packaging of goods

If you are a novice, you will find that import and export goods are much more than you think, but freight forwarders can get rid of all this.