Introduction
Freight forwarders are intermediary companies between firms that hire the forwarders and various transportation services that facilitate product delivery to the desired global consumers. The companies compress of handlers, carriers, and customs officials. Firms in the exportation business face many challenges in shipping their commodities to their overseas customers. The nature of the products under transportation, for example, perishability or fragility, and the shipment destination determine the number of agents involved in the process (Elbert et al., 2019). The sole aim of freights is getting the goods in the market undamaged, making insurance services essential. The intermediary services link customers and suppliers to facilitate business activities.
Freight Forwarder’s Duties and Roles
The roles of freight forwarders change depending on the types of employers. The companies advise the owner of the goods on effective and efficient freight transportation ways, possible challenges encountered on the way, shipping regulations, exchange practices, and costs involved. Warehousing, packaging, and distribution before importation or exportation are some of the services offered by freight forwarders. These companies make freight space booking on different transportation networks through containerization, air freight and road haulage, and cargo insurance services. In addition to that, the freight forwarders prepare and submit custom clearance and perform documentation with legal exportation and shipping requirements. Freight forwarders play essential roles and duties in the exportation and importation business.
Locate and Describe a Company Doing Freight Forwarding
DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding Company is a freight forwarding firm in the USA. The firm’s headquarters are in Bonn, Germany, and it offers green logistic services carrying goods by air, rail, road, and sea. Deutsche Post renamed the company’s business unit from Danzas to DHL Freight after buying 100% of its shares (Chung et al., 2017). The company has the DHL brand name on the goods when they are in transit.
Company-specific Services provided
Different companies offer various services according to their specialty. DHL gives transportation solutions through freight forwarding services such as road freight for Full-Truck-Load (FTL) and Less-than-Truck-Load (LTL) for point-to-point transportation (Chung et al., 2017). The company has air freight services for air shipping of commodities and ocean freights for water transportation. Providing custom services to ensure reduced penalties, unwanted delays, and complex procedures is another duty of the company. Their quality services have seen the company grow into one of the biggest logistics companies in the world.
Company Payment Terms and Conditions
The company has various payment methods and terms of use that it applies in different countries. The three main payment options that DHL accepts are online payment via DHL MyBill, paying by phone through credit cards using the number 1800-722-0081, or mail. The company’s terms and conditions of work cover many issues that affect both domestic and international trade. Terms contain prohibited goods, governments’ laws and jurisdictions, capacity clause, cash on delivery conditions, and transit times with timetables. They also have delivery against document conditions, pallet exchange, termination of agreement and delivery terms, data protection, and documentation terms. The means of payment and terms of use are different based on the origin and destination countries.
Airfreight Forwarder Regulations
Being a sensitive mode of transportation, airfreights have specific regulations governing it. The House Air Waybill terms and the Standard Trading Conditions contain the guidelines for the charges and services for DHL. Freight, origin, and destination charges depend on the chargeable weight, which is the volumetric weight calculated using a factor of 1:6, the density ratio (Elbert et al., 2019). Quoted costs are valid for stackable general cargo up to two tons of chargeable weight. Dangerous, perishable, high value, and temperature-controlled commodities are prohibited. Screening of cargo by local authorities is necessary for uncertified consignors. The regulations ensure the security and effectiveness of the transportation for efficiency to the parties involved.
Conclusion
The essential services offered by freight forwarders have made the global market grow rampantly. Their roles and duties in international trade have seen exportation and importation businesses specialize in commodities that they are best at producing. The regulations have seen a global reduction in the movement of prohibited products, such as drugs and guns. DHL has been one of the successful companies in the field because of the company’s regulations.
References
Chung, P., & Bowie, R. (2017). DHL: From startup to global upstart. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Elbert, R., & Gleser, M. (2019). Digital forwarders. In Logistics Management (pp. 19-31). Springer, Cham.