The international freight forwarding industry in China began in the 1990s. The first link in the system was the logistics department of international trade companies. In the early days, it was mainly responsible for customs declaration business. Later, it gradually expanded to include towing, customs declaration, sea transportation, and air transportation. , transnational road transportation and railway transportation business. Due to the continuous expansion of business scope, many international trading companies have separated out this work and outsourced it to relatively mature international logistics companies. This is now the international freight forwarding, whose full name is International freight forwarding company.






The main business of international freight forwarding



The main business contents of international freight forwarding are as follows:



1. Accepting inquiries from customers (the main business of international freight forwarding)

Air freight inquiry
① The customer needs to provide the departure airport, the destination airport, the specific information of the goods (product name, weight, number of square meters, number of pieces, size of large items, etc.), the specific or expected time of the customer's delivery, and whether there are formal export documents , is it a direct flight or can I accept transfers, are there any time limit requirements, are there any restrictions on airlines, etc.

② Make a quotation based on the information provided by the customer, and inform you of flight information and air transportation precautions.

2. Shipping inquiry

① The customer needs to provide the port of departure, port of destination, specific information of the goods (product name, weight, bulk or container cargo, etc.), bulk or container cargo, what type of container the container is, timeliness requirements, whether the shipowner has any preference, and normal customs declaration Or pay the bill and wait.

② Make quotations based on the information provided by customers, and inform shipping schedule information and shipping precautions.

3. Land transportation inquiry

① Customers need to provide the place of departure and destination. Land transportation generally involves double clearance, that is, customs declaration and clearance at the port of departure and port of destination, specific information about the goods, timeliness requirements, normal customs declaration or paid customs declaration, etc.

② Make a quotation based on the information provided by the customer, and inform the customer of timeliness information and road transportation precautions.

4.International Express Inquiry

①Customers need to provide the shipping address, destination address, specific information about the goods, whether the express company has any requirements, timeliness requirements, customs declaration details, etc.

② Make a quotation based on the information provided by the customer, and provide timeliness information and express delivery precautions.

5. Railway transportation, sea-truck intermodal transport, rail-truck intermodal transport, etc.

The content is roughly the same as above.


2. Order taking (the main business of international freight forwarding)

①The customer accepts the quotation and agrees to place the order

② When the customer places a BOOKING confirmation, the general content of BOOKING is as follows:

The content includes: specific shipping date, product name, number of pieces, weight, volume, consignee information, etc.






The main business of international freight forwarding


3. Booking (the main business of international freight forwarding)

According to the content of BOOKING, apply for booking from shipowners, airlines, railway transportation companies, etc.
Get a delivery note.
4. Boxing or receiving (the main business of international freight forwarding)

According to the customer's needs, arrange a trailer or truck to collect the goods at the door, or let the customer send the goods to a designated address for collection. Domestic operations can be operated in stages. Some only require booking of space, and the customer returns the goods to the designated terminal, airport or Warehouses are enough, and some are fully operational.

5. Arrange customs declaration (the main business of international freight forwarding)

Regardless of any international logistics method, it involves customs declaration. Customers can make customs declarations by themselves, and international freight forwarders can declare customs on their behalf. Customs declaration methods can be divided into normal customs declaration and paid customs declaration. Normal customs declaration means that the customer provides customs declaration documents for customs declaration. Paying customs declaration requires an international freight forwarder to provide a third-party document header for customs declaration.

6. Bill of lading (the main business of international freight forwarding)

After customs declaration and release, wait for the shipowner or airline to issue the bill of lading. After the bill of lading is issued, you can charge the customer the fees and then give the customer a telex release (referring to the electronically authorized bill of lading) or provide the original bill of lading. In case of double clearing, there is usually no bill of lading, just For payment, after the goods arrive at the port, the international freight forwarder notifies the agent at the destination port to deliver the goods to your door. As for express payment terms, payment is usually made after receiving the express delivery and checking the express delivery track on the official website of the international express company. A rough sample of the bill of lading is as follows:


The main business of international freight forwarding


6. Providing export document services (the main business of international freight forwarding)

It involves documents required for export, such as CO (certificate of origin), FA, FE, export documents, commodity inspection, etc. Some documents are required for customs clearance at the port of destination, and some are required by the port of departure. If the customer cannot handle these documents by themselves , you can ask international freight forwarders for help.

7. Warehouse and other international supporting services (the main business of international freight forwarding)

When customers have loading and unloading requirements, international freight forwarders need to provide warehouse warehousing and loading and unloading, including domestic warehouses and international overseas warehouses, as well as some specific supporting services, such as providing freight insurance, inspection of foreign trade goods, and other related supporting services. .

The above is the main work content of international freight forwarding.